The bar is lower for daytrip skiing, just as we did at Big Bear earlier this week. But no FOMO for destinations with air travel, hotels, etc. yet.
And so it begins.... 20-21 snowmaking season starts
- Thread starter EMSC
- Start date
ChrisC
Well-known member
One of the biggest negatives in Colorado now is dining in general.
I believe all of Summit Country (Keystone/Breck/Copper), San Miguel (Telluride), Pitkin (Aspen resorts) - are under required outdoor food service or just take out. My understanding is when COVID positivity testing goes above 5% / new cases spike / hospitalizations are high - code red goes into effect - and indoor dining gets shut down. Although it looks like Colorado has a bit of a solution https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/c ... strictions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In Telluride, many restaurants/bars have officially told waiters/bartenders to look for other jobs since there is not a timeline as to when things can reopen. It's looking like a take-out only winter. (That's too bad for locals because some of the high-end restaurants can pay quite well). Assume it is the same in the other counties (locals in Aspen were showing tents or outside food), and likely to come to Edwards (Vail/Beaver Creek) soon. Cases should start ramping up horrifically - worse than post-Thanksgiving soon. No one is following any guidance.
The Owner of Telluride (Chuck Hornig) hosted town halls before Christmas week - pleading with locals to follow CDC best practices - because Telluride is under the threat of an entire lockdown/ski mountain closure if things really escalate. Governor called -- sh-t is getting real for him. It's highly ironic - since Hornig fired his CEO this summer after refusing to institute any capacity planning/reservations. Those plans could have been useful now when negotiating with public health officials and gvt - as a show of good faith for combatting the virus.
My brother has already experienced a couple of COVID cases in his workforce - his employees primarily giving it to each other not at work - but at Thanksgiving events and/or house parties. Despite the Telluride skier day counts off by 30%, his business is up 25% year to date as vacationers migrate to contactless/low touch services.
One benefit to this entire COVID pandemic is that Delta dropped out of serving Montrose and Southwest+JetBlue picked up routes for the first time. Prices have collapsed about $150-200 per roundtrip flight since the Big 3 legacy carrier collusion has been broken. Most flights are about $250 now which makes the destination more competitive.
I believe all of Summit Country (Keystone/Breck/Copper), San Miguel (Telluride), Pitkin (Aspen resorts) - are under required outdoor food service or just take out. My understanding is when COVID positivity testing goes above 5% / new cases spike / hospitalizations are high - code red goes into effect - and indoor dining gets shut down. Although it looks like Colorado has a bit of a solution https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/c ... strictions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In Telluride, many restaurants/bars have officially told waiters/bartenders to look for other jobs since there is not a timeline as to when things can reopen. It's looking like a take-out only winter. (That's too bad for locals because some of the high-end restaurants can pay quite well). Assume it is the same in the other counties (locals in Aspen were showing tents or outside food), and likely to come to Edwards (Vail/Beaver Creek) soon. Cases should start ramping up horrifically - worse than post-Thanksgiving soon. No one is following any guidance.
The Owner of Telluride (Chuck Hornig) hosted town halls before Christmas week - pleading with locals to follow CDC best practices - because Telluride is under the threat of an entire lockdown/ski mountain closure if things really escalate. Governor called -- sh-t is getting real for him. It's highly ironic - since Hornig fired his CEO this summer after refusing to institute any capacity planning/reservations. Those plans could have been useful now when negotiating with public health officials and gvt - as a show of good faith for combatting the virus.
My brother has already experienced a couple of COVID cases in his workforce - his employees primarily giving it to each other not at work - but at Thanksgiving events and/or house parties. Despite the Telluride skier day counts off by 30%, his business is up 25% year to date as vacationers migrate to contactless/low touch services.
One benefit to this entire COVID pandemic is that Delta dropped out of serving Montrose and Southwest+JetBlue picked up routes for the first time. Prices have collapsed about $150-200 per roundtrip flight since the Big 3 legacy carrier collusion has been broken. Most flights are about $250 now which makes the destination more competitive.
EMSC
Well-known member
It's not quite as vacationy, but take out or cooking in your condo isn't exactly horrible either (well, maybe for the upper crust). Plus, last I heard Summit County had like 150+ restaurants operating under the "5 star" program with less restrictions. I assume it will be similar elsewhere shortly. Colorado cases spiked pre-turkey day and have fallen to half or so since then. No post holiday spike... no guarantees for the longer current holiday break of course.
Though I did find it ironic Vail Inc asked counties to remove limits on numbers of skiers during a poor snow year. Other than warming inside and bathrooms, tough to see how you pick up covid skiing though.
Though I did find it ironic Vail Inc asked counties to remove limits on numbers of skiers during a poor snow year. Other than warming inside and bathrooms, tough to see how you pick up covid skiing though.
The Colorado numbers in ChrisC's reference looks much better than on my Worldometers download Dec. 16. New case load is about half what is was then. I suspect there's some inconsistency in data reporting. According to Worldometers, Colorado's positivity rate exceeded 20% at 11/15, 11/30 and 12/16. Yet the state website shows 6% now.
May/June drive to Florida: 8
Summer excursions in Florida: 11
Aug/Sept drive home: 11
Argentina: 7 including a breakfast at DFW on the way home
The vast majority of these seemed to be at off-peak hours with occupancy far below capacity. I see this scenario as much more challenging in small ski towns. Often road trip motels are quite basic. It will be more important that lodging have fridge, microwave, some space for eating takeout and reheated food comfortably.
We had 6 restaurant meals in SoCal in Sept/Oct, all outside. Many SoCal restaurants took over sidewalk and parking lot space and had space heaters ready for winter. I sympathize with their anger over the shutdown when the malls seem busy with holiday shoppers, not enforcing the 20% capacity limit. There's also speculation that friends who formerly met at outdoor restaurants are now meeting in each other's homes, which is less safe.
This is where we should modify our lifestyle for upcoming road trip skiing. I've maintained a list of indoor dining since I hit the road for Florida at the end of May and it currently stands at 37:EMSC":39zyi4li said:
May/June drive to Florida: 8
Summer excursions in Florida: 11
Aug/Sept drive home: 11
Argentina: 7 including a breakfast at DFW on the way home
The vast majority of these seemed to be at off-peak hours with occupancy far below capacity. I see this scenario as much more challenging in small ski towns. Often road trip motels are quite basic. It will be more important that lodging have fridge, microwave, some space for eating takeout and reheated food comfortably.
We had 6 restaurant meals in SoCal in Sept/Oct, all outside. Many SoCal restaurants took over sidewalk and parking lot space and had space heaters ready for winter. I sympathize with their anger over the shutdown when the malls seem busy with holiday shoppers, not enforcing the 20% capacity limit. There's also speculation that friends who formerly met at outdoor restaurants are now meeting in each other's homes, which is less safe.
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
I haven't had a meal in a restaurant since March.. I seen no reason to start now.. The most depressing aspect of this pandemic is, we as Americans have zero patience and basically don't give a crap about our fellow man , it's me me me.. Jeeze louise people sit and chill for a year , save your money and come out swinging next season..
Go buy a a mountain bike and enjoy the solitude of the trails..
Go buy a a mountain bike and enjoy the solitude of the trails..
ShiftyRider
Member
The simulations are interesting...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
To lessen the circle of spread is to try to be a Good Samaritan.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
To lessen the circle of spread is to try to be a Good Samaritan.
On a positive note, it's finally raining in SoCal today and it's cold too. Big Bear reports 12-14 inches already and there should be at least 48 hours of nonstop snowmaking behind this storm. I expect the remaining lifts (the most interesting ones) to be open by this weekend at both Snow Summit and Bear Mt. One thing will be different though. I think we will decline to take the shuttle bus between the two areas in 2020-21.
ChrisC
Well-known member
EMSC":3vgn72bj said:
I feel most bad for the employees and owners.
Again, some waiter and bar jobs are some of the more lucrative to have - and desirable from a scheduling point of view. Now they need to find new work for the season.
Also, Telluride was able to help its Main Street/Colorado Ave restaurants in the summer by closing its main drag for a few blocks and creating a giant traffic circle around town. Colorado became an outdoor cafe space with a stage at one end. If they knew this was coming before December 20th, a similar winter plan might have been put into effect - with tents and heat lamps.
Many people are willing to dine outside with heat lamps in the 50's and maybe 40's, but I suspect very few would do it at night in winter in Colorado mountain towns. This is part of why I made the comments above about ski road trip dining not being like my summer cross country drives.
Dining out is one of our vices. Liz lived in Manhattan for 27 years and I hardly cooked anything beyond a microwave before 2020. We routinely ate out 2-3x a week while at home plus all the time while traveling, which is typically about 1/4 of the year. Liz' injury resulted in her directing me in the kitchen for a month, which came in handy during the spring shutdown when I had Andrew at home.
So the 37 dine-in meals seem like a lot to most people, but it was a cutback to us and almost exclusively in the context of travel. At the current level of infection in the US, I was just commenting that we plan to restrict it more, even while we are traveling.
I do too. That's the main reason why I was critical of SoCal's shutdown of outdoor dining. Here it would be viable year round. Some fortunate restaurants with their own parking lots were able to operate close to normal capacity.ChrisC":1abywze6 said:
Dining out is one of our vices. Liz lived in Manhattan for 27 years and I hardly cooked anything beyond a microwave before 2020. We routinely ate out 2-3x a week while at home plus all the time while traveling, which is typically about 1/4 of the year. Liz' injury resulted in her directing me in the kitchen for a month, which came in handy during the spring shutdown when I had Andrew at home.
So the 37 dine-in meals seem like a lot to most people, but it was a cutback to us and almost exclusively in the context of travel. At the current level of infection in the US, I was just commenting that we plan to restrict it more, even while we are traveling.
EMSC
Well-known member
Tony Crocker":pttreymd said:
:lol: :lol:
Good luck dining outside in Breckenfridge in January even during the day most days. Or the expense of multiple heaters per table at night that would be needed.
Even in spring the answer is 'it depends'. If it's a cold & snowy spring, evening dining out would still not be viable most of the time for Colo central mtns resorts/towns.
I think I'm at ~10 eat-in meals since March including with Tony during Sept And probably 3x that for dining outdoors since March. All in ~50% capacity environments/more spaced out tables. I haven't had much chance to eat anywhere but home or on the go at the ski areas recently for various reasons though. Colo cases certainly much lower than they were 2-4 weeks ago. I figure there's ~3-4 months of goofiness to go then the combo of warmer temps, plus vaccination/had the disease % increasing will reduce transmission rates dramatically and likely permanently (eg temps cooling next fall again get offset by more vaccinations as time goes on for example).