San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Managers of Tahoe’s major ski resorts close the slopes.
Coronavirus fears arrive just as late snow does
In a wave of announcements on Saturday afternoon, seven of the largest and most popular ski areas around Lake Tahoe shut down operations due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The closures started late Saturday afternoon when Vail Resorts announced it would close its three ski areas in the region — Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood — until March 22. Within the hour, Alterra Mountain Co. posted that it would close Squaw Valley and neighboring Alpine Meadows and, in the southern Sierra, Mammoth Mountain, indefinitely. Shortly thereafter, Sugar Bowl, near Truckee, announced that it too would suspend operations until further notice.
No cases of coronavirus had been documented in El Dorado County, which includes South Lake Tahoe and much of the Tahoe Basin, as of press time, according to county health officials.
The announcements came as Tahoe was receiving its first major snowfall in months and droves of tourists from the Bay
Area and elsewhere had driven up to take advantage. The region was forecast to receive between 2 and 4 feet of fresh snow through the weekend.
“Winter is back in Tahoe and winter is ending in Tahoe,” said Cody Townsend, a professional skier in Tahoe City who skied at Squaw Valley on Saturday afternoon before the closures. He said he welcomed the ski areas shutting down as a means of curtailing the crush of travelers arriving from places with confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“The reality is that skiing is probably safe, but the fact is that we’re potentially exposing a town that doesn’t have” the coronavirus, Townsend said. “It’s the responsible thing to do.”
Vail also ordered closures for all of its 37 resorts across the U.S., Canada and Australia. All of its scheduled employees, both seasonal and year-round, would be paid during the shutdown.
In a lengthy statement, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said it would reassess the status of its North American resorts for the remainder of the season by Friday.
“This decision provides a pause for the entire ecosystem of our mountain resort communities,” Katz said. “It gives everyone the time to assess the situation, respond to everchanging developments, and evaluate the approach for the rest of season, if we believe it is advisable or feasible to re-open. This was not an easy decision to make, as we deeply considered the impact it will have on our guests, employees, and the people and businesses in our communities.”
Both Vail and Alterra said they would work with guests on cancellations and refunds.
In Colorado, the threat of an outbreak prompted Gov. Jared Polis to issue an executive order to immediately shut down the state’s ski areas. Cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed at Aspen earlier this season.
In Utah, Alta resort, near Park City, announced it would shut down operations indefinitely as well.
In Italy, an epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, several ski areas in the Italian Alps closed last week, including all of the Aosta Valley ski resorts.
Chairs on the ski lift at Squaw Valley Resort in Olympic Valley hang empty after Alterra Mountain announced the closure.
Heavenly Mountain Resort is closing just as 2 to 4 feet of new snow was forecast to arrive through the weekend.