It’s almost time; it’s almost the start of the season that some families eagerly wait for each year. Unfortunately, like most things, 2020 is throwing a different slant on skiing.
The events of the year have led many families to cancel their plans, but some are hanging in there. Is it possible to go skiing? If you play your cards right, it might be. However, your planning phase will need to be significantly different than usual, and you will have to make a few quicker decisions.
This post will take a look at three points that you need to factor in as you brace yourself for the upcoming ski season.
It might be a last-minute decision
Many of us are used to planning our ski trips a long time in advance. After all, this has never been a budget trip and more often than not savings are available if you give yourself plenty of time when booking.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true this year.
Travel corridors are constantly changing. Some countries are out of bounds, while others have a long quarantine period attached to them.
Not only that, but country-specific restrictions are changing. France, as an example, has experienced some of the worst of Covid-19. They have been under tough restrictions for some time and if the situation worsens further, ski resorts may open late or not at all.
As such, you might have to assess the Covid-19 data yourself, find a ski map from Piste Pro, and plan in much shorter timeframes. It’s not ideal – but it’s probably the best chance you have of getting to the slopes this winter.
Assess your means of getting there
Of course, it’s not all about whether the resort in question is open. You also have to ask yourself how you are travelling there.
Flying might be a good option but stay close to the news as the rules on travel by plane is constantly changing.
Many people drive to ski resorts, stopping off for several nights along the way. Such an approach will be difficult this year, for very similar reasons a reasoned in the previous section. You don’t know if hotels and restaurants are open, while service stations are going to be a skeleton of what they have been in the past.
What about the equipment, lift passes etc?
As we all know, one of the biggest headaches of a ski holiday is collecting the gear and equipment when you arrive. This might be one of those occasions where Covid-19 has helped the industry.
Rather than queuing for hours for that week-long lift pass, or ski hire, a lot of resorts are encouraging everything to be pre-booked online. The digital-era is taking over the ski industry and this will extend to equipment as well.
Granted, some resorts have been doing this for some time, but you can expect a more “modern” holiday when you arrive and the queues should be shorter.
