Luxury California ski resorts are gearing up for a wave of visitors with slope reservations and touchless massages

• The winter ski and snow season is fast approaching in California.
• But, like everything else during a pandemic, the slopes will look a little bit different this year.
• Here's how some of the biggest snowsport destinations are preparing to welcome visitors.

The winter 2020-21 snow season is quickly approaching.

Although skiing and snowboarding are naturally socially distant activities, the social experiences that come with the snow community — such as striking up a conversation while congregating in line to wait for a lift, or grabbing a well-earned apres ski drink after a long day on the mountain — are shaping up to look different this year.

To prepare for visitors, California ski destinations are modifying offerings for the 2020-21 season by implementing new technologies on the mountain, and adding capacity limits — all while still aiming to offer an enjoyable experience for visitors. As details and regulations constantly change, each destination urges travelers to call ahead to check in on their intended destination beforehand.

Business Insider connected with some of the most visited snowsport destinations in California to get expert insight into what ski season is shaping up to look like this winter. Here's what we discovered.

Ski California, which represents 29 ski resorts across California and Nevada, is working to mitigate risks of the pandemic with the "Ski Well, Be Well" initiative, promoting operational best practices based on scientific guidelines from experts. This includes daily wellness checks on employees, and consistent disinfecting of high touch surfaces such as ski lifts.

"This year is definitely a 'know before you go' year, there's no question of that," said Mike Reitzell, president of Ski California. "You have to treat it as if you're getting on a flight and you want to check the weather, check the timing, and make sure everything is good to go before you get to the airport."

Certain rules and procedures will be enforced across all affiliated resorts, like wearing a mask within six feet of another person. Other rules can only be enforced by individual resorts based on their location and the local regulations — like capacity for indoor/outdoor dining options, which vary by county.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a popular hub for snowsports. Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and straddling the border between California and Nevada, it's geographically enormous, and usually welcomes (on average) 2.7 million visitors per year. There are dozens of resorts across the lake's two main regions, which include North Tahoe and South Tahoe. Both regions are working together to implement and enforce similar safety precautions to protect winter visitors and Tahoe locals.

North Tahoe Region

North Lake Tahoe is home to 12 ski resorts — the largest concentration of alpine resorts in North America. This includes Olympic Valley's Squaw Valley, and adjacent Alpine Meadows. Olympic Valley covers 3,600 acres of mountain space and was the host site for the 1960 Winter Olympics. The resorts plan to manage general visitation capacity this year by temporarily eliminating the sale of "walk-up" passes at the windows onsite, and controlling the number of sales on advance purchase tickets.

"Our priorities right now are providing space for social distancing at our two mountains, and remaining flexible in the face of the inevitable changes to come throughout the season," Ron Cohen, president and chief operating officer of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, wrote in a blog post."While elements of the resort experience will be different this season, the experience of skiing and snowboarding itself remains the same."

Local Olympic Valley luxury resort The Resort at Squaw Creek has modified its onsite offerings to reflect safety protocols, and appointed a specialized hygiene and wellbeing leader who's responsible for holding the hotel to its new operational guidelines. These include requiring guests to wear face coverings when entering indoor public areas, and when congregating in any outdoor area. The property has also implemented limits on the number of passengers in elevators and shuttles, and will use QR codes in place of traditional menus at onsite eateries.

"While cleanliness is key, it's also table stakes as we continue to develop creative ways to inspire travel," Greg Gooding, managing director at Resort at Squaw Creek, told Business Insider. "This year, the Resort at Squaw Creek is working hard to create a ski experience that includes social distancing and additional precautions.

North Tahoe Sugar Bowl and Royal Gorge resorts are planning to install radio-frequency (RFID) access gates on chairlifts, which in combination with a new "self-service pick-up station," and contactless payment option, will allow for a virtually touchless ski and snowboard experience.

All lift tickets, lessons, and rentals at Sugar Bowl & Royal Gorge will require advance purchase reservations. The resorts will be capping the number of season passes sold this season, and will limit the number of daily ticket sales in order to manage the flow of guests, and conduct contract tracing if needed

The North Tahoe town of Truckee, a popular hub for visitors of northern ski resorts, has a website dedicated to posting daily news on updates on regional regulations and local conditions that visitors can check for real time information.

South Tahoe Region

South Lake Tahoe is home to three snow resorts — Heavenly, Sierra, and Kirkwood — all of which plan to operate on similar online reservation-based systems that prioritize annual passholders for first pick in an effort to reduce crowding.

South Tahoe hospitality properties have also significantly increased their own safety measures by adapting to touchless offerings and getting creative with their off-mountain entertainment.

Edgewood Resort, located directly on the border of California and Nevada in South Tahoe, aims to offer a relaxing experience centered around physical distancing. Upon check-in, guests will receive a welcome pack that includes a custom face mask, hand sanitizer, and wipes for additional on-the-go safety.

The property's Spa Edgewood modified treatments to offer a menu of "hands-off" services. This includes reiki nnergy healing — a touchless method of spiritual healing and self-improvement, as well as a self-guided Hypervolt massage, a touchless experience where master therapists will guide a client through massage techniques using the technology of Hypervolt to alleviate sore muscles and ease away tension.

Overall, Lake Tahoe recommends visitors continue to follow live updates on regulations and check in with the individual destination they plan to visit to understand the exact procedures.

Big Bear, which is about two hours northeast of Los Angeles, offers two ski resorts: Bear Mountain and Snow Summit. Both resorts operate under the same management organization collectively known as Big Bear Mountain Resorts. Big Bear's opening date will be determined based on the local snowfall.

This year, the mountain will be requiring face coverings, enforcing social distancing, and eliminating singles lines on the ski lifts (when two riders who don't know each other take the same lift up for a faster way to get through the line).

The operations team is also working on accommodating guests by creating a higher number of further spaced out, outdoor eateries, as opposed to one restaurant where visitors might traditionally meet and congregate for a meal.

"All the focus will be on making sure we offer the best experience possible for the guests, and adhere to any state and or local guidelines that are in place," Justin Kanton, advertising and PR director at Big Bear Mountain Resort, told Business Insider. "It's going to be a fairly fluid situation, so we're going to be asking our guests to be both patient and flexible, because there's going to be some uncertainty as to what may or may not be allowed to operate. We've seen in the past six months how rapidly things can change in one way or another in any given area depending on the circumstances."

There will also be increased sanitation at equipment rental shops and eateries, and smaller class sizes for lessons. Kanton said that the overall goal of the BBMR operations team is to get visitors up on the mountain as seamlessly and as safely as possible — which includes easing congestion during arrival at the parking garage, all the way up the mountain. Once skiers and snowboarders are up and active, it's fairly simple to stay socially distant from other skiers.

Mammoth Mountain, located in Central California, boasts the highest lift-served summit in California at 11,053 feet, and 3,500-plus acres of skiable terrain.

Mammoth is currently scheduled for a November 14 opening, and has taken the opportunity to learn from the successes and frustrations of their summer season's modified operations to prepare for the winter season.

"Flexibility is really the name of our game this season," Lauren Burke, communications director of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, told Business Insider. "We have to be flexible on the resort operations side; guests are going to have to be flexible with what conditions and capacity might look like. As state regulations change, the health and safety of our guests and our community is always our number one priority."

Mammoth plans to prioritize its Ikon passholders, which offers member benefits like discounts and perks. As of right now, those with a pass at Mammoth won't have to use any kind of reservation system to plan their visit. Day-of visitors will have to plan on buying their lift tickets early. They're also adding more outdoor seating for skiers and increasing the number of grab and go food options available for a post-ski tailgate session, as opposed to saddling up at an indoor bar for an apres ski beer.

The snow must go on

For the best experience across the state, each destination encourages visitors to consider traveling mid-week as opposed to weekends to avoid crowds, and to stay informed of updates on restrictions and general travel information at their resort.

Every resort shares the ultimate goal to keep their mountain open the entire snow season — and guests can aid in these efforts by staying flexible with quickly changing protocols, and by calling ahead to check on the most up-to-date information on their destination.