“Don’t be discouraged,” wrote Arapahoe Basin COO Alan Henceroth in a blog post titled “Candid Talk on Opening.”

With Colorado’s statewide ‘stay-at-home’ order lifted (with the exception of a few counties), hopeful slopegoers are starting to wonder if there’s a chance that resort skiing in the spring of 2020 could still happen. If it does, it will likely happen at the ski hill known for a season that can sometimes stretch into July – Arapahoe Basin.

“This is a marathon and A-Basin is a marathon runner,” wrote Henceroth of Arapahoe Basin. With a season that typically starts in October, Arapahoe Basin’s season was active during 10 of 12 possible months of the 2018-2019 stretch. Indeed, A-Basin is a marathon runner among its peers.

“When the conditions are right, we will try and re-open,” Henceroth wrote in the post, continuing to indicate that any sort of re-opening would still be “at least a few weeks away.”

There is still the concern of social distancing, burden on the healthcare system, and risk of travel. While the resort is creating a plan to re-open, they’re not planning for when that might occur. Henceroth claims it won’t be happening soon.

Henceroth finished his message to the resort’s slopegoers by urging them to follow guidelines during the time of the pandemic: “We need to do the right things now if we want to get open again.”

Summit County, home to Arapahoe Basin, released an “amended public health order” on April 25 that kept their ski areas closed until further notice “to discourage residents of other counties and states from visiting Summit County.” The order also extended the short-term lodging closure through March 31, among other things.

Polis last addressed the ski areas explicitly with an amendment to his initial order for closure. Resorts will likely remain closed under his executive order regarding ‘safer-at-home’ despite the opening of some non-essential businesses due to large gatherings of people that occur.

While Colorado’s ‘stay-at-home’ order has lifted statewide, the ‘safer-at-home’ phase of the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak has started. For many, not much should change under the ‘safer-at-home’ phase, during which travel and recreation further than 10 miles from home is still discouraged. People should also continue to limit interactions with non-household individuals.

Backcountry travel and recreation is still strongly discouraged due to the potential spread of COVID-19 and the strain this puts on first responders.

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