Ski Cabanas, For Distancing And Warmth When The Lodge Is Off Limits
You’ve got to feel for the skiing industry. It’s been handed two business-altering scourges: climate change and COVID. On a more positive note, though, those two c-words have delivered to us one more: cabanas, which first made an appearance last year at Catamount Mountain Resort in Hillsdale, New York and Bousquet Mountain in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. These wooden ski huts have been a hit with skiiers, the tubing crowd, and, of course, non-skiiers accompanying the first two parties.
“We put the cabanas out last year as our response to COVID because we had limited use of the lodge,” said Kevin McMillan, Bousquet’s general manager. The rustic wood units are supplied with gas cylinders for heat and this year are available on first-come, first-served basis at no charge. Last year, however, families could rent a cabana for the entire ski season.
Actvitiy at Catamount's cabana village
In 2021, Catamount put out 50 cabanas — 12 daily and 25 seasonals. This year, there’s a waiting list for the 30 seasonal rentals, and five daily cabanas, said Dave Kulis, Catamount’s assistant general manager. Catamount offers a small camp heater; skiiers who have rented cabanas for the season can bring in their own propane. The huts are furnished with a picnic table and benches for six, and hooks for coats and helmets. If you can snag one for the season, it’ll cost you $3,800; the daily cabana rental fees are $175 midweek and $200 on weekends and holidays. While the lodge will be open this year, it will still be following COVID protocols so if you can’t get in to suit up or warm up, a cabana is a private alternative and beats changing in your car. Kulis said guests report that the ability to shelter away from crowds gives them peace of mind.
What the cabanas have inspired, too, is a party-like atmosphere, a communal (but distanced) village of warming huts, firepits, and food trucks at the bottom of the trails and, at Bousquet, the top of the tubing area.
“They’re really popular with the tubing crowd,” said McMillan. “They’re serving a great function when whole families come tubing. Parents do it [tube] about three times with their kids, then hang out by the firepit.”
You can’t help but feel the festive spirit when you’re among food trucks, firepits, seating areas and warming huts. Santa made an appearance at Bousquet, and last year Catamount held a “Cabana Wars” competition (grand prize: a season pass).
“We gave the seasonal renters instructions to decorate the cabanas any way they wanted to, as long as it wasn’t permanent,” Kulis said. “There were four cabana winners and we saw everything from a ‘Den of Zen’ to a disco dance house, to a log cabin with a fake fireplace and bearskin rugs.” They plan to hold the competition again this year.
Snowmaking operations can combat climate issues. Ski cabanas, food vendors and seating areas create safe environments to help quell COVID concerns.
“We can’t make the mountain any taller than it is,” said McMillan. “The focus is on snow quality, intentional environments and great services.”
Taking a break in a Bousquet cabana
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