First to Close???

[Micol]

updates Summit Cnty, Colorodeo
comment section = caustic https://www.summitdaily.com/news/sum...lone_top_pages

Summit County officials deny lodging exemptions amid level red restrictions
Commissioners look to find leeway within state pandemic rules on gatherings
News NEWS | 16h ago

Antonio Olivero
aolivero@summitdaily.com

17
Members of Summit County’s lodging and short-term rental community expressed their disappointment after county officials declined a request to allow exemptions for lodging booked through the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season during their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

On Wednesday, Dec. 23, Mary Waldman, owner of Summit Mountain Rentals — which includes 250 short-term and 50 long-term rentals — said lodging properties like hers are “devastated.” She said she had hoped the county’s declining COVID-19 numbers might have helped their case. Christmas cancellations have already rolled in, and she said many lodging companies are about to lose New Year’s reservations.

“(Lodging companies) were sending out (cancellation) notices after yesterday’s (Board of Health) meeting,” Waldman said. “… To wait for the vaccine, I don’t know if that makes sense. The numbers don’t support the actions that are in place today.”

Waldman said holiday cancellations are even more painful than the ones they endured in March, as 50% of some short-term rentals’ annual business comes during the holiday season. She added her concern is not just for property managers, but also for workers like housekeepers, cleaners and maintenance personnel.

“I think that there is some sentiment short-term rentals are not ‘one of us,’ or ‘local,’ but we are,” Waldman said. “We are your neighbors, we are the employers who take care of you. We are your friends, your kids and we have kids in school and day care.”


Dozens of comments, criticisms and questions echoing Waldman’s sentiments were heard during Tuesday’s Zoom Board of Health meeting. County Manager Scott Vargo said the criticism centered on regulation classification, monitoring and enforcement disparities between Summit County and other similar counties in the state’s level red pandemic regulations.

Vargo asked Cameron Turpin, the county’s assistant attorney, whether lodging could be included in the state’s 5 Star Business Certification Program, which allowed more than 100 county restaurants to reopen for limited indoor dining during the level red restrictions. Turpin said lodging doesn’t qualify and added she doesn’t feel the county should push the state on it “or we may lose the entire program.”

Turpin said another county in level red has grandfathered in holiday reservations made before Nov. 19, but added that is against the state order and also not consistent with past practices.

“It’s hard from a legal, defensible standpoint to explain how that is OK,” Turpin said. “Everyone else, when the rules changed, had to change with them as well.”

County Commissioner Elisabeth Lawrence said some people are questioning whether lodging should be considered a gathering as described in COVID-19 regulations. She said some other counties are not considering lodging as a gathering, and have relaxed their restrictions, allowing multiple families and larger parties to stay in local lodging.

Turpin said the state specifically told the county short-term lodging is considered a gathering. She said the state’s definition of public versus private gatherings isn’t wholly clear though, acknowledging the terminology on gatherings is perplexing for many.

“If you’re in an office and following COVID protocol, and in the entire building there’s more than two households, that’s not considered a gathering,” Turpin said. “It’s almost a definition by way of elimination, which is always a tough definition. … Really, it’s social situations — if you’re just at someone’s house for the purpose of going to see friends — that would be, maybe, the easiest way to define a gathering. The legalese of it is always really tricky.”

When asked if lodging properties could receive a waiver from regulations if renters provide proof of a negative test before travel, Vargo said that’s not possible.

Lawrence said the county government can’t ignore the economic impact the regulations will have throughout the community. She said a professional management company lost $32,000 in one day with just two cancellations. She added Summit “seems to be on our own here” in terms of how the county is interpreting and enforcing lodging regulations, and adding she supports grandfathering preexisting reservations “in some way.”

Amy Kubiszyn, the CEO for River Ridge Rentals — which manages 65 properties — said she provided the county with a chart showing an inverse statistical relationship between spikes in cases since the start of the pandemic and number of local rental reservations.

She acknowledged the statistics could be more “correlation than causation,” but thinks that high reservation rates could be leaving local workers with less time to gather and potentially spread the disease. She added a 25% decline in reservations has already been seen for Dec. 23 through Jan. 5 across 2,000 local properties.

Commissioner Thomas Davidson said he’d love to restore “everybody’s economic vitality” completely, but doesn’t think that’s possible without an accompanying surge in COVID-19 cases.

Commissioner Karn Stiegelmeier cautioned loosening any regulations, saying the county “needs to save its January, February and March.”

Lawrence brought up the idea of permitting larger short-term rental units to operate with reduced capacity.

Vargo said he’d reach out to the state to see if there were any possible reclassifications they’d consider. He added that he received dozens of messages of groups of two or more households canceling reservations for larger rentals and then renting multiple smaller units to meet the regulation requirement, and eventually gathering anyway.

[powdork]

Vargo asked Cameron Turpin, the county’s assistant attorney, whether lodging could be included in the state’s 5 Star Business Certification Program, which allowed more than 100 county restaurants to reopen for limited indoor dining during the level red restrictions.

Really? They're allowing indoor dining exemptions?

[Micol]

Really? They're allowing indoor dining exemptions?

be interesting to know what eagle and pitkin are doing too

[Grizz]

Okay, but according to the article, people will just travel across the border into Quebec to ski. How does that help the situation? Why not close the border then? And why leave parks, skating rinks, and Nordic ski areas open? None of it really makes much sense. Not that it is any different than the chaotic response in the states.

In the not much sense file, WA closed fishing for 2 months because of COVID. Probably one of the strangest closures I've been effected by.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Really? They're allowing indoor dining exemptions?

I can speak to all other counties but here in Grand, we are on "enhanced orange" even though our metric call for "red". Indoor dining 25% capacity is allowed. Summit is still "red" but the 5-star program allowing in persons dining to be approved if the business can meet certain compliance criteria. I think we have the least restrictions of any major tourist town in this part of Colorado.

[Thaleia]

Okay, but according to the article, people will just travel across the border into Quebec to ski.

In some cases maybe, like if you've booked a multi night trip, but I don't think there would be a huge amount of day trips. The bulk of Ontario residents are in the Greater Toronto Area which is over five hours to the Quebec border and over six hours to any real ski areas there.

[Shorty_J]

Okay, but according to the article, people will just travel across the border into Quebec to ski. How does that help the situation? Why not close the border then? And why leave parks, skating rinks, and Nordic ski areas open? None of it really makes much sense. Not that it is any different than the chaotic response in the states.

And here I thought Canadians were cooperative, caring types, so different from us selfish stupid Americans.

No we're assholes too.

I don't have an answer to what isn't closed but if I were to take a guess I'd think that it's because ski hills have a way higher density of people than a nordic facility... at least at the base area.

My point is just that things get taken away when we don't behave properly. Maybe sometimes too much... who knows.

As for closing borders... I'm not sure what powers the provinces have to do something like that.

And Quebec is... special. They're numbers have been crazy for a long time and how they behave and manage that are foreign concepts to me.

Sent from my SM-A505W using Tapatalk

[Thaleia]

No we're assholes too.

I don't have an answer to what isn't closed but if I were to take a guess I'd think that it's because ski hills have a way higher density of people than a nordic facility... at least at the base area.

I think another part of it is that it promotes travel between regions. Really sucks for the locals.

[Shorty_J]

I think another part of it is that it promotes travel between regions. Really sucks for the locals.

Yeah I think you're right on both counts.

Sent from my SM-A505W using Tapatalk

[westoxified]

Hunter closed

[beer30]

First to close? We are never even gonna open!

[paulster2626]

I know it's shit skiing, and probably doesn't count for the aggro bro brahs around here but Ontario hills were open for a few days and then got shut down by the government on December 26 for a month as part of a province-wide "lockdown" that doesn't really lock all that much down. Many never even got to open up.

These hills suck for actual skiing, but are excellent for getting your kids turning and meeting up with friends and messing around in the winter in between the big trips. Kids lessons are now cancelled, refunds coming. Dunno how the local shit bump will survive, but I'm sure they will.

Scheduled end of this crap is Jan 23, which is a Saturday. Hills are begging the government to let them open up a couple days early otherwise they're gonna get slammed on that first Saturday late season opening. Of course the government won't do shit, because they don't really give a flying fuck about any of us and are also some of the most incompetent boobs I've ever seen in charge of anything.

All of these hills had limited passes, reservation systems ready to go, the usual social distancing measures in place, and all that crap. Fucking Blue Mountain alone had to lay off 2500 people. This sucks.

Sorry for the rant - as you were!

[m2711c]

2500 layoffs? how big is that ski area?

[paulster2626]

2500 layoffs? how big is that ski area?

I was surprised as well. Aaand I went back to check that article I read yesterday and I am mistaken. Ski industry in Ontario estimates 9500 layoffs due to this, sorry.

But Blue is a big operation. When intrawest was a thing, they bought Blue Mountain and Tremblant to have some east coast real estate action. Developed Blue in to a legit tourist spot with a village and all the good stuff it entails. They offer skiing of course, but also have an ice skating path thing, pond, quite a few restaurants, etc. Ski area isn't tall but it's wide. 42 trails and 8 lifts or something like that. Capacity of 26,000 skiers/hour which is significant for 750' of vert.

In any case, this shutdown is affecting many communities. My local 250' hill is where my kids take lessons, and from what I've seen so does everyone else's kid around here. The amount of teenage instructors employed there must be close to 100, plus they've got the lesson volunteers, kids running the lifts, and the kids serving shitty burgers and hot chocolate inside. I just feel bad for everyone involved here. A total mindfuck of a bad decision.

Edit: Not mistaken after all...
Blue Mountain
Headquarters: 190 Gord Canning Drive, Blue Mountains, Ontario, L9Y 1C2, Canada.
Phone: (705) 445-0231.
Website: www.bluemountain.ca.
Employees: 2,853.
Revenue: $308 Million.

[yeahman]

I know it's shit skiing, and probably doesn't count for the aggro bro brahs around here but Ontario hills were open for a few days and then got shut down by the government on December 26 for a month as part of a province-wide "lockdown" that doesn't really lock all that much down. Many never even got to open up.

These hills suck for actual skiing, but are excellent for getting your kids turning and meeting up with friends and messing around in the winter in between the big trips. Kids lessons are now cancelled, refunds coming. Dunno how the local shit bump will survive, but I'm sure they will.

Scheduled end of this crap is Jan 23, which is a Saturday. Hills are begging the government to let them open up a couple days early otherwise they're gonna get slammed on that first Saturday late season opening. Of course the government won't do shit, because they don't really give a flying fuck about any of us and are also some of the most incompetent boobs I've ever seen in charge of anything.

All of these hills had limited passes, reservation systems ready to go, the usual social distancing measures in place, and all that crap. Fucking Blue Mountain alone had to lay off 2500 people. This sucks.

Sorry for the rant - as you were!

Bravo! I feel for you. Doesn't matter if you are skiing a world class resort or a local hill, it's always fun and worth doing. To have that simple outdoor pleasure taken away from the community during a time when you really need it sucks ballz. I hope once the order expires they allow the areas to open and stay open. Good luck.

[Thaleia]

I'm in the GTA, and Blue Mountain is my 'home mountain'. Been a season pass buyer for close to two decades. With skepticism about this covid-19 this season, as well as some glaring holes in their operational safety plan, this is the first year I didn't buy a pass.

What pissed me off was when they announced their covid policy, in regards to lift lines, they literally stated that 'social distancing occurs naturally when wearing skis due to their tip and tail'. I asked them on social media what about the people you're packed into the lines shoulder to shoulder with, and they responded they will update their plan. I asked repeatedly about the update and got the run around, never got an answer. The reason this is important to me is since it's Ontario's 'premier' ski hill there can be tons of traffic and their line ups are notoriously bad at times.

I could go on about how they're handling refunds but I'll stop. Over all I'm upset at their lack of clarity in regards to their protocols and I'm not surprised they were shuttered. Yeah, sucks for the staff and Collingwood, Stayner etc are sure on the losing end as well.

[snorkelinthepow1]

The new backcountry ski area in Colorado, Bluebird Backcountry just closed due to Covid. At least temporarily.
Looks like Hunter will open back up Friday after being closed most of the week because most of the patrollers were out with the covid.

https://theskireports.com

[powdork]

that site is cool

[Core Shot]

that site is cool

Subscribed.

How else would I learn

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...-accident.html

Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, 47, breaks her tailbone in an accident jumping out of a ski lift with daughter Princess Ingrid over Christmas

[powdork]

I know right. Kicks that mother daughter crown princess fantasy into high gear.

[summit]

Could be Aspen... their incidence rate is straight up insane: >2.5% of Pitkin residents tested positive for COVID in the last 2 weeks while having 10.8% positivity.

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/poss...mains-unknown/

[Micol]

^ thread drift but on same page article on David "Lesh wants trial" for indy pass snowmobile event and Hanging Lake Poop...but, also national
link to NYT article coming out about him: "Trolling the great outdoors" about Lesh being the most hated man in the Rockies https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...great-outdoors

"Rally cars, airplanes, parachutes, snowmobiles, machine guns, drugs, bikinis, booze: “Jackass” meets “Big Pimpin’,” by way of “Hot Dog.”"

[Benneke10]

^ thread drift but on same page article on David "Lesh wants trial" for indy pass snowmobile event and Hanging Lake Poop...but, also national
link to NYT article coming out about him: "Trolling the great outdoors" about Lesh being the most hated man in the Rockies https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...great-outdoors

"Rally cars, airplanes, parachutes, snowmobiles, machine guns, drugs, bikinis, booze: “Jackass” meets “Big Pimpin’,” by way of “Hot Dog.”"

Great read, thanks for sharing

[powdork]

Hey now! Don't sully the good name of Hot Dog.

[The AD]

Subscribed.

How else would I learn

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...-accident.html

Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, 47, breaks her tailbone in an accident jumping out of a ski lift with daughter Princess Ingrid over Christmas

Did you see the family portrait? Real shocker that mom was skiing with her daughter. I suspect the boy would be back in the condo playing video games.