{"id":50417,"date":"2020-11-16T01:19:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T08:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-health-oks-purgatorys-plan-to-open\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:51:28","slug":"san-juan-basin-health-oks-purgatorys-plan-to-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-health-oks-purgatorys-plan-to-open\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan Basin Health OK\u2019s Purgatory\u2019s plan to open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Purgatory
Purgatory Resort plans to open for the season Nov. 21. San Juan Basin Public Health approved the resort\u2019s plan to open during the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday.<\/span>Courtesy of Purgatory Resort<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Purgatory Resort has been cleared by San Juan Basin Public Health to open Nov. 21 with some accommodations required of visitors to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is now reviewing the resort\u2019s plan to open with skiing initially available on some 250 acres of terrain serviced by snowmaking and perhaps several other trails if natural snow allows, said Purgatory Resort General Manager Dave Rathbun.<\/p>\n

Masks will be required for guests 11 years and older while indoors and when a physical distance of 6 feet cannot be maintained by skiers.<\/p>\n

Purgatory advises anyone at high risk for COVID-19 who cannot wear a face mask because of medical problems to not visit the resort this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur resort\u2019s mission is to give people the freedom to ski, and we know after last season\u2019s abrupt end, our community is anxious to get back on the slopes,\u201d Rathbun said. \u201cWe genuinely appreciate everyone\u2019s patience and understanding as we navigate and adapt to these changing COVID-19 policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides face masks, other measures will be in place to contain spread of the novel coronavirus. Measures will include:<\/p>\n

All lift tickets, lessons and ski rentals will be sold online in advance. Information about purchases will be loaded on a new lift-access card, the Purgatory Card<\/a>, to eliminate personal contacts during purchasing or delivery of rentals and services.<\/em>A new online food-ordering service<\/a> will be used to reduce personal contacts, manage transaction times, and monitor the number of guests indoors at any one time.<\/em>Chairlift procedures will require related parties to self-group to ride together. Unrelated skiers may share three-, four- or six-person chairlifts with one seat between each party. No one will be required to ride with a stranger.<\/em>Access to indoor spaces will be limited and controlled, based on SJBPH\u2019s COVID-19 alert level at the time. Guests should plan to be outside more this season, especially during peak days. Vehicles should be used as a base lodge locker where skiers boot up and store all items not needed during the ski day. Buildings will have strict capacity restrictions for restroom use, food order pick-up, and time-limited seating for dining or warming up.<\/em>Group gatherings and tailgating in the parking lots or other public areas will not be permitted. Only related parties that arrive at the ski area together will be allowed to gather and group sizes must be 10 people or fewer.<\/em>Compliance with all public health and governor\u2019s executive orders, resort policies, and directions of resort management and personnel will be enforced by Purgatory\u2019s COVID-19 Action Team with support from the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/em>All employees will complete and pass a symptom and exposure screening as well as a temperature check before being permitted to begin their shifts.<\/em>All lodging, Ski & Snowboard School and Purgatory Snowcat Adventure guests will also be required to pass a symptom and exposure screenings before arrival at the resort.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Purgatory
Purgatory Resort plans to open for the season Nov. 21. Skiing will be offered on 250 acres covered by snowmaking equipment and perhaps some other trails if natural snow allows.<\/span>Courtesy of Purgatory Resort<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SJBPH Environmental Health Director Brian Devine, who is also serving as deputy incident commander for COVID-19 response, said Purgatory has worked with the health department since mid-October to review its plan to operate safely during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cPurgatory\u2019s team put together a detailed plan that complies with the state\u2019s ski area guidance and has the ability to grow and contract operations in line with La Plata County\u2019s position on the state\u2019s COVID-19 Dial,\u201d he said in an email.<\/p>\n

SJBPH completed review of Purgatory\u2019s plan on Friday. The plan is now undergoing required review by the CDPHE, Devine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have regular check-ins with Purgatory\u2019s leadership team throughout the ski season to make adjustments as needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Devine said everyone should practice safe ski-trip habits during the upcoming season to minimize the region\u2019s risk from the virus. Safe practices include:<\/p>\n

Travel to the mountain, ski, ride and socialize, especially in indoor spaces, only with members of your own household.<\/em>Don\u2019t visit the mountain if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or if you\u2019ve been notified of close contact with someone who has COVID-19.<\/em>Wear a face covering in all public indoor spaces and in outdoor spaces where you can\u2019t maintain 6-foot distance from other people, including on chairlifts and in outdoor dining areas.<\/em><\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Travel to the mountain, ski, ride and socialize, especially in indoor spaces, only with members of your own household.<\/em>Don\u2019t visit the mountain if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or if you\u2019ve been notified of close contact with someone who has COVID-19.<\/em>Wear a face covering in all public indoor spaces and in outdoor spaces where you can\u2019t maintain 6-foot distance from other people, including on chairlifts and in outdoor dining areas.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to welcome first skiers on Nov. 21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[378,685,28,29,4259,712,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alpine-skiing","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-purgatory","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87746,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50417\/revisions\/87746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50417"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}