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Ikon/Alterra 20/21 COVID Operations Plan?

mikel

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Alpine Meadows/?? Valley do not plan to have have a reservation system.

A Message from Our COO
September 14, 2020
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows intends to serve its guests without a reservation system. We plan to manage general visitation by temporarily eliminating the sale of “walk-up” tickets at the window, and dynamically controlling the sale of advance purchase tickets. At this time, we expect such tickets to primarily be available midweek, but we will remain flexible as we learn more throughout the season.
Our priorities right now are providing space for social distancing at our two mountains, and remaining flexible in the face of the inevitable changes to come throughout the season. While elements of the resort experience will be different this season, the experience of skiing and snowboarding itself remains the same. Skiing has always had at its center the incredible personal freedom one experiences while engaged in the sport, balanced against the personal responsibility of sharing the slopes with everyone else. This year more than ever, our guests will need to carry both sides of that equation with them, so that everyone can have the best possible experience within a Covid-modified environment. That feeling of freedom in the outdoors is something we are all craving now more than ever. We look forward to making that happen for our guests this coming season.

Every corner of our business is totally immersed in preparing for this special season. We will continue to communicate as we have more concrete information available.

Ron Cohen
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows
 
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TS
Chickenmonkey

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David T.
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I didn’t see anything about selling fewer passes to help with this like some other resorts...Even Homewood, which has got to be hurting, has limited their passes.
 

palikona

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I can imagine Ikoners will be the first to be limited if cases skyrocket, no?
 

Wendy

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Here’s the text from an email I got from Winter Park today. (Underlining is my emphasis). Clearly, reservations for skiing will be required with priority access to pass holders. Weirdly, on the link that @jmeb provided, Winter Park is “not requiring (reservations) at this time.“ They don’t give details as to how exactly everything will work as Epic did. Although this process may turn out to run smoothly, it reinforces my decision to not travel West for the sole purpose of skiing this year.

The health and well-being of Alterra Mountain Company guests, employees, and local communities has and will always be our company’s highest priority. Since last winter’s resort closures, our teams have been working to develop operating plans and protocols designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We are intently focused on complying with local, county, and state regulations and offering the best guest experience possible for the 20/21 season. The effectiveness of these plans will rely on your cooperation with our enforcement of face coverings, social distancing and crowd management on and off the mountain.

This effort starts with controlling resort visitation levels to avoid overcrowding. We are prioritizing access for season pass holders and will tightly regulate the number of daily lift tickets that will be available by advance purchase only. To this end, walk-up window sales will be eliminated, and the sale of most undated lift ticket products will be discontinued until further notice. Please visit WinterParkResort.com for more information regarding our policies.

The pandemic has disrupted our lives in so many unpredictable ways. Medical professionals and scientists tell us that this constantly changing dynamic will likely continue until effective vaccines and therapeutics are developed and become available to the general public. Alterra Mountain Company and our destinations are committed to staying on top of the inevitable changes to come as best practices and health regulations throughout the two countries, six states, three Canadian provinces and 15 mountain communities in which we operate rapidly evolve. Our teams will communicate these changes to you as soon as possible so we can all adjust and plan accordingly.

Like you, I’m excited to get back to winter and the skiing and riding to come. These unprecedented times will continue to challenge us and will require tolerance and effort by all of us to help keep each other healthy and our destinations open for your enjoyment.

I look forward to seeing you on the mountain. Rusty

Rusty Gregory
Chief Executive Officer
Alterra Mountain Company
 
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TheArchitect

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I got the same email from Sugarbush and went to their site to read more. They had a link to the Vermont guidelines, which are a red flag for me and this upcoming season. Per the VT guidelines out-of-state visitors can come to VT provided that the county you live is as at or below the same active cases as VT. So if VT has 400 cases per million and my county has 600 per million then I cannot go to VT without quarantining for 14 days. Given that MA is very likely to have a higher count than VT I'm effectively unable to travel to VT this winter.


Unless I'm missing something I think this means I'm now deferring my Ikon pass to the 21-22 season.

Please, someone tell me I'm missing something and that I won't have to spend my ski season at Wachusett or in Western MA.
 

palikona

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So when says season pass holders get priority: Is he talking about Winter Park season pass holders or Ikon pass holders? It’s not clear.

Here’s the text from an email I got from Winter Park today. (Underlining is my emphasis). Clearly, reservations for skiing will be required with priority access to pass holders. Weirdly, on the link that @jmeb provided, Winter Park is “not requiring (reservations) at this time.“ They don’t give details as to how exactly everything will work as Epic did. Although this process may turn out to run smoothly, it reinforces my decision to not travel West for the sole purpose of skiing this year.

The health and well-being of Alterra Mountain Company guests, employees, and local communities has and will always be our company’s highest priority. Since last winter’s resort closures, our teams have been working to develop operating plans and protocols designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We are intently focused on complying with local, county, and state regulations and offering the best guest experience possible for the 20/21 season. The effectiveness of these plans will rely on your cooperation with our enforcement of face coverings, social distancing and crowd management on and off the mountain.

This effort starts with controlling resort visitation levels to avoid overcrowding. We are prioritizing access for season pass holders and will tightly regulate the number of daily lift tickets that will be available by advance purchase only. To this end, walk-up window sales will be eliminated, and the sale of most undated lift ticket products will be discontinued until further notice. Please visit WinterParkResort.com for more information regarding our policies.

The pandemic has disrupted our lives in so many unpredictable ways. Medical professionals and scientists tell us that this constantly changing dynamic will likely continue until effective vaccines and therapeutics are developed and become available to the general public. Alterra Mountain Company and our destinations are committed to staying on top of the inevitable changes to come as best practices and health regulations throughout the two countries, six states, three Canadian provinces and 15 mountain communities in which we operate rapidly evolve. Our teams will communicate these changes to you as soon as possible so we can all adjust and plan accordingly.

Like you, I’m excited to get back to winter and the skiing and riding to come. These unprecedented times will continue to challenge us and will require tolerance and effort by all of us to help keep each other healthy and our destinations open for your enjoyment.

I look forward to seeing you on the mountain. Rusty

Rusty Gregory
Chief Executive Officer
Alterra Mountain Company
 
Last edited:

Wendy

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So we he says season pass holders get priority. Is he talking about Winter Park season pass holders or Ikon pass holders? It’s not clear.
You’re right, it is not clear. I just made the assumption that since Winter Park sent this out to previous pass holders, it was going to be their policy. But maybe that’s an incorrect assumption.
 

Bruuuce

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I believe that the Winter Park season passes are booked through the IKON site (that's where the link goes) so I would expect that IKON=season pass. They may give priority to WP-only "IKONs" but Id be surprised if they did since many locals likely buy the full IKON to ski other resorts.
 

my07mcx2

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Bruce, that is my thoughts also. I also looked at SB season pass area and it was similar as WP.
 

mikel

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WP still has it's own pass even though it is an Ikon managed resort. Not sure if this helps

WHAT IS THE WINTER PARK SEASON PASS?
The Winter Park Season Pass grants unlimited access to ski and ride at Winter Park Resort this season.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE IKON PASS AND THE WINTER PARK SEASON PASS?
The Ikon Pass provides access to a total of 44 different destinations across the globe, while the Winter Park Season Pass provides access solely to Winter Park Resort, CO.
 

Bruuuce

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Bruce, that is my thoughts also. I also looked at SB season pass area and it was similar as WP.

Yeah, all Steamboat passes are IKONs so it is a local joke to say that we'd have to hate ourselves if we hated IKON passholders like they do in Jackson...
 

Bruuuce

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WP still has it's own pass even though it is an Ikon managed resort. Not sure if this helps

WHAT IS THE WINTER PARK SEASON PASS?
The Winter Park Season Pass grants unlimited access to ski and ride at Winter Park Resort this season.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE IKON PASS AND THE WINTER PARK SEASON PASS?
The Ikon Pass provides access to a total of 44 different destinations across the globe, while the Winter Park Season Pass provides access solely to Winter Park Resort, CO.

As I mentioned, if you click the link for the WP-only pass it takes you to the IKON site so we'll see if they consider that different than a full IKON. I doubt that they will, but who knows.
 

John O

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After seeing what a complete and total mess Crystal Mountain was this past winter, mainly in January and February, I can't see how they'll be able to operate safely without going to a reservation system. Limiting day pass sales last season (by limiting the number of pre-purchased tickets and eliminating walkup tickets) did not appear to do a lot to reduce weekend crowds.

Combined with the fact that Stevens Pass will be using a reservation system due to being a part of Vail, I think Crystal is going to be a disaster if they don't go that route too.
 
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Seldomski

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My guess is that IKON is not requiring reservations everywhere because they have no way to make that happen from the top. They lag in IT system maturity/integration relative to Vail's core portfolio of resorts. The individual resorts need to come up with their own IT systems to manage their own reservations, if that's what it takes to stay open.

/end speculation
 

jmeb

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The individual resorts need to come up with their own IT systems to manage their own reservations, if that's what it takes to stay open.

Given that Jackson's website clearly references that reservations will be made on the Ikon website, I don't think this is true. Looks more like Ikon is providing the platform and allowing partners to opt-in as necessary. This should allow passholders with multiple local mountains to only reserve one area per day and also ensure people can quickly find open slots.

Plus it allows IKON to currently say "Most resorts aren't requiring reservations", but have the tech in place as soon as the need them due to local restrictions changing.

It also clarifies why Abasin is starting on the 9th of Nov. It's date the software is meant to go live.

Ikon Pass holders intending to visit JHMR will be required to make a reservation in advance. Ikon Pass holders will be able to start making reservations on Ikonpass.com or through the Ikon Pass app on November 9.
 

raytseng

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My guess is that IKON is not requiring reservations everywhere because they have no way to make that happen from the top. They lag in IT system maturity/integration relative to Vail's core portfolio of resorts. The individual resorts need to come up with their own IT systems to manage their own reservations, if that's what it takes to stay open.

/end speculation
To that point though, all the Alterra resorts utilize Skidata for passes and as their "access-management" technology provider. This is a big company that Alterra can either partner/outsource or pressure to do the heavy lifting depending on what was the original agreement for being the technology provider. Skidata already have reservations features already in some of their other offerings; so it isn't a moonshot start from scratch build-your-own solution; it's just a last mile integration bit. If you want to throw Ikon under the bus, you can throw Skidata under the bus too if they are not offering a good enough off-the-shelf solution for reservations.
 
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Jilly

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Tremblant's announcement was pass holders with limited daily tickets. Non dated tickets are not going to be sold now, so no Costco tickets. Not sure what that means for something like our CSIA Fall members convention or any courses being offered. No mention of how facilities are going to be handled yet.

When you click on the link from the chart, it takes you to the summer site where all activities are limited and reservations needed.
 

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