SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., May 6, 2020—As focus shifts to the prospect of opening for summer business, we’ve had several organizations from different industries share with us the guidance they’ve carefully put together, with steps to ensure a reasonably safe environment for both staff and guests when operations resume. These resources are loaded with actionable takeaways that are applicable to various aspects of mountain resort operations.

Blue Mountain, Pa.
COVID-19 Response: Getting Back to Work

Blue Mountain general manager and COO Jim Dailey shared a staff-training deck with detailed guidelines for workplace protocols, resources, and more. “It was a team of us that put it together, with examples from some other training programs we found and info from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the CDC,” said Dailey.

NSAA Pandemic Playbook
NSAA is working on a Pandemic Playbook and will be releasing it soon. In the meantime, members can check out a webinar this Friday, 11 a.m. MDT, Pandemic Playbook: Gearing up for summer ops.

Black Sheep Restaurants
SOP: COVID-19 Playbook

The SAM Huddle on May 4 featured business leaders from other industries that are facing similar challenges as mountain resorts, including the restaurant and hospitality industries. One of the panelists shared with us this comprehensive “playbook” from Hong Kong-based Black Sheep Restaurants group. It is one of the best we’ve seen. From the intro: “This is a manual on how we are attempting to get on top of the situation, stay ahead of the curve, and come out the other end of it as a team with our values intact.”

Italian Adventure Parks Association
Recommendations for Adventure Park Operators

In late April, we shared this document from the Italian Adventure Parks Association, and it’s worth sharing again. For mountain resorts with aerial adventure operations, this is an excellent resource.

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA)
COVID-19 Reopening Guidance

IAAPA released a 36-page “first edition” guide for the global attractions industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We shared this resource through SAM’s sister publication, Adventure Park Insider, earlier this week. Adventure Park Insider has its own “Coronavirus Updates” page with a variety of critical guidance and resources for adventure park operations.

Head Rush Technologies
Adventure Industry: Getting Started Again

Head Rush Technologies has put together a blog post that outlines what considerations adventure industry operations will need to review in order to reopen.

The outline includes topics such as protocol adjustments, hygiene considerations, and cleaning guidance. It also provides links to various other resources from the climbing industry, ACCT, and Adventure Park Insider.

Arival
Ready to Re-open? Four Essential Steps to Consider

Arival provides insights and a community around sellers of tours, activities and attractions. It has several good articles on opening considerations, including this one.