December 15, outbreak?

Powder snow blew over the top of the mountain. I rode the chair and saw the fresh snow filling the trees. I floated in the light snow and bounced on the bumps like pillows on the slopes. There were remnants of ice that scraped free in some of the steeper pitches. Ullr was regaling us with his blessing. I was lucky enough to ride the fresh snow as it fell in crystalline heaps of wonder.

With excited trepidation, we have started an amazing ski season at our mountain home. People have been wearing masks and there was a cautious excitement for a full season. News of a vaccine being rolled out created a new optimism. There was a buzz in the air, there is a light at the end of the tunnel in the battle against our viral foe.

Then it happened.

News started to trickle in over the last couple of days. A covid testing facility was set up in Happy Valley and staff members of the mountain were told to get tested for Covid19. Rumour and fear started to spread.

Then it hit the media today. There have been positive tests at our mountain paradise, the numbers started to filter in. Sixty cases of the coronavirus have been found at Big White. Repercussions and chaos have started to echo throughout the mountains and the valley below. A staff party in snowpines in the last week has created a cluster. I wonder if we tested everyone in Kelowna how many cases would be found lurking under the surface? 

Young, dumb, and full of … themselves, these young adults thought they could flaunt the rules. They thought that it didn’t matter; they were immune to the consequences. I understand, I was young once, and when no one is sick what is wrong with having a party? Apparently everything.

Now the consequences are reverberating all through this mountain community and into Kelowna.

Restaurants on the hill have lost staff and the mountain itself is shorthanded. The struggle is real and there are many people on the mountain required to self-isolate and quarantine. With staff staying in accommodations that don’t allow physical distancing it was only a matter of time before something happened. I hope they learned…

I imagine the back rooms and kitchens of the restaurants are full of tension. The beleaguered owners and managers must be at their wit’s end. How can they reinforce the gravity of the situation? How to get through the mindset of a group that is on the hill for the winter to party? The party is off for this year… I hope they can get a grip on it soon. 

My wife’s parents are concerned; my daughter’s mom is worried. Does our proximity to the hill put us at risk? I feel very safe riding in the lift lines. I am not concerned with being on the chair. I will be careful when I am in the village. How do we reassure people that don’t ski? They can’t understand how safe and wonderful it is to be on the side of a mountain. I wish I could share the feeling of pure freedom and connection when I am at the top of the world carving fresh tracks in virgin snow. We can only reassure everyone we are being safe and staying sane.

With only ten days until Christmas, I hope we can unwrap our presents and stay skiing in our mountain paradise. Nightmares of the shutdown last spring linger in my mind. I’m sure it is heavy on the minds of the stressed-out businesses that have lost so much. They can’t afford to lose Christmas too.

We can do this; we can have a season and can get through to the other side. Vaccines will roll in and roll out, we will return to normalcy. For now, we are in a race against time and complacency. I hope the lesson has been learned and our youth can think of the future instead of their own present.

Everyone stay safe and stay sane.