Just two days after the Mammoth Zoom meeting, NASJA hosted a 1.5 hour Zoom meeting with representatives from:
• Canadian Ski Council
• Cross Country Ski Areas Association
• Ragged Mt.
• Ski NH
• Ski Utah
• Ski VT
• Keystone
• Quebec Ski Areas Assoc.
Remember that list of U.S. states with highest per million population COVID-19 case counts? Here's the other end of that list:
50 New Hampshire 6,932
51 Maine 4,363
52 Vermont 3,069
New Hampshire and Vermont want to keep it that way. New Hampshire allows visitation from the other New England states but requires 14-day quarantine from everywhere else. Vermont wants 14-day quarantining based upon any county of origin on this map that is not green:
Someone asked about enforcement, and the Vermont rep suggested that it would be via lodging registrations. So I'll advise those planning to ski Vermont in 2020-21 to be ready for some long daytrips.
Quebec has a color coded county map status of COVID somewhat like California does. Here's how that will apply to skiing:
Currently Montreal metro and the Quebec City region are mostly red. The Laurentians and the counties near Ottawa are orange. But visitors are requested to observe protocols based upon the status of their home county. The red flag for Patrick here is that if your county is red, race events will not be permitted though racers can have training sessions.
Le Massif sold out of season tickets. They planned deliberately to allow space to sell day tickets.
Quebec does not currently plan to limit chairlift capacity. They want want people to be double masked, a medical mask under a ski mask. I guess in typical Quebec winter weather that has some logic.
From Ski Utah: Snowbird's tram will run at 25% capacity, gondolas at Park City and Snowbasin "reduced" and probably limited to the same traveling party. Alta and Snowbird will have parking limits.
From Keystone/Vail Resorts: Epic Pass sales are up 18% as of September. VR had a shakeout trial of online reserving at Perisher during the southern winter. They are confident they can handle the November 6 opening of reservations for North America.
Other observations, many from the rep from Ragged Mt., who seemed quite knowledgeable of ski area trends:
Golf and mountain bike demand in summer was up; he expects the same for drive-up skiing. While there may be more skiers, revenue from dining, rentals and lessons will take a hit. He expects limitation on ski area visitation will not be based upon lift capacity, but upon state regulations and the limit on indoor facilities.
New Hampshire and Vermont have seen an increase in city residents moving full time to their vacation homes. School enrollment this fall is up 20%. I heard the same about Aspen from a source I can't recall, and over Labor Day we visited Liz' Chicago friend who is now living full time at her lake house in Wisconsin.
The Cross Country rep is seeing a 200-300% surge in demand for season passes and even some rental reservations far in advance. The typical X-C visitor is on-site for 2-3 hours, so the areas expect to have no problem with increased business in 2020-21. Two New England X-C areas stayed open past mid-March 2020 as "essential businesses."
Most areas will not allow leaving gear in day lodges; you'll need to boot up at your car. This may be problematic where you have sprawling parking lots with shuttle buses that could also be restricted. Some areas may erect temporary facilities like outdoor heated tents.
Lessons will be smaller groups, family units, known parties. There will be no large group lessons. Some areas may institute station teaching. That means instructors will be at fixed locations, while students pass through each station, working on the specific skill taught there.
• Canadian Ski Council
• Cross Country Ski Areas Association
• Ragged Mt.
• Ski NH
• Ski Utah
• Ski VT
• Keystone
• Quebec Ski Areas Assoc.
Remember that list of U.S. states with highest per million population COVID-19 case counts? Here's the other end of that list:
50 New Hampshire 6,932
51 Maine 4,363
52 Vermont 3,069
New Hampshire and Vermont want to keep it that way. New Hampshire allows visitation from the other New England states but requires 14-day quarantine from everywhere else. Vermont wants 14-day quarantining based upon any county of origin on this map that is not green:
Someone asked about enforcement, and the Vermont rep suggested that it would be via lodging registrations. So I'll advise those planning to ski Vermont in 2020-21 to be ready for some long daytrips.
Quebec has a color coded county map status of COVID somewhat like California does. Here's how that will apply to skiing:
Currently Montreal metro and the Quebec City region are mostly red. The Laurentians and the counties near Ottawa are orange. But visitors are requested to observe protocols based upon the status of their home county. The red flag for Patrick here is that if your county is red, race events will not be permitted though racers can have training sessions.
Le Massif sold out of season tickets. They planned deliberately to allow space to sell day tickets.
Quebec does not currently plan to limit chairlift capacity. They want want people to be double masked, a medical mask under a ski mask. I guess in typical Quebec winter weather that has some logic.
From Ski Utah: Snowbird's tram will run at 25% capacity, gondolas at Park City and Snowbasin "reduced" and probably limited to the same traveling party. Alta and Snowbird will have parking limits.
From Keystone/Vail Resorts: Epic Pass sales are up 18% as of September. VR had a shakeout trial of online reserving at Perisher during the southern winter. They are confident they can handle the November 6 opening of reservations for North America.
Other observations, many from the rep from Ragged Mt., who seemed quite knowledgeable of ski area trends:
Golf and mountain bike demand in summer was up; he expects the same for drive-up skiing. While there may be more skiers, revenue from dining, rentals and lessons will take a hit. He expects limitation on ski area visitation will not be based upon lift capacity, but upon state regulations and the limit on indoor facilities.
New Hampshire and Vermont have seen an increase in city residents moving full time to their vacation homes. School enrollment this fall is up 20%. I heard the same about Aspen from a source I can't recall, and over Labor Day we visited Liz' Chicago friend who is now living full time at her lake house in Wisconsin.
The Cross Country rep is seeing a 200-300% surge in demand for season passes and even some rental reservations far in advance. The typical X-C visitor is on-site for 2-3 hours, so the areas expect to have no problem with increased business in 2020-21. Two New England X-C areas stayed open past mid-March 2020 as "essential businesses."
Most areas will not allow leaving gear in day lodges; you'll need to boot up at your car. This may be problematic where you have sprawling parking lots with shuttle buses that could also be restricted. Some areas may erect temporary facilities like outdoor heated tents.
Lessons will be smaller groups, family units, known parties. There will be no large group lessons. Some areas may institute station teaching. That means instructors will be at fixed locations, while students pass through each station, working on the specific skill taught there.