The big Corona Virus Shutdown

[Tony Crocker]

I'm sure many with touring gear/experience will be quite active this spring. If there are a lot of new people, I hope we don't see much avalanche activity. My occasional wanderings into the backcountry have been in late spring, not for powder. Most of the closed ski areas are not allowing touring within their boundaries from what I've read.

I'll be interested in sbooker's comments on how this is playing out in Australia. My friend Richard and his wife Elda were on a Seabourn cruise out of Sydney. They had a two day stop in Hobart without incident, but the ship was not allowed to call at Portland or Kangaroo Island. The captain alleged that seas were too rough for tendering, but Richard suspects the ports didn't want cruisers to land. When the ship reached Adelaide, the captain announced that the cruise would terminate there ahead of schedule and that everyone had to be off the ship by the next morning. The cruise line did arrange a hotel in Adelaide and rerouted airfare home from Australia. Richard said the usually packed international terminal at LAX was practically empty.

 

[Sbooker]

I'm sure many with touring gear/experience will be quite active this spring. If there are a lot of new people, I hope we don't see much avalanche activity. My occasional wanderings into the backcountry have been in late spring, not for powder. Most of the closed ski areas are not allowing touring within their boundaries from what I've read.

I'll be interested in sbooker's comments on how this is playing out in Australia. My friend Richard and his wife Elda were on a Seabourn cruise out of Sydney. They had a two day stop in Hobart without incident, but the ship was not allowed to call at Portland or Kangaroo Island. The captain alleged that seas were too rough for tendering, but Richard suspects the ports didn't want cruisers to land. When the ship reached Adelaide, the captain announced that the cruise would terminate there ahead of schedule and that everyone had to be off the ship by the next morning. The cruise line did arrange a hotel in Adelaide and rerouted airfare home from Australia. Richard said the usually packed international terminal at LAX was practically empty.

Australia is the understandable shit show that I imagine the US is. Our management team is totally reactionary on this. We’re in absolutely unprecedented territory here and Aussies are....being Aussies. What is with the hoarding?
I find the social side of things fascinating although very concerning.
You could have a statisticians field day with all these numbers Tony.

 

[Sbooker]

We can’t say sh1t?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Enough. Even if one or more areas are still open, at this point it's irresponsible to travel for recreation.

That is also something my wife said.

Even though it's entirely possible to maintain a safe distance from others while at a ski area, one can't argue with the logic of avoiding long-distance travel (I'm sure that EMSC will disagree).

Meanwhile, I'm now on Day 5 of my wait for test results: zoinks, what a mess. That said; based on Fraser's comments, the testing situation in the UK is even worse. He mentioned that pubs were filled to capacity right up until their eventual shutdown/kinda similar to the Florida spring break fiasco.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Vail may have been the American Ischgl for exporting COVID-19 abroad, specifically to Mexico.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/st ... oronavirus

the Florida spring break fiasco

Liz says this morning that Florida just closed all of its hotels, something even California and New York have not done. I presume that's to get the spring breakers to go home.

What is with the hoarding?

The hand sanitizer and baby wipes I understand. But what is the obsession with TP and paper towels???

 

[Tony Crocker]

Lookout and Discovery are still open. Explicit comment here from Lookout:

Open on a day to day basis. We hope for a few more weeks. If you have the ability join us midweek & avoid stronger weekend traffic!

Lookout has also lived up to its powder reputation this season.

Season Total: 394" Summit | 307" Base

I confirmed with a live person that Discovery is open today. q is in Philipsburg but reportedly trying to get home to Scotland. I left a message for him to contact me or post here.

 

[snowave]

I briefly considered the 5.5 hr drive to Lookout (mainly because I have 3 free days there with my Brundage pass and it was somewhat novel thinking about it), but decided now was not the time to be adventurous. Yes, I could avoid almost all contact at the ski area, but staying at hotels, stopping at gas stations, eating, etc would be mostly unavoidable. While I am not paranoid about this virus, I think the more people go out and interact with society, the longer this mess will continue.

I'm a bit frustrated at the daily continual little bits of new closures for things/places. If we're really all-in on this, we should be all-in and quit fucking around.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I briefly considered the 5.5 hr drive to Lookout (mainly because I have 3 free days there with my Brundage pass and it was somewhat novel thinking about it), but decided now was not the time to be adventurous. Yes, I could avoid almost all contact at the ski area, but staying at hotels, stopping at gas stations, eating, etc would be mostly unavoidable. While I am not paranoid about this virus, I think the more people go out and interact with society, the longer this mess will continue. I'm a bit frustrated at the daily continual little bits of new closures for things/places. If we're really all-in on this, we should be all-in and quit [censored] around.

Well said. And that ^^ creates tension between people who venture out against CDC recommendations and those who follow them (see the previously posted e-mail from Waterville Valley, NH and the disagreements in this thread). Doesn't the federal government have the power to mandate an across-the-board closure of anything non-essential?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Doesn't the federal government have the power to mandate an across-the-board closure of anything non-essential?

Maybe, but the final calls are being left to the states. It is not a surprise that super dense areas like NYC have the fast rising case count with rural areas much less so. But it will be interesting to see what happens when the Florida spring breakers go home.

Ski Apache in southern New Mexico is open through Sunday March 22.

 

[Sbooker]

They’ve now theoretically shut our state borders for the first time ever. I don’t know how they would actually enforce those closures because there is a lot of vastness out there.

What is going on with the poor people of Italy? Another 800 dead in the last 24 hours with 5000 odd new confirmed cases. Seems the lockdown there is not very effective to say the least.

 

[baldyskier]

They’ve now theoretically shut our state borders for the first time ever. I don’t know how they would actually enforce those closures because there is a lot of vastness out there.

What is going on with the poor people of Italy? Another 800 dead in the last 24 hours with 5000 odd new confirmed cases. Seems the lockdown there is not very effective to say the least.

Ineffective, or just implemented too late?

 

[ShiftyRider]

Fine. I'm done with trying to convince any of you [censored] that this is real. Good luck waiting for your ventilator.

Folks, it's just common sense...

If you isolate too soon you can always re-assess.
If you isolate too late you can't undo the decision.

There's examples of both in other parts of the world, already.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Discovery and Ski Apache are now closed. Is Lookout Pass the last US ski area open? FYI Lookout is closed Tuesdays but has a promotion this coming Thursday. https://skilookout.com/events/3-26-2020 ... ickets-day

 

[Tony Crocker]

Is Lookout Pass the last US ski area open?

No, 49 Degrees North is also open.

Silver Mountain Season Passes will be valid 3/23 & 3/24, stop by the ticket window for your lift ticket. We will continue monitoring our designated parking capacity and update as we go, stay tuned here and on social media.

 

[snowave]

love how you quote yourself, Tony. :lol:

49 degrees N closes today, so Lookout is the last to stay open, for now (although they are closed on Tuesdays)...

 

[Patrick]

I know Tony and I traded emails about one week ago regarding the situation in the East. I normally start compiling my list of closing dates post prior to the first weekend in April.

I posted the list of the current situation yesterday on my blog, Ski Mad World.

After the Quebec government extension of coronavirus measures to May 1, Quebec ski association and all Quebec ski areas official closed for the season. Uphill travel is also off-limits.

So you'll see from my list, no lifts are running in the East. Basically it's a list of the ski resorts that have suspended operations and not definitely closed for the season (yet). Many hills, not only in Quebec, are restricting access to their terrain. Quebec Provincials parks are also closed.

https://madpatski.wordpress.com/2020/03 ... ic-part-1/

 

[Tony Crocker]

The last holdouts have closed. Info from Lookout Pass:

Winter Operations Suspended as a result of Wednesday's "Stay at Home" for next 21 days Executive Order by ID Gov. Brad Little.

Powder King in far northern B.C was also open, but no more

NOTICE MARCH 25th at 10:45am: POWDER KING is Now Closed for the Season. Thank You to All! Office is still open for Questions: 18667695464

 

[Tony Crocker]

In the East the last closures I know about:
Smugglers Notch last day was March 17.
Waterville Valley last day was March 18.

 

[flyover]

Out on da U.P., Bohemia, Indianhead and Black Jack held on until the end of the day Sunday March 22.

In Minnesota, Lutsen appears to have also, although how they managed to stay under the Governor's radar is beyond me. For that matter, by that time, North Shore locals were already getting press for being pissed off about all the cabin owner's coming up from the Twin Cities to sit out the shelter-in-place order everybody knew was coming.

 

[Sbooker]

Meanwhile here in Oz major disruptions to 'normal' life are underway. For the short term health of the nation these are probably justified/needed. I'm sure the disruptions are the similar the world over.
Our government has announced significant economic support packages that at about 40% of GDP will take us about, ummm, 2 decades at a guess, to repay if our economy ever fully recovers from the fallout of these extraordinary times.
How would you like to be calling the big plays right now? The ultimate no win situation in my view.

Anyone care to guess at what point we'll be travelling internationally to ski again? Realistically I'm thinking the 20/21 season will be a no go for me. With some good luck I might get some spring skiing in next Easter.