Castle Mountain Sneak Peek weekend proves successful litmus test of new staff, COVID regulations
It has been said skiers love and truly appreciate their sport.
Castle Mountain Resort Sales & Marketing Manager Cole Fawcett said the resort had a Sneak Peek weekend Nov. 27-29 and it was met with some emotion.
“In one word: joy. People were just so joyful to be on snow,” stated Fawcett in a telephone interview. “Our season of course last year ended more than three weeks earlier than we would’ve liked it to end and the folks that were here this past weekend in large part were overjoyed that they were able to slide back on snow again.
“It was very positive and uplifting and a high morale boost for us to have the doors open and to be in a position to be welcoming guests and think by and large guests were very respectful and receptive to the policies and seemed to know about them in advance and it was a really good feeling weekend.”
There was a lot of effort and planning put into the preview weekend. It was a trial run for both the patrons and staff. Management strategically announced the sneak peek on the Friday (Nov. 27) morning in the hope they could get a slower day under their belts to ease in new team members. It was also an opportunity to see if the informational videos that Castle Resort has put out to explain what the regulations will look like, were being downloaded and reviewed. They had a “quiet” day Nov. 27.
“I think we saw 125 guests (on the Friday) and a number of them would be homeowners, people from Pincher Creek that maybe checked (social media) or just heard from a friend and filed their way out here,” explained Fawcett. “On the Saturday and the Sunday, we saw about 500 guests each day and that was right, smack dab in the middle of what history would tell that we would find on a Sneak Peek weekend, with limited terrain open — AKA Huckleberry Chairlift — so it met our expectations and it felt really good.