Vermont ski areas have created a detailed plan for keeping ski mountains open and operating in winter 2020-2021 while protecting workers and visitors from Covid-19. The document is the Vermont Ski Resort COVID 19 Winter Operations Guidance.
The plan relies heavily on methods like use of masks, social distancing indoors and outdoors, contactless ticketing and rentals, collection of guest information to allow contact tracing, and state-wide travel rules that require quarantining by some out-of-state visitors either before or after entering Vermont.
Highlights of the plan that mostly affect visitors and skiers are summarized below. See the link above to read the entire document. Out-of-state visitors also should know the Vermont Rules on Inter-State Travel. (People coming from specific “green” areas with low levels of Covid are not required to quarantine. The map showing levels of restrictions is updated every Tuesday.)
Excerpts from the Winter Operations Guidance Plan:
Ticket Sales
- Contactless reservation, purchase and other processes are recommended.
- Sneeze guards are recommended at all in-person points of sale and ticket windows.
Reservation Policy
- Resorts shall offer lenient cancellation policies to discourage guests who are sick or those impacted by a change in the state’s COVID-19 travel policy from traveling to Vermont.
Lift Operations
- Lift lines must allow six feet of space between parties.
- Facial coverings are required in lift queues and while riding lifts.
- Enclosed lifts shall serve only members of the same traveling group or provide 6 feet of distance between traveling groups.
Day-Use Lodges
- Capacity must be reduced to 50 percent fire occupancy or managed to facilitate 6 feet physical distance between traveling parties (whichever is less), with no more than 75 people in any indoor space.
- Resorts should collect names, phone numbers, email addresses and addresses in electronic form of all users of a day-use lodges.
Systems to reduce and manage customer access and ensure capacity limits are not exceeded shall include one of the following mechanisms or something similar:
- A reservation system for those wishing to use the lodge.
- Metered use systems such as, restricting use of the lodge based on first letter of the guest’s name, i.e., allowing A-Ls to use the lodge on even hours and M-Zs to use the lodge on odd hours.
- Ticketing systems for access to the lodge.
Rental Equipment
- Contactless reservation and purchase processes will be used whenever possible.
- Equipment pick up and drop off processes should allow physical distancing.
Ski School/Children’s Programs
- Programs must follow the State of Vermont’s Childcare and Out-of-School-Care Guidance.
- Encourage use of online reservation processes
- Collect contact tracing information
- Train staff on touchless teaching techniques
- Use staggered start / end times and dispersed line ups to help allow physical distancing
Contact Tracing / Travel Policy Attestation
- Resorts must collect the name, phone number, and email address in an electronic format of all people using the resort each day, and retain the list for 30 days for the purposes of contact tracing.
- Resorts must require guests to attest that the guest will be in compliance with the state’s travel and quarantine policies when they use the resort either at the point of sale of a ticket or season pass OR when collecting contact tracing information.
