Dear Guests,

Opening day at Mount St Louis Moonstone is quickly approaching. With that in mind, our family wants to provide an update on the actions our resort is taking to prioritize the health and wellbeing for all during the duration of the upcoming ski and snowboard season.

Face Coverings

Facial coverings will be a requirement for staff and guests in nearly every aspect of the Mount St. Louis Moonstone ski and snowboard experience. They will be required in all indoor spaces, except when seated to eat or drink, and outdoors when 6 feet of physical distance cannot be maintained. Whether you are waiting in a lift line, loading, or riding one of our chairlifts, and entering our chalet spaces, you will be required to wear a face covering. We believe this is an essential first step that we all can take to ensure a safe experience at Mount St. Louis Moonstone.

Physical Distancing

Enabling appropriate spacing between parties is another important step to ensuring a safe experience on our mountain. Based on our skier terrain and skier volume, we will limit the number of guests who typically have access to ski and ride on certain days. The following measures will be implemented to effectively manage volume and appropriate physical distancing on all days of the upcoming season:

  • Use your Car as your Base Lodge – Evidence shows that this virus loves when people gather indoors. The best way for you and your family to remain safe is to stay outdoors. Please come to the ski hill dressed and ready to ski. Leave your belongings in your vehicle. Bags and lunches will not be permitted in any of the indoor chalet spaces at MSLM.
  • Seasonal/Daily Lockers –MSLM will not offer daily locker access to guests this season. Please leave any valuables or belongings in your car. Seasonal lockers are limited and sold out during the March Spring sale.
  • Lifts – Physical distancing in lift queues occurs organically due to the length of skis and snowboards. Guests will notice additional spacing measures, including extended maze designs, more lateral spacing and increased signage. Guests will self-group and load chairlifts with their traveling party. IF YOU ARRIVE TOGETHER, RIDE TOGETHER. Lift attendants will not require guests to ride a chairlift with people they do not know.
  • Touchless Transactions – There will be no walk-up sales for lift tickets, rentals or snowschool lessons at MSLM in the 20/21 season. All purchases must be made in advance and on www.mountstlouis.com The resort needs to know who is coming everyday. This includes daily lift tickets. You will purchase your daily ticket for a specific day, and it will only be valid on that day. MSLM needs to provide contact tracing as another layer of protection, and this will more easily allow for that.

The resort’s new RFID Axess system at Mount St Louis Moonstone will allow Podium Pass holders and day visitors to pick up their Podium season passes and Louis Xpress card lift tickets without coming to ticket windows or Guest Services by using the kiosk and pick-up box locations for on site. The resort also encourages cashless forms of payment.

  • Snow School – The 20/21 season will begin with private/semi-private lessons for related parties in groups up to five. Recurring, 8-week programs will be available starting in 2021 and further information on spaces and sale dates will be provided at a later date.
  • On Mountain Cafeterias – We have reconfigured and maximised our dining spaces for guests while offering expanded grab-and-go menu items. We encourage guests to bring their own lunch and eat it in their car. We cannot permit bagged lunches in our chalet for the safety of our staff and guests.

For the remainder of our resort offerings, such as rental, and retail, the resort will operate within all Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit and Provincial regulatory guidelines for those industries, including capacity limits and modified entry and exit layout. Our newly redesigned rental department will allow guests to obtain rental equipment in a safe and distanced environment.

Sanitation, Health and Education

You will notice increased sanitation stations, increased facility and washroom cleaning frequency, new signage and upgraded air filtration systems around the resort. This includes daily staff wellness screening and requiring employees to stay home if not feeling well. While Mount St. Louis Moonstone is doing our best to hold ourselves accountable to ensure a consistent and robust ski experience, we ask that our guests also do their part. We urge you not to visit the ski resort if you do not feel well, or if anyone in your household is ill. We all play a role in stopping the spread of this virus so that together we can keep all guests, along with our staff and communities safe.

Podium Pass COVID19 Assurance and Podium Pass Fall Sale details

Podium Pass Holders continue to be covered by the COVID19 Assurance policy

  • This credit note schedule towards the 2021/22 season is posted on our website

Podium Pass Fall Sale begins next week

  • Limited quantities available
  • Please do not wait. Buy yours on the first day of the sale
  • Being a Podium Pass holder remains the best way to guarantee skiing and riding at MSLM this coming season
  • Daily lift tickets will be released in small quantities and will not be released until closer to the actual start of ski and snowboard season.

As we all work together to slow the spread of COVID19, MSLM recognizes the importance of these changes. We must be especially careful not to overwhelm the resort by selling too many Podium Passes or daily lift tickets. Some resorts are offering a reservation system for Pass Holders, in contrast at MSLM, a family run, quick and nimble operation, we believe a limit on Podium Passes is a better approach for guests. It allows the resort each day to maintain adequate physical distance between staff and guests at resort pinch points, near lifts and chalet lodges. That said, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of implementing a Podium Pass holder reservation system. Limiting sales now, alternatively, gives us the potential to avoid that scenario.

In closing, we believe starting the season with a responsible plan will ensure the wellbeing of our community, staff, and guests. These protocols enable us to provide a great ski and ride experience for the full winter season. We will continue to work closely with Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit and the provincial government to review the details of our winter plans and ensure a responsible approach for the entire duration of the season ahead. Given that skiing and snowboarding are intrinsically following provincial COVID19 standards where people participate in their natural familial bubble, while spread across expansive areas of outdoor space that lead with ease to social distancing, and guests wearing individual PPE, like facemask, balaclava, gloves, and goggles; MSLM feels strongly that enjoying skiing and snowboarding at our ski resort is an activity with a naturally low risk of infection for guests.

At our core, our family are skiers. There is nothing we want more than to ski. I hope we share that same excitement for the upcoming season. Let us continue to take care of each other and we will reunite on the mountain soon!

Robert Huter