Skiers and riders are seen waiting in line on opening day Nov. 6 at Keystone Resort. Keystone and Breckenridge Ski Resort officials recently asked the county to eliminate their capacity limits. County officials declined but said they would revisit the issue.
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
On Tuesday morning, Vail Resorts properties in Summit County, including Breckenridge Ski Resort and Keystone Resort, posted on social media that they had submitted a request to the Summit County Public Health Department to remove capacity restrictions at ski areas.
The social media posts indicated that the reduced capacities mandated by Summit County government restrict the resorts more than their state-approved winter operating plans.
Summit County will continue its dry pattern this week with high winds lasting into Tuesday, Dec. 22, and two chances for light snow.
On Sunday, Dec. 20, the National Weather Service issued a high wind warning in the mountains of Summit County through 5 p.m. due to a forecast of 25-50 mph winds with gusts as high as 75 mph. Lisa Kriederman, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boulder, said Sunday’s high winds will continue into Monday and Tuesday but will decrease slightly in intensity with gusts in the 30-40 mph range.
Kriederman said a weather system will roll into the area Tuesday afternoon and evening bringing light snow. She expected the storm would bring just a few inches. Sam Collentine, Open Snow meteorologist, called for 3-6 inches from Tuesday night through midday Wednesday in his Breckenridge Ski Resort snow report
The Summit County Public Health Department is investigating an outbreak of at least 16 cases among sales team members and contracted workers at Breckenridge Grand Vacations.
According to a news release, the department began investigating the outbreak Nov. 25 after receiving several positive test results from employees, all of whom were tested between Nov. 18 and Dec. 1.
While company management had implemented rules for the sales office requiring masks, symptom checks and disinfecting some employees were disregarding those rules, according to the news release.
4. Vail Resorts cancels some guest reservations at Breckenridge
Additional capacity restrictions and limited open terrain are causing headaches at ski areas across Summit County, leading to canceled reservations at Breckenridge Ski Resort last weekend.
Breckenridge Ski Resort opened terrain Friday on Peak 10 via the Falcon SuperChair.
The opening of the Peak 10 terrain means four of five peaks at Breckenridge are now open. Peak 6 remains closed.
Peak 10 trail openings included Centennial, Crystal and Doublejack. Peak 10 is traditionally known for groomed black-diamond advanced runs. On Friday, Centennial, Crystal and Doublejack were all groomed.
As of Friday afternoon, Breckenridge reported 22% of its available acreage open, including 44 of 199 trails via 18 of 34 lifts across Peaks 7, 8, 9 and 10.
The resort on Friday afternoon reported a 25-inch base depth and 74 inches of snowfall so far this winter.
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Skiers and snowboarders wait in line for the chair lift on the opening day of the 2020-21 season at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images Text size
The pandemic may have shut down ski lifts last March, but it hasn’t stopped the new ski season from coming. Vail Mountain kicked off its opening day last month, as eager skiers and riders masked up and social-distanced their way down the slopes.
The Colorado mountain is among the roughly three-dozen resorts and ski areas operated by
Vail Resorts (ticker: MTN). The company says that in addition to Vail, it has opened most of its U.S. resorts, including other Colorado destination spots like Keystone and Breckenridge. East Coast resorts, such as Stowe and Okemo in Vermont and Hunter Mountain in New York, are open too.