Three Tahoe resorts set dates for summer activities following coronavirus closures
Three popular Tahoe-area ski resorts will reopen for some summer activities in the coming weeks following three months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Vail Resorts announced Thursday its three properties near Lake Tahoe — Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood — will welcome guests back for select activities with a number of modifications in place, including mask requirements in certain areas.
Heavenly will open its gondola July 3 and is targeting that date to open the Ridge Rider mountain coaster, according to a news release by Vail. The resort aims to open the Tamarack Express Chairlift by July 15.
Northstar’s golf course is set to reopen July 15. Other activities will be announced by early July, Vail said.
Kirkwood will reopen hiking and biking trails, with no lift access, as well as disc golf. The resort’s general store, currently open Tuesdays through Saturdays, will be open seven days a week starting next Tuesday.
“On mountain, the resorts’ vast outdoor settings make physical distancing easy,” the resort company’s news release said. “But in the base areas and other locations where it is more difficult to do so, we will have signage and decals to ensure guests remain six feet apart. “
Face coverings will be required “in lines, when loading and unloading chairlifts, when loading and riding in gondolas or bubble chairs, on activities such as an alpine slide or mountain coaster, and in indoor resort facilities;” plexigass barriers have been installed in other areas; and the capacity on lifts and gondolas has been reduced, Vail said.
Guests are asked to stay home if they are sick, and employees will have their health screened daily, the company said.
Most transactions — from lodging and hospitality to food and other on-mountain activities — will be cashless, and only one guest per family will be able to enter the resorts’ lobbies at a time for check-in and check-out.
“While we are offering limited summer activities, we are lucky that our beautiful outdoor settings provide a landscape to experience nature and to easily practice physical distancing so we all can safely return to the mountains we love,” Tom Fortune, general manager of Heavenly Mountain Resort, said in a prepared statement.
Until late May, El Dorado County had a ban on nonessential travel in place for the the south Lake Tahoe basin, including a $1,000 fine for violators.
In recent weeks, El Dorado has joined more than 50 other California counties in gradually loosening restrictions to allow for more recreational activities. Movie theaters, for instance, were allowed to reopen across most of California starting last Friday.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Three Tahoe resorts set dates for summer activities following coronavirus closures."
