Industry News
This Sunday, January 10th, Schweitzer Mountain Resort posted on their Facebook that they would be no longer be offering night skiing over the coming long weekend, citing concerns around the lack of regard for COVID-19 guidelines.
In the post, President and CEO of Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Tom Chasse, describes “an overwhelming lack of compliance with our mask policies and social distancing,” specifically regarding their twilight skiing. Chasse also stated that he would:
“Not continue to tolerate the verbal abuse that has been directed towards our staff as they have attempted to enforce our safety requirements.”
This comes as a huge yet necessary hit for the resort as they approach the MLK holiday weekend, hoping that they can take some time to re-evaluate their approach and policies on their twilight skiing.
Overall, there has been a very positive and supportive response, seen clearly in most comments on the Facebook post, with people thanking and praising Chasse for making a tough but necessary decision.
In a statement provided to The Spokesman-Review, Schweitzer Mountain marketing manager Dig Chrismer stated that “What we’ve noticed with twilight skiing is that people don’t think it’s serious… There doesn’t seem to be that same sense of urgency from our night-time skiers.” Chrismer also told The Spokesman-Review that in the meanwhile, day skiers are 95% to 98% compliant. It seems as though it is literally a matter of people thinking they can hide away in the dark.
Schweitzer Mountain says that they hope this announcement is merely a ‘pause’ in twilight skiing operations and not a complete cancelation of it for the entire season. Hopefully, after the holiday crowds disperse and skiers are aware of what is at stake, the mountain will be able to re-open their twilight skiing.
