2 of 3 Australian Vail Resorts Closed for the Season Due to COVID-19
Following its decision to suspend operations at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek just a few days after they opened, Vail Resorts Australia has announced that these resorts will not be reopening for the rest of the season. This decision came after the Victoria state government issued additional COVID restrictions for at least another six weeks. Vail’s Perisher resort, located in the state of New South Wales, still remains open with social distancing precautions.
Link to press release: https://www.skifalls.com.au/whats-on/latest-news/covid-19-season-update/fbclid/iwar3qyxi-puzbcjcsguj6ats8jjckiv9ete1qlzucpa3t_rqt_fmt8r98ume
Our Take
Mount Hotham and Falls Creek were open for less than a week before they had to shut down due to COVID. It’s unclear whether a vaccine will be available and widely distributed by next winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and we think it’s very much within the realm of possibility that North American resorts will face similar shutdown scenario for the 2020/21 season. At this point, we think it would be incredibly foolish to buy any ticket or pass product for next season without a strong mid-season assurance policy.
Vail’s Epic Coverage will result in nearly full refunds for some Australian passholders. However, those who chose one of the “all resorts” options won’t be getting their money back unless Perisher also closes. This is a huge blow now that the ski season for most of these passholders is now entirely cancelled.
You can hedge against COVID-related refund complications at North American resorts next season by making a smart pass purchase. Vail’s full refund policy can be found here.
If you plan on getting an Epic Pass, be very careful about which pass protection option you choose. If you choose the “all resorts” option, it requires all of Vail’s Colorado, Utah, Lake Tahoe, and British Columbia resorts to be closed for 7 or more consecutive days for passholders to be eligible for a refund. This means that if COVID closures occur in some of these regions but not others, you won’t get a refund.
The “specific resort” option provides more reliable coverage (as the name suggests, it provides a refund if the resort you pick closes for 7 or more consecutive days). It’s plausible that if the mountain you choose closes, other Epic-affiliated resorts in the region will be subject to the same closures; therefore, you can effectively choose a region to get practical pass insurance for. In fact, there’s no situation in which picking the all resorts option will get you a larger refund.
We said these closures were a humbling reminder that we have a long way to go to conquer COVID-19 when originally announced, and we believe this rings even truer now.
