Covid-19 and skiing

Since the beginning of the season, I’ve been skiing some 45 times and have had a chance to see how well the Covid-19 rules were observed by users and enforced by lift employees. 

By and large, the bigger danger seems to prevail in lines that are long and slow. No one seems to respect the 6 feet distance and it’s not rare to see people with their mask down or lots of noses sticking out.

The masks themselves are of all kinds, materials and shapes, from the balaclava to the traditional blue face mask, including some that are just designed for thermal facial protection, with opened nostrils or loose knit or polar fleece face gaiters. 

Some lifties are doing a good job at enforcing the mask rule, some don’t seem to care or are tired of having to repeat the same thing over and over. Nothing is really consistent and efficiency appears to varies greatly. 

On the lift, the one foreign-person mandatory space on chairs seem to work and I have not ridden gondola enough to witness what was going on, but suffice to say that I’ve seen folks pulling their masks down while riding chairlifts and when they’re around the parking lot. 

Groups of young people become automatically members of the same family, especially on powder days that have been so rare this season! So overall, my grade for safety is fair at best. 

You can say what you want about the fresh, cold and clean outside air, I don’t think our mountain skiing environment is one-hundred percent safe when it comes to this pandemic!