Some ski resorts opening, with or without COVID guidelines,
Ski resorts are still opening - with or without state COVID guidance
California’s COVID guidelines are comprehensive, covering everything from amusement parks to schools. But there’s one very large gap that state public health officials haven’t covered yet: ski resorts.
Mammoth Mountain and several Southern California ski resorts have already opened for the season. Tahoe’s ski resorts are gearing up for their respective opening days — lifts may start spinning as soon as this weekend. A storm just delivered nearly a foot of snow to the Sierra Nevada.
Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are rising throughout the state, faster than ever.
The circumstances feel like a repeat of March, when ski resorts shut down because of the pandemic and the statewide order to stay at home, just as the biggest storm of the season hit the mountains.
Except this time, ski resorts say they’re prepared for the pandemic and they’re planning to open as scheduled — even though the state’s health department has not yet published COVID guidelines that are ski resort-specific.
On Monday, the California Department of Public Health told SFGATE in an emailed statement that they are “constantly reviewing science, data and evidence and continually evaluating and updating guidance.” The department will update its guidelines once information specific to ski resorts is available. In the meantime, the department stated that “ski resorts are not permitted to operate.”
“The state is working collaboratively with local health departments and ski industry leaders on guidance for ski resorts on how they can operate with reduced risk,” said Ali Bay, spokesperson for California Department of Public Health.
And yet, ski resorts are already open and running, based on direction ski industry officials say they received from county health departments. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area opened last week. In Southern California, Mountain High started running over the weekend. In Tahoe, Vail Resorts announced a Nov. 20 opening day for Northstar, Kirkwood and Heavenly. Squaw Alpine intends to open on Nov. 25. (Officials at Squaw Alpine announced the resort will be changing its name before the start of the season. They have yet to announce a new name.)
“Resorts have worked with their county health officers for months,” said Michael Reitzell, president of Ski California, a nonprofit trade association that represents 32 ski resorts in California and Nevada. “As a result, our county health officers have given green lights to the resorts that are open under the state’s ‘Outdoor Recreation’ guidance.”
Reitzell says that ski resorts will comply if the state issues further direction about how they should operate during the pandemic.
“The state knows Mammoth is open. The state knows Mountain High is open,” Reitzell said.
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom pulled the proverbial “emergency brake,” putting 41 counties in the state’s most restrictive purple tier — including the counties that span Truckee and Lake Tahoe.
Truckee Mayor Dave Polivy says the required closures in the purple tier are “absolutely devastating” to local business owners who rely on a holiday boost of sales to carry them through the rest of the winter. Bars must shut down, along with concert venues and movie theaters — the Tahoe Art Haus and Cinema recently launched a Gofundme page to help them survive. Restaurants can serve only outdoors, which in Tahoe means dining in a literal winter wonderland. Retailers can operate at 25% capacity.
In the purple and red tiers, amusement parks must shut down. Newsom hasn’t allowed Disneyland or other large theme parks to open during the pandemic at all.
Truckee Tahoe government officials,
county public health officers, ski resort operators and ski industry leaders are all waiting anxiously for the state’s direction, which they hope will come any day now.
How ski resorts should operate in a purple tier is the “absolute best question there is right now,” says Placer County Supervisor Cindy Gustafson, who represents North Lake Tahoe. Placer County’s health officer has been working closely with ski resorts to develop their specific COVID business plans. A spokesperson from Placer County’s Health Department said they were informed that the state is currently developing guidelines for ski areas.
Without state guidance, California’s ski areas have spearheaded their own comprehensive and detailed efforts to prepare for COVID, along with major investments in sanitizing and socialdistancing equipment. They’ve been in close contact with local health and government officials.
Reitzell says those efforts began in March, at the outset of the pandemic. Ever since, California ski areas have been engaged in a nationwide conversation with officials from other ski areas from Colorado to New England about the safest ways to operate with COVID.
Without ski-specific guidance, Reitzell said the industry has looked to the more general category of “outdoor recreation,” which applies to campgrounds, RV parks and playgrounds.
“The ‘outdoor recreation’ is a bit more general,” Reitzell said. “We think that applies pretty well to our outdoor
operations. When you get out on the mountain, the mountain is open air. It’s really that low-risk activity that you’re looking to do.”
A low-risk, open-air activity is exactly what ski resorts hope they can continue to offer this winter. Skiing has a massive and profound impact on Tahoe’s economy during the winter. California’s ski areas generated $3.2 billion in the economy during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to a report published in September by Ski California.
Ski resorts are still shifting their businesses to respond to the surge in COVID cases. All Tahoe ski resorts are requiring face masks and they’ve each taken different steps to reduce the number of skiers and snowboarders on the mountain. Vail
Resorts, which operates Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood, implemented a reservation system that’s designed to spread skiers and snowboarders out, especially on the most crowded days of the season.
“We are currently planning to open as scheduled,” said Susan Whitman, communications manager for Vail Resorts’ Tahoe region, via email. “Our reservation system will help us safely manage how many people are on our mountains, and our safety protocols are focused on face coverings, physical distancing and enhanced cleaning.”
Vail Resorts is keeping a close eye on local and state COVID guidance, Whitman said.
In the purple tier, ski resorts will be shutting down indoor dining and bars, said Ron Cohen, chief operating officer
at Squaw Alpine, in an email.
“There are some other impacts, too, but dining is the biggest one,” he said.
Anticipating that regulations would fluctuate as coronavirus cases rise and fall, Cohen’s team at Squaw Alpine prepared plans for how the ski area would operate in every single tier of California’s blueprint. Each plan has a focus on “distance, duration, face covering and hygiene,” Cohen said.
Squaw Alpine built partitions to ensure social distancing in ticket, ski school, and food lines. New hand-sanitizing stations have been installed in the bathrooms, as well as “a fleet of high-demand electrostatic sanitizing sprayers” that will be located around the resort. In total, Squaw Alpine invested nearly $1 million in sanitizing and social-distancing equipment. Cohen says his resort is prepared for tiers to change throughout the ski season — which he hopes will extend into May.
“We have invested a lot of money to modify our operations so we can provide our people a much-needed opportunity for fun and responsible outdoor recreation,” Cohen says.
Squaw Alpine is keeping their schedule to open the day before Thanksgiving.
Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF, says the points of concern for COVID transmission are the places where people will be gathering — lining up for the chairlift and riding the chairlift to the top of the ski runs, at ski schools and rental shops and of course, après — which is the skiing code word for heading to the bar. (The country most famous for après, Austria, has already shut down and delayed the openings of its ski resorts.) But once you’re on the mountain and you’re skiing, Rutherford says the sport has social distancing built in.
“It’s low risk for respiratory disease, but maybe not for knee injuries,” Rutherford says. “It’s about getting up the mountain — where you congregate when you’re on the mountain, meaning restaurants. And then, what you do when you get to the bottom at the end of the day. And also standing in lines and getting back and forth on lifts. I think it can be designed in a way where it’s low risk.”
Compared to Disneyland, Rutherford said ski resorts typically don’t have the same density of crowds. But with cases rising, Rutherford warned that skiers and snowboarders might want to think twice before heading up to Tahoe for a day of skiing.
“This is not the time to test the outsides of the envelope. We’re sitting around talking about how you can’t have Thanksgiving this year,” Rutherford said.
If the state were to shut ski resorts down, Truckee Mayor Polivy fears that people would head to public lands that are under-equipped to handle such large crowds. Tahoe already experienced an overwhelming summer of tourism in the pandemic — with trash and parking issues that followed. Winter may very well bring more of the same, plus the inherent avalanche danger that’s built into winter recreation.
Ski resorts attract thousands of visitors every winter. But they could also play an important and pivotal role in dispersing those crowds, and they provide a safe, controlled environment for people to get outside.
“We are just anticipating an influx of people, similar to the summertime, regardless,” Polivy says. “We would love for the ski resorts to be able to operate because that will take some pressure off the more informal recreation areas, whether it’s for sledding or skiing.”
Reitzell asks that skiers and snowboarders who are heading to Tahoe take the time to do a bit of research before driving up. Ski California’s website is a clearinghouse of information with details for every ski area’s COVID protocols.
“The number one message is ‘know before you go,’” Reitzell said. “In years past, it was cool to sit around the table at 10 o’clock on a Friday night with your friends and say, ‘Hey, let’s just hop in the car at 5 a.m. and go to a powder day on Saturday.’ That’s not the case this year. You have to pay attention to what every resort is doing.”
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