Generally they always been skiing somewhere on the planet, but the accessibility of the ski season has never been so challenging due to the different travel restrictions. There are always a few places where skiing is happening once we get away from the Northern Hemisphere’s Winter, but the pandemic is affecting travel and even ski areas opening like it did on the top part of the Globe.
The Summer solstice is here and Sweden’s Riksgransen once again open one last time this season to offer their annual skiing under the midnight sun weekend. Lesotho’s Afriski was the first to open in the Southern Hemisphere and yesterday Australia’s Thredbo and Baw Baw opened with a few others opening in the next 1-2 days. The situation in the Andes is more dire as the pandemic hasn’t reached it peak; those considering to open have postponed an 2020 season indefinitely.
Planning for everyone involved in skiing is challenge in these difficult times. Normally the only factor that should interest us skiers is temperature and snow; Covid-19 has added health authorities orders and guidelines with travel restrictions and borders closures. No one knows what tomorrow has in store, and without being an epidemiologist, you can see how various Summer ski countries are currently doing to control the pandemic. Countries were the number of cases are increasing will be more problematic for the upcoming summer months ski season.
North America:
Far from the pandemic, Northern Ontario’s Kamiskotia ski area closure on March 19 marked the end of lift assisted skiing in the East. The West has seen a few areas reopen since the start of the lockdown, but the situation with the coronavirus around these areas wasn’t as critical at the time of the reopening.
Baldy (California), Bachelor (Oregon), Arapahoe (Colorado) and Crystal (Washington) have reopened, but now have officially closed for the season: Crystal and A-Basin closing last Sunday.
Timberline (Oregon) and Beartooth (Montana) are currently open with some health restrictions; their scheduled closing day are respectively Labour Day Monday September 7 and July 5.
There are some backcountry earned turn terrain available in the West as well as the East that are now non longer restricted.
The Canada-US just extended its border closure until July 21. If you are a foreigner, you can’t enter Canada for non-essential travel. The US border is closed to China, Iran, Brazil and most of Europe (Schengen area plus UK and Ireland).
Elsewhere:
There are a few places of Earth that offer skiing during our Summer months. Besides the few glaciers areas in the Northern Hemisphere (Alps and Norway), the Andes (Chile and Argentina), New Zealand/Australia and a couple of areas in Southern Africa (South Africa and Lesotho). All these areas have their own health and/or travel restrictions which I have tried to best summarized. I’ve also added the Daily New cases curve (7-day average) for each the following summer skiing countries.
New Zealand and Australia:
South Island’s Mt. Hutt opened on June 12.
North Island’s Ruapehu ski areas still have some works to be completed before they can open. Both are planning to open for July 1. New Zealand is pretty much back to normal internal as it no longer has anyone with the corona virus. The country’s major ski resorts are scheduled neither July 1 or on the last weekend in June. Club fields open generally in mid-July.
The Australian skiing situation is still affected by the pandemic with certain internal physical distancing and internal travel restrictions. Ski resorts generally open at the beginning of June, but due to the current situation and adjustments required plus lack of snow, the ski season started with Thredbo and Baw Baw opening on June 22. Hotham, Falls Creek, Perisher, Falls Creek and Buller should open today or tomorrow.
Australia and New Zealand borders aren’t expected to open until 2021.
Argentina and Chile:
The situation in South America is somewhat more complex as the number of cases is on an ascending path and still hasn’t peak. The situation and approach towards Covid-19 is very different between both countries.
There is no clear indication of when or if the ski season in Argentina will be permitted to operate. Las Lenas and La Hoya announced they wouldn’t open for the 2020 season. Chapelco and Cerro Bayo will only open to local residents if they are allowed to operate. Uncertainty throughout the country.
No Chilean ski resorts have mentioned that they will definitely not open, but more remote areas like Corralco and Pucon are unlikely to open due to local authorities. Uncertainty remains, but unlikely to open prior to late July. Portillo has indefinitely postponed the start of their season. There is a lot of uncertainty on when and if Chilean ski areas will open for the 2020 season.
From the start, Argentina have been more aggressive in their measures. Argentina borders are closed to foreigners until June 28 plus there is a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arriving in the country. Travel between provinces and cities are restricted. All commercial flights, long-haul buses and trains are suspended.
As the situation worsen in Chile, the country is now under curfew and travel is limited or restricted between certains regions. The international borders are also closed until at least September 14 and anyone arriving from abroad is required to self quarantine for 14 days.
Europe:
In contrast to the South America where the Covid-19 cases is still increasing and haven’t reached the peak, Europe is on the other side of the first wave and slowly opening up. The normal summer skiing options are already open or about to open. The only situation limiting access to skiing are the borders. Travel between countries is still very limited.
Some of the National ski team have started training, but are generally limited to their home country. In some cases, early access to the glaciers were limited to high level athletes.
France:
Val d’Isère : June 6 to July 11
Tignes : June 20 to August 2
Les 2 Alpes : June 6, 2020 (exclusive access for high-level athlete).
June 27, 2020 (general public, but limited access) to August 30.
Open to EU countries (except for Spain), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican if they don’t have COVID-19 symptoms. Travelers from other countries are required to quarantine 14 days.
Switzerland:
Crans-Montana : June 6 to June 14
Zermatt : June 6 until next season.
Saas Fee : July 11 until next season.
Last week Swiss borders reopened to travelers from EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and the United Kingdom. Local measures have been relaxed. Non-essential travel denied travelers from outside the EU and Schengen Area until at least June 30. Social distancing rules apply.
Italy:
Passo dello Stelvio : June 13 (general public) to November 1
Breuil-Cervinia : June 6 without accessing the Glacier on the Zermatt side of the Italy-Swiss border. Access to the glacier started on June 20.
Inter-regional travel is now permitted as June 3. Open borders without restriction for the EU, the UK, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City and the Schengen area travellers. Other travellers must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Austria:
Kaunertal : May 29 to June 7
Kitzsteinhorn: May 29 to July 21
Molltaler Gletscher : June 6 until next season
Hintertux : May 29 until next season
Travel to Austria is mostly unrestricted for the Schengen area (except Spain, Portugal and Sweden) plus Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania which have spent 14 days in these countries. Non-residents can enter with a medical certificate with a negative COVID-19 result.
Norway:
Fonna – May 12 to September 15
Galdhøpiggen Sommerskisenter – May 16 to November
Stryn Sommerski – June 12 to July 19
Last week Norway borders opened to travelers from Nordic countries including Denmark, Iceland, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Quarantine rules and restrictions apply for traveler from Sweden. Travel from other European countries may be allowed from July 20. Social distancing rules apply.
Sweden:
Riksgransen : June 18-21 with skiing under the midnight sun.
Borders are open without restrictions to travelers from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and the UK. Non-essential travel denied travelers from outside the EU and Schengen Area until at least June 30.
Asia and Africa:
Japan:
Gassan : April 3 to mid to late-July.
Travelers from most countries will be denied entry to Japan, with a few exceptions. Anyone who arrives in Japan may undergo a coronavirus screening test, and must self-isolate for 14 days at a designated location. Restrictions differ between prefectures, non-essential inter-prefecture travel is in place until June 19.
South Africa and Lesotho:
Afriski (Lesotho) became the first ski area in the Southern Hemisphere, Tiffindell (South Africa) is still awaiting for authorities approval. Although going to the South of the African continent is extreme, the border situation is even more complicated. Lesotho’s borders are closed even to South Africans. South Africa is closed to all foreigners and flights are suspended until June 30. Interior to travel restrictions exists and varies between provinces and districts.
Even if this is Africa, there are a few private club where skiing can be done, however this also have another challenge, as they are entirely dependent on natural snow.
Upcoming ski season 2020-21:
A cloud of uncertainty is hovering over next season. The mega ski resorts and the multiple resort passes purchases have declined after the 2019-2020 was cut short. For example, prior to last pandemic shorten season the Epic (Vail) and Ikon (Alterra) passes would guarantee 4 seasons of skiing in 4-5 continents (North and South* America, Japan, Europe and Oceania. * Epic pass doesn’t have any South American resort). Overall numbers were down for last season.
The Southern Hemisphere ski season will be greatly observed by ski industry official on this side of Equator. As mentioned about above, New Zealand might not be the example as the Corona virus has almost been eradicated from the country. This upcoming ski season in South America and Africa is very uncertain as the numbers of cases keep increasing, the odds of an actual opening of their ski resorts is decreasing. Australia is really the only place on Earth that will be opening under the struggles of trying to control the virus.
What does 2021 hold?
Ski industry operations? Ski racing? Traveling industry? World Cup circuit across different continents? The FIS had a couple of scenarios on the table when discussing the upcoming season which included only European races, even going as far as to limit it to Europeans and/or countries where the pandemic situation is under control. Will the races be hosted without spectators? The final decision was to keep the original calendar of events while keeping the flexibility to change it depending of a possible Covid-19 second wave or if the health situation worsen. The Cortina 2020 World Championship was moved to 2021 as Italy was then the epicentre of the pandemic. Recently the Cortina organizing committee is asking the FIS to postponed for an extra year to 2022 “due to the continuing uncertainty caused by the spread of COVID-19 at an international level.”
To illustrate the level of uncertainty is that some World Cup athletes haven’t been on snow for over 100 days if there isn’t skiing opportunities within their national borders as international travel is severely limited as detailed on my text above. Norwegian, Austrians, Swiss, French, and Italian have access to summer glacier areas to train within their national borders while the Swedish and Americans skied ski areas with leftover snow; the US training at Cooper (Colorado) and Bachelor (Oregon).
Have a great summer everyone and stay safe. As for myself, I’ll try to stay cool and try to deal with the backlog of ski reporting that I’ve been putting off for the last few seasons. Stay tune…
- 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
- Eastern Closing Thread 2020 – Any Hope? – Part 4
- Eastern Closing Thread 2020: Pandemic into June – Part 5
Excellent and very interesting post, MadPat.