Sending Thoughts and Prayers to Save Your Ski Season
As Europe considers shutdown, U.S. carries on
When Italy closed tighter than a submarine in early March to stop the spread of Covid-19, I was skeptical that the United States would ever follow it into lockdown, despite the desperate pleas blipping across Twitter like Morse-coded messages from a warzone. I was stunned when we actually did, shuttering ski areas and everything else in a profound moment of national unity and pants-shitting fear.
That lasted about three weeks, at which time armed protesters channeling their inner Paul Revere stormed state capitols across the land to warn Americans about the existential danger of stay-at-home orders. Because nothing says freedom like an AR-15, wraparound shades, a tactical vest, and a goatee. I guess.
Thus began a partisan snowball fight over the efficacy and need for masks, social distancing, re-opening schools, and on and on. Somewhere in there, full shutdowns became political poison. President-elect Joe Biden has repeatedly said he will not shutter the economy. And as we learn more about how the virus spreads, we’ve arrived at a version of reality in which we can mitigate risk while certain sorts of commerce and fun continue. This includes skiing.
Posted from The Storm Skiing Journal
