How Covid-19 has changed ski season
While COVID-19 continues to limit Cal Poly students’ ability to pursue activities they enjoy in SLO, many are looking for opportunities to ski and snowboard in areas where these sports are still available.
If you are a student interested in continuing your winter hobby, here’s what you need to know: California mountain resorts are still open and ski club is here to help students shred some powder.
Although the mountain resorts many know and love are operating differently than they were in the past, it is still very much possible to enjoy a weekend on the slopes.
Despite resorts being open, the pandemic has changed regular operations. Business junior Kailer Spangenberg shared his experience dealing with the new modifications.
“The lines were exponentially longer. They made you cover your face with a mask and they lifted the stay at home order, so Airbnb is available,” Spangenberg said.
Specific health and safety precautions have been put in place such as requiring face masks, daily health checks of employees and increased cleanings and disinfections. The full list of California’s resorts and their specific safety procedures can be found here.
Along with these measures, lift tickets must be purchased in advance to allow each resort to account for the number of skier and snowboarders on the mountain each day.
To help students navigate this new world is the club Central Pacific Ski Club (CPSC), otherwise known to students simply as Ski Club. Ski Club has experienced quite a few setbacks due to COVID-19.
“The pandemic has had a pretty rough effect on CPSC … That being said, [we] have adapted quite well to the situation,” said Julian Donnelly, the Ski Club president. “We’ve decreased the price of membership this year knowing that we wouldn’t be able to have any in person social events.”
Although Ski Club will not host any in person events locally, they are working hard towards figuring out how to get their members onto the slopes.
“We are currently discussing what we can do about small trips this season,” said Donnelly. “We might be able to put something together similar to Big Trip, where we get discounted hotel rates and lift tickets for our members. [We would] require everyone to take a negative COVID test prior.”
In addition to this, a paid membership to the club includes discounts from various restaurants and shops in San Luis Obispo such as Louisa’s, 686 and Burton. Members also receive 30% off of Ikon passes which is a multi-resort unlimited ski and snowboard season pass.
If you are interested in joining CPSC, you can join here. As for those who plan to ski independently, make plans in advance and be prepared to experience some differences from your regularly scheduled ski trips.
