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Ski Resort Response to COVID-19

prsboogie

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This has been well known by anyone with the least bit of common sense.

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thebigo

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Wildcat was scheduled to offer scenic lift rides in late summer and fall but pulled the plug. Website mentions infrastructure projects in the base area, may be cover for we were not making any money but not sure.

Maybe they are finally fixing the water? Or bathrooms? Going to be impossible to distance in the basement bathrooms.

​Summer Update 07/27/2020 -
At this time, we have decided to keep Wildcat closed for the summer and fall in order to allow our team to complete several key resort infrastructure projects aimed at delivering a better guest experience both in our base area and on mountain. We are looking forward to the upcoming winter ski and ride season here at Wildcat and appreciate everyone’s patience as we complete these improvements.
 
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ss20

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Q/A with Killington's GM- Actual info from a resort exec- not opinionated BS like the rest of this thread-

https://www.mountaintimes.info/qa-with-mike-solimano-5/

MT: What are the range of options you’re considering for winter? Will the base lodges be limited — or expanded to meet social distancing requirements? Is there a chance you won’t open at all?

MS: This winter will bring many changes, many of which we’re still discovering as we plan for the season at Killington and Pico. Overall, our main focus will be trying to provide as much skiing/riding as possible. Since the science says that the spread of Covid is more likely indoors, we will prioritize our focus on ensuring that our main products of skiing and riding can be maximized by our guests. The current rules limit capacity in buildings to 50% and we expect that those or similar restrictions will be in place during this season. We are considering all options but it is clear that we will not have enough indoor space for everyone that will want to be indoors on busier days. We will probably need to prohibit using the lodges as areas to “boot up” or we will reach our capacity before we even open for skiing for the day. There’s a good chance we won’t be operating smaller outlets like the yurt or the motor room bar since they already have such limited capacity that we will need to focus on the larger spaces and ensuring maximum utilization of our main base lodges. The social scene that is prevalent at Killington in the bars will change substantially as currently bars are not allowed open in Vermont. We are planning on changing our food & beverage options to a much more simplified offering that can be taken “to-go.” We will also offer take-out windows for food during periods we are experiencing capacity constraints in lodges. There are so many implications of having capacity constraints indoors that I can’t review them all, but our guests should assume every option is on the table. It is likely that many guests will go from their car to the slopes and back to their car without ever going inside to a lodge – this will be the new normal for this season at Killington and Pico. We hear the rumors floating around town regarding concern around Pico even opening for the season. Rest assured, we plan on opening Pico Mountain in whatever capacity COVID-19 allows.

Looks pretty positive to me. Stay out of the lodges (as expected) and grab/go food only. No mention of limited ticket sales, or only being allowed to ride lifts with people in your household.

Gee I thought he was supposed to say "the world is going to stop spinning, break-out the AT gear, ski season cancelled"
 

BenedictGomez

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And yet the K-1 gondola is currently running, so that guy should probably lay off chirping about what, "the science says", multiple times in that article.
 

bizarrefaith

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And yet the K-1 gondola is currently running, so that guy should probably lay off chirping about what, "the science says", multiple times in that article.

"what the science says" has already been assimilated into the lexicon of generic meaningless management-speak.
 

Edd

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And yet the K-1 gondola is currently running, so that guy should probably lay off chirping about what, "the science says", multiple times in that article.

It seems ok if they’re not grouping strangers, which I can’t imagine is happening. It seems like current restaurant rules. People that sit at a table together would be ok sharing a gondola, I assume.

Unless you’re just lashing out against gondolas, which I’m 100% on board with.
 

drjeff

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It seems ok if they’re not grouping strangers, which I can’t imagine is happening. It seems like current restaurant rules. People that sit at a table together would be ok sharing a gondola, I assume.

Unless you’re just lashing out against gondolas, which I’m 100% on board with.

Exactly during Summer ops. Pretty much unless its prime leaf peeping season, chances are that there are more boxes going up the line empty every day than with people in them right now, so keeping usage limited to just people in the same group of friends/family who have already been associating together isn't much of a challenge right now. Come winter time, or even later this Fall when K needs to use the box to get folks up to the top for the hike down to Rime, then I can see the line situation, even with the likely limited ticket volume of folks on the hill on any given day, being more of an issue.

Otherwise, a quick spray down of the inside of one of the cabins before it leaves the Summit terminal, and it has about 8 minutes to do it's thing, which should be fine, as the stuff that I use in my office to clean a room after aerosol generation procedures works in 5 minutes
 

thebigo

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People huffing past each other and traffic jams on the stairs may be a bigger problem than the box. Wonder if they will wait until the stairs are one way to open.
 

Not Sure

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Silly question . Isn't the whole point moot if the state doesn't open up to other than locals ?
"The State of Vermont has determined that any county with less than 400 active cases of COVID-19 per one million residents is now eligible for quarantine-free leisure travel" .
Pretty much only rural New England falls into the allowable category .
What portion of skier visits are out of state ?

https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/restart/cross-state-travel
 

BenedictGomez

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"what the science says" has already been assimilated into the lexicon of generic meaningless management-speak.

Well said.

It seems ok if they’re not grouping strangers, which I can’t imagine is happening. It seems like current restaurant rules. People that sit at a table together would be ok sharing a gondola, I assume.

Unless you’re just lashing out against gondolas, which I’m 100% on board with.

Not true at all. The only thing keeping those gondys from being coronavirus capsules right now is the fact it's summertime. Lack of people = lower statistical chance of having infected hosts, as well as a lower statistical chance of people then coming into contact with virus by people put in the exact same gondy car. But if they start running those boxes on the lines with people in every gondy, folks will get COVID19, whether that be fall or winter. Bonus points for winter having lack of sunlight & low humidity.

But yes, I also hate gondolas, though unrelated to this subject.

a quick spray down of the inside of one of the cabins before it leaves the Summit terminal, and it has about 8 minutes to do it's thing, which should be fine, as the stuff that I use in my office to clean a room after aerosol generation procedures works in 5 minutes

A quick spray down of what exactly? We're talking about a 20 square foot box basically filled with nanometer viral particles. If you think some 17 year kid "spraying" something for 3 seconds per box is going to protect you, have at it if you like, but I'd strongly suggest against it.
 

EPB

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Any chance gondis operate this year without some or all their windows? Not sure how hard they are to get off/on, or if this would turn them into total wind sails. That said, I have a hard time believing they are a good idea given the conventionnel wisdom as of today.

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VTKilarney

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Looks pretty positive to me. Stay out of the lodges (as expected) and grab/go food only. No mention of limited ticket sales, or only being allowed to ride lifts with people in your household.

Gee I thought he was supposed to say "the world is going to stop spinning, break-out the AT gear, ski season cancelled"
Yeah, it’s not like a ski resort executive would try to put a positive spin on things. /sarcasm

The flaw in your logic is the assumption that anything will be up to this executive. The state will come up with a set of rules for ski areas just as they have done for other industries.
 
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