BRECKENRIDGE, Columbia (CBS4) – The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday is usually one of the busiest for ski communities. For one of Colorado’s most popular destinations, the accommodation numbers start to show a downward trend.
MLK weekend room night data is not yet available, but the Christmas and New Year holidays have fallen by almost 17%, according to Lucy Kay, CEO and president of the Breckenridge Tourist Board.
“That means about 4,000 nights in a room,” Kay said.
Kay updated Breckenridge City Council during a Jan. 12 meeting:
“Most of the fall from holiday nights came in the last two weeks of December,” she said. “In the last two weeks of December, there have been a lot of cancellations. There were also many reservations, but obviously many more cancellations than reservations and, with the loss of the Lifestyle Group, I think many of them fell into that window. ”
Summit County had a strong summer and a busy fall, but things on the ski slopes also felt calmer.
“Actually, I felt that even with the capacity they have, the crowds are pretty good,” said Denver resident Scott Cain.
Fox came to ski Breckenridge with his family friends for the weekend and didn’t have to wait long until Sunday.
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“The lines looked great, but they scattered them so optically, as if there were a lot of people here, but they basically didn’t exist,” he said.
Cain was very disappointed when he headed to the base area on Sunday and saw that the crowds had risen significantly.
“I just went out on the slopes and this is a bit ridiculous. There are a lot of people, “said Cain’s friend Dan Fox.
“We have children there somewhere, so we should probably go find them and wait to see if the crowds leave here a little. It will be a little bit “, added Cain.
Cain and Fox believed that the reservation system, along with the ever-changing restrictions, could have discouraged some people, the price they thought might be different.
Although it is common for ticket prices to rise during the holidays, this shocked Cain and Fox.
“I guessed $ 180 and I think I was far away,” Cain said.
The price for a single Sunday was $ 209.
“This is such a beautiful place to visit and it gets too expensive,” he said.
Vail Resorts says guests are encouraged to shop online at least a week in advance at the lowest guaranteed price for lift tickets. Especially this season, as COVID safety is a priority, all pick-up tickets should be purchased online to limit contact points.
Steamboat Resort is another area with similar holiday prices. It is said to be one of the many ways to keep customers safe and minimize congestion.
“It’s a measure for Steamboat to be able to limit capacity without the need for reservations for Ikon Pass holders or anyone who bought a package,” said Loryn Duke, a spokeswoman for Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.
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Although the price does not seem to discourage crowds at Breckenridge on Sunday, it is still under capacity restrictions and the more ground is opened, the more crowds there will be.
Not only are bookings for accommodation low, but weekend holiday trips seem to be a little lower than last year. The Colorado Department of Transportation says that despite the slightly smaller number of drivers this year, people should be prepared for longer-than-normal travel periods, especially in the snow they receive.
“In terms of traffic, it is difficult to say with the ongoing pandemic and the reservation system for ski resorts, but we still anticipate heavy traffic going east both today and tomorrow afternoon and then, of course, the hours of morning to the west. The number of traffic for the holiday weekends of 2020 was still comparable to the holiday weekends of previous years, although sometimes slightly lower. The difference we see now is that heavy traffic is not always over the weekend, probably because it can work remotely, ”said Presley Fowler, communications coordinator for CDOT.
Be sure to check cotrip.org before traveling for the latest road and weather conditions.