The protocol for access to ski lifts at ski resorts for the coming season has been validated by the government, Domaines skiables de France (DSF) reported on Monday.
Applicable to the 250 French ski areas for the 2021-2022 season, this protocol makes it compulsory to wear a “surgical mask or a category 1 fabric mask” from 11 years old on “all ski lifts” and their “ queues ”, details DSF in a press release.
"Only ski lifts and conveyor belts may possibly be exempt from wearing a mask when used by a single user at a time", adds DSF, specifying moreover that neck straps cannot be authorized as an "alternative" only if they are "filtering and approved".
The protocol also “recommends” the wearing of a mask for children between the ages of six and 11 when using the ski lifts.
On the other hand, it does not make it compulsory for any skier “while skiing”.
"Subject to changes in the health situation"
Skiers will also have to apply all barrier gestures, and in particular "respect in the access lines, a distance between people or groups of people traveling together", continues DSF.
Domaine skiables de France recalls that this protocol is "subject to changes in the health situation" and stresses that in the event of a national incidence rate exceeding 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the health pass "will become compulsory as of age 12, in addition to wearing a mask ”.
The announcement of its application will be made "no later than Tuesday for the following Saturday".
Skiers will be checked by “QR-code, using the Tous Anti Covid application”, in the operators' sales areas, ski lessons and in the ski area.
On Friday, the National Observatory of Mountain Stations revealed that the forecast bed occupancy rate stands at 43%, against 45.5% in 2019-2020 at the same period, before the sudden interruption due to the Covid -19.
This same forecast rate reaches 61% for the Christmas holidays (compared to 67% in 2019-2020) and 60.5% for the February holidays (compared to 62% in 2019-2020).
This weekend, the first skiers hit the French slopes of Val Thorens, in Savoie, and Porté-Puymorens, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the first to open, savoring their return after two seasons marred by the epidemic.
