By Dawn De Busk 

Staff Writer

A face mask is something that is already worn while downhill skiing. 

That one familiarity comes into play during the pandemic.

But, there are plenty of new adjustments that ski resorts have had to make in order to offer a safer skiing experience. Skiers, too, have altered their habits. 

At Shawnee Peak, changes have been put in place to be in-line with state mandates, and to avoid bottleneck areas where skiers might not be able to socially distance, according to the Director of Skier Experience Rachael Wilkinson.

Wilkinson’s strongest piece of advice is: Purchase tickets and/or rental equipment before taking the trip to the resort. 

“It is highly recommended that people purchase Online in advance of arriving,” she said.  

This mantra will be especially helpful for skiers who must pre-register Online for the discounted night skiing programs, such as Monday Night Madness and LL Bean Family Friday Night, since the number of skiers has been capped — a decision made by resort management, according to Wilkinson. 

People who love to ski don’t need to shy away from Shawnee Peak. Just be aware of how the flow of things goes from picking up lift-ticket card to the locations of new outdoors restrooms.

The resort had already begun to implement the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards that eliminated waiting in line. Last year, the resort made the transition to the technology that has been available to the ski resort industry for several years.

“One of the things that makes a huge difference is people are able to purchase their tickets, use the kiosk and go directly to the lift,” Wilkinson said. “People love them. It’s a very quick transaction.”

People purchase tickets by going to the website, shawneepeak.com. Then, once they get to the mountain, they use a kiosk at Guest Services. The kiosk reads the code off the customer’s cell phone and then spits out a RFID card or downloads the ticket to an existing card.  

“We have obviously had to put caps [on the number of people] in certain areas. On rentals, you can only go through when someone at the door lets you through,” Wilkinson said.

The rental area is twice as big and the configuration was redesigned so customers go in only one direction, she said.

Group sessions where people learn how to ski or snowboard have been downsized. Children’s group classes are no longer offered.

“A lot of the instruction has turned to one-on one,” she said.

The restaurant has expanded outdoors seating because some indoor seating was eliminated to ensure social distancing. An existing deck has a new plexiglass wall. A new patio was built prior to this ski season as well.

The restaurant is still working on offering Online ordering and pick up. Additionally, a mobile food wagon has been set up.

“Inside the lodge, we have a no bag, no backpack policy,” Wilkinson said.  “People can come in and put on their ski boots or use the bathroom, and then take their personal belongings with them. So, they are not basing themselves inside at any point.”

“There are lot of outside bathrooms, too, There is a heated bathroom , a port-a-potty so people have the ability to remain outside if that is their wish,” she said. 

Many people are making the conscious decision to avoid trips inside the lodge, using outdoors picnic tables or personal vehicles as a place to hang out between runs.

Wilkinson said COVID-19 has changed the habits of people on the mountain.  

“It is very interesting watching the natural flow of what is happening. The majority of people are remaining outside. They are not coming in by choice. Also, people are basing themselves outside in their cars, sitting in their trucks, eating a sandwich and going back out skiing,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the resort is voluntarily keeping numbers down, especially during the popular ski times when the cost of a lift ticket is reduced, Wilkinson said.  

“There isn’t a mandate on the mountain. However, we have decided to put mandates on what would be our busiest times: Monday Night Madness, LL Bean’s Friday Family Ski Night, and Sneak-A-Peak Sunday Afternoon. Those are all discounted tickets. We will be capping the number of tickets. We will be requesting that people buy Online and we will be capping them,” she said. 

On one hand, the numbers of skiers that usually go to resorts has dropped. On the other hand, skiing is something that does provide social distancing, once a person is on the slope.

“The numbers are certainly impacted by COVID. That’s across the ski industry and not specific to us. A lot of that [drop in numbers] has to do with Massachusetts skiers not being able to come and go as freely anymore,” Wilkinson said, referring to the 14-day quarantine. 

“We draw a lot of our ski visits from Massachusetts,” she said. 

She talked about the turnout during the two-week Christmas vacation, and the fact that warm temperatures caused the ski season to start later. 

“We were still pleasantly surprised with the number of folks that came out. There are people who are desperate to get out and have some sort of normalcy. We were pleasantly surprised at those numbers,” she said. 

“I think people are reacting differently with COVID. It is my hypothesis that with COVID, some people have just stayed away,” she said. 

The number of season passes purchased have not been noticably impacted by the pandemic, she said.

“Actually, we have just looked at the numbers and believe it or not, there hasn’t been an impact at all,” she said. 

Season passes will not be refunded if there is a stay-at-home mandate or if the ski resort is closed by the state. Shawnee Peak won’t give out any refunds to season pass holder sthis year. However, if the resort is closed, there will be a pro-rated discount on the cost of next winter’s season pass.

The 2021-22 season pass would be pro-rated, if the state closes the resort this winter, she said. 

Given the rules laid down at the resort and the tendency to stay as socially distanced as possible, downhill skiing is definitely an appropriate activity.

“Once you’re out and skiing, it’s quite similarto last year, before the pandemic,” Wilkinson said.