Killington and Snowbird: no go
Some Eastern skiers’ hope were squashed early this week when Killington (Vermont) announced that they wouldn’t reopen for skiing this season. Although Superstar artificial Glacier is still deep, they announced last Monday that the fact Kmart would be the only “shop in town” in the Northeast, and similar to Snowbird’s (Utah) announcement a few days prior, an opening for skiing would create a dilemma for overcrowding and challenges on social distancing. To complicate matters, Vermont requires 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving from out of state. Killington’s President and GS Mike Solimano talked about the challenges that opening for skiing would create for the resort and making everyone respect the state’s guidelines. Killington will be opening other outdoor activities, unlike skiing the fact that other places now offer golf or mountain biking in the East would lessen K attraction powers.
Even if they closed in mid-March, Killington will likely (see below) offer the longest season in the East with 133 ski days starting November 3 and ending like many North American ski areas, March 15. A ski season cut short by 78 days compare from the incredibly long 2018-19 season. Based on Ski Mad World’s personal data, Killington never ended their season in March, furthermore this was only the 7th time that the resort didn’t offer May or June closing dates since the days of the NHL’s original Six also known as the last year the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup (1967).
St-Sauveur and Arapahoe Basin: waiting for the green light
Elsewhere in the East, but North of the border in Canada, there is always Saint-Sauveur. MSS is always one of the top ski resorts for length of ski season in Canada (without glacier) and the East. Like Killington, MSS suspended their season on the same day March 15. Always first to open in Quebec, Mont St-Sauveur opened on November 8; five months to the day, from the end of their record ending ski season with skiing and waterpark activities on June 8, 2019.
Like for Arapahoe Basin (Colorado) which opens tomorrow to the public (more below), Mont St-Sauveur is waiting for the green light from Government authorities.
Anyway, just to let you know we’re ready. YES, if we have the OK from the government authorities and the Gouvernement du Québec, we will open for skiing one last time. This is our greatest desire. Because we are finished crazy in our sport. And as long as there’s snow, we’ll want to ski!
Not sure if the government will response on time? Tomorrow is another hot day with 33c (91F) for St-Sauveur. Quebec and Montreal in particular is Canada Covid-19 epicentre, I imagine that reopening outdoor activities is being carefully examined, but like it’s almost Summer, one ski day at one ski area is very far on the Quebec government list of priorities. With this heatwave, time is running out snow, time is running out on hope.
Anyone else?
YES: Late Summer only ski area Beartooth Basin (Montana) is schedule to open pretty more on schedule on May 30 until July 5. Website info.
MAYBE: Whistler-Blackcomb (British Columbia) normally opens for Summer skiing in early June. An announcement was recently made that they are hoping to open for Summer activities (including skiing) at end of June or early July. They are closely following guidelines issued by the provincial health authorities. British Columbia has slowly started to reopen, but travel outside the residents local areas is still not recommended
NO WORD: Still no word from last year’s July closing California ski resort: Mammoth Mountain and Squaw Valley.
Canada has extended it closed border to all non-essential travel with the US until June 21.
Open Skiing New Challenges – Part 1
As skiing in Summer wasn’t hard enough, the pandemic has added a series of new challenges. The new factor is to open, but making safe by limiting the risk of contagion: number one is limiting lift tickets sales and enforcing social distancing. Mount Bachelor (Oregon) who closed on Sunday May 24, reopened for one week uniquely limited to passholders. Timberline Lodge (Oregon) and A-Basin (Colorado) is limiting lift tickets sells via the internet one day at a time. Arapahoe is opening tomorrow Wednesday May 27 and the website crashed; tomorrow tickets are going to be drawn.
Here is quick summary of new guidelines for Timberline Lodge and Arapahoe Basin:
- Need to have reservation/lift ticket prior to arriving.
- Tailgating is strictly prohibited.
- Mask/Face Covering in designated areas or when you can’t maintain physical distancing.
- Only visit with members of your household
- Please stay home if you are sick or are considered high risk.
Open Skiing New Challenges – Part 2
As I often mentioned in the past, the ski season is never over, it just moves elsewhere. The pandemic didn’t manage to shutdown all lift assisted skiing so far, it came very close. There was always at least one ski area open on any given day. As resorts were closing in North America and most of Europe, Chinese ski area were reopening after a two-month shutdown.
The biggest challenge facing the ski racers and ski round skiers are the many travel restrictions. A good example are the numerous closed borders or/and quarantine requirements like the Canada-US is restricted to essential travel until June 21 (possibly extended).
This blog post is getting a bit long, so I better post now. The travel and border situation are constantly changing, so the rundown is a bit challenging. In the next blog post I’ll try to look at the current Global skiing situation. Until then, stay safe.
- Ski Mad World’s previous Eastern Closing 2020 posts:
- Eastern Closing Thread 2020: Pandemic – Part 1
- Eastern Closing Thread 2020 – May we ski? – Part 2
- Eastern Closing Thread 2020 – Anything in North America? – Part 3
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