Thank you all for the posts, and I welcome other insights! It looks like for now I definitely won’t be booking any lodging, and will just wait and see what happens.
From reading these posts, I think that’s smart! Yikes. I hope my husband can ski in Maine this year. It keeps him from getting grumpy.
@TS0104 - Can’t blame you for being cautious. I hope (for your sake and ours) that the CO ski season pans out.
The think I find confusing about ski town (and other vacation town) data is I’m not sure how the categorize visitors. Do the covid cases get logged for the vacation town or hometown or both?
I think if they are diagnosed in the ski county, they are counted as in that county. Last March/April, the original Colorado cases were visitors to Aspen and Vail and Breck, and they were counted in those counties. The one in Breck was a 30ish guy from another state but who had just returned from Italy. The Aspen cases were visitors from Australia and NZ.
Also in the spring, many of the mountain cases were brought down to Denver hospitals if hospitalization was required. Respiratory illnesses don’t do well in the high altitude (and mtn hospitals aren’t set up for a lot of respiratory cases to arrive at once), so even going down to 5,280 elevation in Denver helps.
FYI for anyone interested, Keystone is opening this weekend, and the reservations to ski this weekend filled up very quickly. I think that reservations for the entire season open up today (Friday), but I don’t think I’m going to jump in and make mine unless they are changeable.
An avid skier here. I’m going with my wife and D to SLC/Jackson Hole/Grand Targhee right after Christmas on the cheap and great Mountain Collective pass. We don’t expect as much skiing as usual, and we are planning to do more hike-to skiing (you take a lift, and hike further from the top to reach your run through backcountry gates). People who go skiing to collect vertical feet on quick runs will be disappointed but if you just like being in the mountains, or prefer quality to quantity, you’ll enjoy it - there will be fewer people on the slopes.
As for the cost, I can confirm the observations of other posters - Airbnb generally cheaper than previously, resort lodging - outrageously expensive.
Typically ski centers open with only a few lifts open. As more snow comes, it may be easier to get reservations (?)
@ArtsyKidDad , thanks…I had missed the tip about AirBnbs being cheaper.
I went ahead and made Keystone ski reservations today for spring break. Since opening weekend (this weekend) reservations filled up really quick, I was worried about getting locked out of spring break. Reservations opened this morning and I was ready to go, I had to wait for 4.5 hours in an ‘online waiting room’, but I got them for the days I wanted. (they don’t cost anything; I’ve already paid for the pass, and have to use the pass this season so there was no risk in making the ski reservation).
Lodging, however, would require a deposit and maybe not be refundable, so I don’t think I’m going to rush to book it. I plan to watch how the season gets started and see if it will be worth the lodging and flight costs.