Is Keeping Ski Lifts Closed Truly the Safest Solution?

Let us begin with a series of essential premises before reading this article:

This article is intended as food for thought and in no way aims to dictate policy; we have no intention whatsoever of second-guessing the tremendous work and professionalism of virologists, doctors, healthcare staff, and so on. We understand the difficulty of the current moment and the tough choices being made.

The author of this article experienced Covid firsthand during the first wave, and not asymptomatically. “A few days after Easter I was admitted to the hospital in Bolzano and stayed there for about 2 weeks, where I received oxygen support and related treatments. Fortunately, everything turned out for the best.” There is therefore full awareness that this virus can strike anyone and lead to serious consequences.

With those necessary premises out of the way, let us begin:

Over recent hours, the Alps and Apennines have been buried under snow in a way not seen in early December for a long time, with heavy snowfalls concentrated over short periods. These snowfalls have brought from zero to 2 meters of snow above 2,000 meters and have blanketed all valleys above 900–1,000 meters in varying depths of snow.

This extraordinary event has also caused major disruption, such as landslides and avalanches in many mountain areas that are still dealing with the various consequences right now.

In the coming hours things will return to normal and the sun will come out once again to kiss the heavily snow-covered slopes.

As always, however, nature has its own rhythms: the snow will need time to settle, yet we are approaching a weekend.

Closed Lifts? Improvised Backcountry Hikers

In a pre-Covid situation, the weekend of December 12/13 would certainly have seen the mass opening of ski resorts and sold-out ski slopes. Now, the pandemic rightly forces us to reckon with the virus, but how many people will be able to resist?

Photos of the heavily snow-covered Alps and the call of the snow and mountains risk proving stronger than government decrees and common sense urging people to stay at home.

While avalanche bulletins currently indicate—and will continue to indicate over the weekend—the highest danger levels, and while expert mountaineers warn of the risks of improvised excursions, it is a safe bet that crowds of skiers will probably head to the mountains anyway.

The risk is ending up with many would-be ski mountaineers, many would-be high-mountain hikers, and many would-be “Messners” who are unable to assess safety conditions and their own abilities.

The combination of high avalanche danger and inexperience could lead to numerous rescue calls over the weekend, with the resulting risk of overwhelming mountain rescue services, putting the rescuers themselves at risk, and running the risk of not finding hospital beds, which are already at capacity due to Covid.

Slopes and safety

As we know, ski slopes are purpose-built terrain designed to guarantee fun and the highest degree of safety; a slope only opens after proper grooming and safety measures have been carried out. Avalanche risk on groomed runs is far lower than in “open terrain”, where the snowpack is unconstrained in any way.

It is true that every year there are hundreds of skiing accidents on groomed slopes as well (which contribute to putting pressure on hospitals); however, law enforcement and rescue teams are present on ski slopes to mitigate the risk. It is hard to imagine how any supervision could take place if the same number of people scatter across the vastness of the open mountains.

Strict Rules

Opening the lifts while enforcing strict rules would probably have allowed ski resorts to absorb some of the pressure and keep track of part of the crowd that will head to the mountains in the coming days.

Now the risk is a debacle with numerous high-mountain rescue operations.

Appeal

We are probably heading toward the inevitable, at least until government decrees prohibit everyone from leaving their own municipality; it is very likely that the upcoming weekend could prove to be a very difficult one in the mountains.

We remain with the question posed in our title—“Is Keeping Ski Lifts Closed Truly the Safest Solution in the Mountains?”—but we urge everyone to recognize that the mountains are not a playground, and that off-piste conditions are completely different and must therefore be carefully assessed on the basis of weather and avalanche warnings, as well as one’s own skills and experience.

Ski mountaineering is not piste skiing, snowshoeing is not a simple walk along a trail, and at a time like this it is wise to think very carefully before organizing a trip to the mountains.

Avalanche bulletins must certainly be consulted in detail and any planned routes carefully evaluated.

Here is hoping that infections and the pressure of the virus subside as soon as possible so that we can return to carving down the ski slopes in complete safety for everyone.