Skiing at Mount Southington makes the perfect gift!

Hi there. I'm Teresa Dufour with your CT Style Express. The holiday gift-giving season is upon us, and why not consider an experience for your loved ones this year, like skiing? Here from Mount Southington Ski Area is guest services manager Brian McCloskey. Nice to see you, Brian. Thanks for chatting with us. Oh, it's great to see you, Teresa. Thank you for having me. So ski season is right around the corner, and what's a better gift than a season pass? Well, I don't think anything, really. I mean, the season pass is going to get you on the slopes a lot faster. You don't have to wait in line. You don't have to reserve your spot. Just get your season pass. You can do everything online, signing the waiver, uploading your photo, and we will even mail it to you so you don't have to come into the office. Wow, you're certainly making it easy. So- We're trying. Yeah. Talk to us about some of the other features of Mount Southington, because it's not just the hills. I mean, you have lessons, there's a terrain park. We do. Our terrain park crew does a really good job of keeping it fresh, keeping it new. They swap out some of the features throughout the season, creating new jumps, new rails, all kinds of stuff. So the younger crowd really loves that. And then we also have our lessons. We have group lessons, private lessons. This year is going to be a little bit different with our ages, simply because with the pandemic going on, our instructors are not able to physically help the smaller kids onto the chairlift. So for children ages four to six, we're asking that the parents actually come with them on the lesson for private lessons. That way they can help put them on the chairlift if they're ready for that. If not, they're going to be going on the carpet lift, which is just a surface lift, so they don't need any help with that. So it's going to be a little bit different. The children's programs now are going to be ages seven and up, again, because of the smaller kids not being able to get on the lift themselves. But if you're brand new to it and your kids are trying it for the very first time, they're not going to need anything more than the surface lift for the first few times anyway. That makes sense. And Brian, talk to me about how a season pass is going to work. So with season passes, obviously we're going to have to restrict the number of people that are here every day. So with season passes, we're basically allowing our season pass holders to come whenever they want, and we're reducing the number of day tickets that are available for purchase based on how many season passes we sell. So if you have a season pass, you can come anytime, any day that we're open, and go right from your car onto the hill and start taking your turns. If you don't have a season pass, then you will have to make a reservation, buy your ticket in advance. You can't necessarily guarantee that you're going to be able to get one if you walk up to the ticket window. We will be posting on social media if we're sold out for the day and all that stuff. So you will know ahead of time if we are unable to sell a ticket at the window. But season passes really are just a much easier way. If you're going to be here a lot, it's definitely worth the money to not have to worry about making a reservation. Right. Yeah, absolutely. And Brian, talk to me about some of the other precautions. We talked about lessons, how they're going to be a little bit different, but the provisions for the pandemic. Yep. So we will be reducing the indoor capacity based on our restaurant guidelines that are set forth by the state. Right now, we're still at 50% indoor. We'll have the tables socially distanced. We're going to have outdoor seating, but we will be limiting the number of people inside. Now, as far as the lift lines go, that's a lot of people's concern because usually you see, you think lift lines and you think like a huge group of people all clustered together. We're going to be putting both lanes in that are six feet wide side to side so that everybody is spaced out. And then your skis provide a natural barrier between front and in front of you and behind you. So it's just going to be a more spaced out experience, which I mean, maybe you're not really all that mad about that. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense, especially while you're skiing. But it just makes so much sense. You're going to be outside. You guys have taken the precautions and, you know, an experience is a great holiday gift. It's really a lot of fun for the family. I grew up going skiing with my family and it's one of the things that I remember, you know, really well about my childhood. So, you know, now there's no better time to start a new tradition with your family. I think that's great. You can learn more over at MountSuthington.com. Get your gift certificates, get your Siemens passes. Brian, thank you so much. Happy holidays. Thank you. Happy holidays, Teresa. Thank you.