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SAM Magazine—Charlemont, Mass., March 12, 2020—Berkshire East and Catamount in Massachusetts today became the first two U.S. ski areas to close for the season in response to the spreading COVID-19 virus. Neither resort has had any known customer or employee cases of the virus. The Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association (PSAA) Lift Seminar, scheduled for April 28 and 29 at Bear Creek, was also cancelled today. U.S. Ski and Snowboard is cancelling all remaining domestic events. U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame is postponing the induction ceremony and other events that were scheduled for March 24-29 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Berkshire East and Catamount

General manager Jon Schaefer posted the following statement on each resort’s website announcing the decision:

Closing for the Winter Season

To our Berkshire East and Catamount Guests and Employees:

Berkshire East will close for the season today, Thursday, March 12 at 4pm and Catamount Ski Area will not reopen this weekend. COVID-19 has been discovered in the surrounding hill towns and multiple people are being quarantined. To be clear, no known Berkshire East or Catamount customers or employees have been affected by this illness, but as the GM of these businesses, I have a responsibility to my employees and my customers to act swiftly to contain any potential virus spread in areas that I can control.

In 2006, I was buried in an avalanche in British Columbia. While being buried in that tumble of snow the only thing I could think of was “this isn’t worth it…” This experience informs me now as the only thought that comes to me is, “no ski turn is worth a life.”

My role in this business was given to me by my father who loves being at the mountain every day. His demographics put him at a higher risk than others. If I can’t recommend that he visit his facility, how can I ask anyone else to do the same? Our staff is our family. Our guests are our tribe.

Thus, with conviction, we believe that our businesses can be leaders (however small) in beating back COVID-19 from its current beachhead by immediately closing for what remains of the winter season.

There simply is no benefit to remaining open.

The best science shows that this type of aggressive mitigation is both inevitable and overwhelmingly in support of the public good.

We urge other business leaders and our elected officials to follow suit in continuing to aggressively close down public spaces so we can proactively begin to get this insidiousness behind us.

We send the full weight of our prayers to the healthcare workers and their families who are on the front lines of this battle. As this illness spreads exponentially, we must all take immediate action to “flatten the curve” in order to allow our nation’s health care workers to make effective headway against the current caseload of COVID-19.

We shout from our mountain tops that you can make a thousand daily impacts by washing your hands, not touching your face, practice social distancing and simply sit back while doing everything in your power to stop the spread.

This is certainly an inconvenience to our customers and will result in major changes for our staff. None of this is going to be easy and we are passing into unknown territories. But like any good skier knows, you beat back challenging situations by pressing forward into them aggressively and decisively.

Lastly, this is personal, I’m related to medical professionals working in hospitals with active outbreaks. We shut down out of love and support for these people and the staffs in these hospitals.

We are confident in the future. We will announce a reopening date for our whitewater rafting, zip lines, aerial adventures, and biking in the coming weeks as guidance comes down from the CDC, the NIH and WHO.

Jon Schaefer

Catamount Ski Area / Berkshire East Ski Area

PSAA Lift Maintenance Seminar

In a notice about the cancellation of the lift seminar scheduled for April 28 and 29 at Bear Creek, it was added that the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued a directive that no Commonwealth employees can attend large gatherings in response to the COVID-19 virus. That directive means representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety would not be attending the April PSAA Lift Seminar.

As of now, PSAA is still planning to host the Lift Maintenance Seminar scheduled for June 8 and 9 at Seven Springs, but anticipates confirming that by the end of April.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard

Due to the recently enacted European travel restrictions, and ongoing concerns in the United States and Canada regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), U.S. Ski & Snowboard is canceling all remaining U.S. domestic events, and working to return all U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes back to the United States. In addition, Alpine Canada, and Nordiq Canada have canceled events to coincide with U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is also canceling all sanctioned and scheduled events beginning Monday, March 16. This includes all club-level events for all disciplines and any unnecessary gatherings, including banquets, awards and end of season presentations, etc. Expect further updates on future events, including U.S. Ski & Snowboard Congress.

At this time, U.S. Ski & Snowboard sanctioned events through Monday, March 16, will continue as scheduled, or as determined by local organizing committees, or local health and government officials that such events should be canceled.

The following major U.S. and Canadian events have been canceled:

• Coop FIS Cross Country World Cup, Minneapolis, Minn.; March 17
• Moguls U.S. Freestyle National Championships, Squaw Valley, Calif.; March 19-22
• NASTAR National Championships, Snowmass, Colo.; March 24-28
• U.S. Alpine Tech Championships, Aspen Highlands, Colo.; Mar. 28-31
• SuperTour Finals, at Sovereign Lake Nordic Ski Club in Vernon, B.C.; March 25-April 2
• NorAm Alpine Finals, Panorama, B.C.; March 17-24

In addition, the following events are currently taking place, and will continue as scheduled pending local health and government officials:

• U.S. Freestyle Aerial Championships, Bristol Mountain, NY; March 14
• U.S. Junior Cross Country Championships, Auburn, Calif.; through March 14

The health and safety of athletes and staff is the primary concern of U.S. Ski & Snowboard and we are monitoring the current outbreak COVID-19 closely. We remain in close contact with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as our local health authorities here in Utah for guidance and instruction.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

The United States Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame is postponing its induction ceremony and all events scheduled for March 24-29, 2020 in Sun Valley, ID due to COVID-19 concerns.

Following the direction of national and local health authorities, the Hall of Fame is postponing out of an abundance of caution to avoid the possibility of unnecessarily exposing its honorees, their guests, sponsors, event volunteers and the Sun Valley / Ketchum community.

The Hall of Fame is working closely with the Sun Valley Resort to ensure the event can happen at a later date in 2020. More details will be available soon for those slated to attend in March on how to rebook and attend the events on the new event date.

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