Sunday, October 4, 2020

COVID-19, Ski Vacations, and The Kitchen Table

 

https://youtu.be/nuvcETMYcUg

“Not until you finish your homework.” “How’d the meeting go?” “You won’t believe what happened today?” “We should probably cook that broccoli tonight.”

And in a normal year, “Hey, honey, we really need to get our ski vacation figured out.”

In my mind’s eye, these conversations all take place at the kitchen table, the family inner sanctum. One parent is getting dinner ready and the other is helping with homework, feeding the toddler, maybe catching up on emails. Phones ring, plans are made, instructions given, priorities set, families reconnect, all around the kitchen table.

These kitchen table conversations also are how families plan ski vacations. Did we like where we went last year and should we go back? The so-and-so’s love being in their own condo in El Grande Western Resort for the holidays so should we talk to them and try some place new? Do the kids really need new boots, again? We really should get the winter clothes out of storage this weekend.

This year, in the age of COVID-19, those kitchen table conversations are very different. This year, it’s “Hey, honey, how do we really feel about traveling to ski this year?” Notably, it’s almost exclusively about how people feel about traveling to ski and ride.

Resorts all across the USA are rolling out operational protocols designed to keep guests safe while visiting their mountains during the pandemic. Lift capacity, lift reservations, line management, facility cleaning, face mask and social distancing requirements, food service modifications, group lesson programs – every phase of the resort experience is being adjusted to limit exposure. There are some differences in those details from place to place, but most resort plans are fundamentally similar. As I see it, however, in this environment there is no amount of operational detail that will help new or returning guests make the decision to travel and spend time in ski resorts this winter. As I’ve said, in my view it’s about how people feel about traveling to ski and ride.

Thankfully, how we feel about skiing and riding in the first place is the central reason that people make the trek to mountain towns during the winter months in the best of times. In the 2020-21 season, the way skiing and riding makes each of us feel represents one of the aspects of our normal, non-pandemic lives that we long for the most. In that way, skiing and riding, particularly as a family, simply has become more important, more evocative of what we’re missing.

Whether to travel at all is a decision each individual family must make on their own, based on their own comfort level. Still, if it helps, I do think there that are a few simple things that holiday-makers can do to ensure that their mountain vacations safely provide the sort of valued experience for which we are all longing. Planning in a little more detail and a bit further in advance will allow skiing and riding families to have safe holidays that will be the way we want and need them to feel.

To address this, I created the short informational video above that I hope will be a helpful for families trying to figure out how they can make their ski vacations easier, safer, and less stressful this winter. 

The mountains will be covered with snow this winter. The lifts will spin. The cold mountain air will invigorate us. Under our face coverings our cheeks will still be rosy and our big grins will still warm our hearts. When we’re skiing and riding, lost in the moments of exhilaration that can only come from the sports we love so much, we will momentarily be transported out of the everyday stresses of the world. During this winter of COVID-19, those moments will be all the more welcome for each of us, guests and staff alike.

I am looking forward to seeing my own guests and to meeting new ones this winter, and to making the most of our time skiing together. And if you need a hand while you’re at the kitchen table sorting through the details, just give me a call.

Maroon Bells in Aspen at the end of a beautiful autumn day




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