In February 2020, following one of the resort’s deepest snowfalls in its history, visitors to Vail waited for hours in a crowd that ballooned so big you would have thought the lift operators were handing out wads of hundreds and an affordable place to live.
Written content by Paddy O’Connell via Men’s Journal
The internet deemed it “Lift Line Apocalypse” and, at the time, I felt sorry for all those skiers and snowboarders. Now, I realize they had never been so lucky.
To be clear, I hate lift lines. There are not many things in life I despise more than cow-eyed single-file standing, shuffling inches forward every five hours toward a chair, where I’ll get to sit and keep waiting. I’d rather take a Mike Tyson uppercut to my bathing-suit area than be stuck in traffic. Hell on earth, to me, is a festival ATM.
I’ve done my best to avoid lines. I moved from the crowds of Chicago to the peaceful Colorado mountain communities of Telluride and Carbondale. While ski towns often offer streets with more snow than people, skiing is a sport stuffed with lanes of humans. Lift lines, especially long ones, are the necessary evil all skiers/riders tolerate. But standing within arm’s length of anyone—let alone a crowd of strangers—amidst COVID-19 causes more anxiety than a middle school dance your parents are chaperoning. So how exactly are we going to ski during a pandemic?
At the end of August, Vail Resorts laid out a winter operating plan that includes a ticket reservation system, capacity restrictions at lodges, and socially distant chair-loading policies. This is all well and good, but what about everyone waiting at the base?
According to Vail-Beaver Creek spokesman John Plack, Vail Resorts will apply learnings from its summer operating procedures: larger maze construction at lift bases, physical distancing signage, and a zero-tolerance mask and distancing requirement. Plus, said ticket reservations will redefine what “crowded” means. Even with a powder-day forecast, Plack assures the resort can “maintain a level of visitation to our mountains that encourages the physical distancing we all need to stay safe.” Read more from Men’s Journal.
Winter is coming. Here’s a video on how to ski:
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