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Despite unprecedented challenges, skiing and snowboarding proved popular across American resorts during the coronavirus pandemic. National Ski Areas Association counted 59 million visits to 300-plus hills and mountains on the 2020- 21 season. The trade group said the total was fifth-best on the record list dating to 1979. NSAA reported the same figure for the 2018- 19 season. The organization considered the most recent season a strong recovery from the pandemic-shortened 2019- 20 season, when visitation was reported down about 14%. Provided data show the season was the second-best ever logged in the Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado and five other states. Across all states, NSAA tallied 22.5 million visits last season, up 11.9% from the previous season cut short by COVID-19 closures. The latest total is down from the region s record-best 24.4 million visits in 18- 19, according to NSAA. ....
On Christmas Eve 2020, Etthan Mañon, an eighteen-year-old from the Dominican Republic, died after a skiing accident at Echo Mountain. It took rescuers more than an hour to extricate Mañon from the trees where he d crashed, and that passage of time may well have spelled the difference between survival and losing his life. Although everything about the incident was tragic, Mañon s death appears to have gone unreported for months, until a March 23 Colorado Sun article previewed a new bill about transparency related to ski resort accidents and safety plans. The measure will be discussed by a Colorado Legislature committee today, April 15, and Danilda Streeb, Mañon s aunt, who lives in Denver and is still reeling from her nephew s passing, supports it wholeheartedly, even as she expresses astonishment that such mandates aren t already in place. ....
1 Share Echo Mountain Resort ski patrolman Paul Amundson adjusts a boundary rope in 2017. A bill in the Colorado Senate, sponsored by two Jefferson County Democrats, would require more transparency from ski areas regarding their safety plans and accident data. (Andy Cross, Denver Post file) A bill sponsored by two state senators that would require Colorado ski resorts to collect and publish safety plans and accident data is scheduled to be heard in a committee of the legislature next week. Sponsored by Democrats Tammy Story of Conifer and Jessie Danielsen of Wheat Ridge, SB21-184 would require ski area operators to “adopt and disclose safety plans, disclose seasonal ski accident statistics and maintain an accident data database,” according to a summary of the bill on the general assembly’s website. ....
Snowboarder Colin Walters rides to the bottom of Little Nell on Aspen Mountain on a cloudy day in Aspen on Thursday, March 4, 2021. Walters lives in Lakewood.(Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times) Everything was going perfect for Aspen-Snowmass on Saturday, March 14, 2020. The snow was super soft from recent storms. An early wave of the spring break crowds filled chairlifts, restaurants and shops. Skier visits for the season were running on par with the record set in 2018-19. Then the reality of the pandemic crashed down. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered ski areas to cease operations barely more than 24 hours after he had applauded them in a news conference for taking precautions in order to stay open. ....