More than 4,100 skiers and snowboarders were transported to emergency rooms in ambulances or helicopters across 2018, 2019 and the first part of 2020, which is about 10 patients every day of the season.

North America’s largest resort operator posts 50% revenue decline but a record 1.4 million sales of its Epic Passes. Vail Resorts chief Rob Katz warns investors of “a very challenging season ahead.”

A Magellan Strategies survey of Colorado skiers reveals apprehension over pandemic protocols, reservations and visitors. “I can go a year without skiing downhill,” one woman said.

One of the stickier points in managing the spread of COVID-19 in Colorado’s resort towns involves what to do when a guest falls ill during their stay and can’t leave.

A district court ruling suspends a ban on J-1 and H-2B visa workers, opening doors for ski areas that rely on the seasonal immigrant workers. But resorts that typically have visa employees on deck by fall are seeing surging applications from locals.

What is usually a set-in-stone schedule of flights is an Etch-a-Sketch this fall as Colorado resorts struggle to gauge demand for skiing and airlines work to accommodate coronavirus-wary travelers.

“If you are an HR director at a ski area, you are panicking right now," said Dave Byrd, policy director for the National Ski Areas Association, referencing President Trump’s extension of an immigrant visa ban through 2020.

Tourism leaders worry about the massive economic impact of Colorado disappearing from the public eye as the Joint Budget Committee ponders the idea of the state marketing itself

Davey Pitcher’s plan to open won approval from local officials, but he needs a variance to Gov. Jared Polis’ rule limiting travel for recreation to 10 miles.

Resorts wanted one more day to close since the shutdown happened as visitors from all over the country were flocking to Colorado for spring break. Gov. Polis said waiting would have led to more infections.

“It’s not that we want to stay. We just can’t leave,” says a ski instructor from Argentina who is among hundreds of J-1 and H-2B visa workers trapped in resort towns unable to get home.

Ski areas are already slashing capital spending for next year by half as the nation's 460 ski hills in 37 states line up for small business assistance. “When the ski industry sneezes, rural economies catch a bad cold,” says Dave Byrd with National Ski Areas Association

Vail Resort employs 55,000 workers and houses many of them near its resorts in Colorado, Utah, California, British Columbia, New England and across the Midwest

As mountain communities grind to close, coronavirus and economic worries turn to summer. “It’s time to show the world how tough we really are,” Telluride tourism chief says. 

Owners of Colorado’s first uphill backcountry ski area blend fun with education and safety as they test a business model they hope to replicate elsewhere

Think of Ski Cooper as the craft-beer of Colorado's ski industry, said Dan Torsell, the area's general manager