The three-day Presidents Day weekend is traditionally a busy time for area ski resorts.

Despite the high number of COVID-19 cases, Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton has been handling business well with substantial safety precautions and increased ticket sales as of late.

Blue Mountain offers a number of winter activities for people young and old. Whether guests prefer snow tubing down the lanes with a friend or the more challenging aspects of skiing and snowboarding, the resort provides a variety of options for everyone. Lessons are even available for first-timers who need help learning the basics.

However, like many businesses during this time, COVID-19 has led Blue Mountain to make some adjustments to the operations at their resort.

Ashley Seier, marketing manager at the resort, discussed some of the changes that Blue Mountain has faced since the pandemic first began.

“We are limiting capacity so we’re selling 60% of what we deem our capacity. We determine that based on the amount of terrain that’s open so, for example, today we’re open with 37 trails so we’re trying to balance out the appropriate amount of people for that amount of terrain,” Seier said recently.

As of Friday morning, all trails are open and eight of 16 lifts are open.

To account for this new regulation regarding capacity, Blue Mountain is holding all of its ticket sales online with no physical ticket windows available at the resort.

For those interested in coming to the mountain, Seier recommended that people order tickets on the Blue Mountain website as soon as possible after deciding to visit.

“We’re dynamically priced so the earlier you buy them, the cheaper the tickets are going to be, which is kind of similar to airlines. As soon as you know that you wanna come here you should buy your ticket because it could sell out very quick.”

Other than ticket purchases, changes have also been made regarding lift lines.

“Even though you’re outside you still need to keep safe, so you need to wear masks in the lift line, keep 6 feet apart from the person in front of you and behind you and you need to keep your mask on the whole time that you’re riding the lift up to the top of the mountain. I think that’s the hardest thing to get across to people because they think that since they’re outside they don’t really have to have it on, but we are still enforcing that,” Seier said.

Even though many changes have been made to the resort, the mountain has been having a very busy year selling out tickets almost every weekend, sometimes even selling out during the week.

Seier explained why she believed Blue Mountain was having such a successful year. “I think a lot of people are working flex schedules and doing school from home with college if they haven’t gone away. They’re just looking for something to do and we’re one of the only things open. It’s not like anybody is going to the movies right now so they’re coming out and taking lessons or maybe people have had skis in their garage for the last 10 years and they’re finally dusting them off and coming out. Even with our green season, mountain biking really took off this year and we have zip lines and camping and that was very popular this year as well. I think there’s just a demand for the outdoors.”

This sentiment regarding outdoor activities was affirmed by Dirk Heerding and his son Alex Heerding, skiers from outside the Philadelphia area. They come to Blue Mountain every year.

When asked whether he felt safe skiing at the resort amid the pandemic, the younger Heerding said, “Yes, ’cause it’s outdoors and everyone is already wearing face coverings because of skiing and plus they’re limiting how many people are on the mountain. It’s one of the less riskier activities you could be doing.”

The elder Heerding said skiing and making reservations online compared to in-person was actually easier compared to prior years.

“It’s a lot less crowded and I like that I can pick everything up and get it all done online. I know that you could have done it before COVID, but it feels a lot easier now.”

Other than attendees, employees at the resort have undergone changes as well, including mandatory temperature checks, COVID-19 surveys to ensure they have no symptoms and that they have not been exposed to the virus, and mandatory facial coverings regardless of being indoors or outdoors.

The resort has also increased its sanitization procedures which has actually accounted for increased hiring of employees this year as well.

“Of course we always clean and sanitize everything, but it’s been very rigorous this year. There’s also been a lot more hiring opportunities for housekeeping because of it since it requires more staff, so it’s been good to expand that department,” Seier said.

Current dining options at the resort offer both indoor seating at 50% capacity as well as outdoor seating in the courtyard, and Seier noted that the resort also made new additions to current outdoor dining.

“We tried to move a lot of it (dining) to the outdoors so we added seven food trucks this year and purchased online ordering software so you can order on your phone from the lift and pick it up in a bag and head to an outdoor table.”

Seier ended by saying, “I think we’re fortunate to be an outdoor business in general. I think people feel safe outdoors, and personally I think it’s safe outdoors and I think it’s good to see people getting out and being active. I think that there’s a mental health aspect to be locked inside of your house so we’re happy to be able to provide an activity for people to get out and do.”

Jack Frost and Big Boulder have also added all the safety protocols and are selling advance tickets only.

The resort has added larger lift lines and mazes to accommodate greater physical distancing between guests.

Guests can ride chairlifts with their related parties, and no one will be required to ride with someone they don’t know.

Big Boulder Mountain has 13 out of 16 trails open and three or eight lifts open.

Jack Frost Ski Resort has all 20 trails open and seven out of nine lifts open.