WINTER PARK, Colo. (KDVR) — Winter park is celebrating their 80th year of operations but the mountain operations are completely suspended. The only reason the gondolas are running right now is to bring employees up the slopes to shut it down.

Alterra Mountain Company said on Saturday that they will suspend operations at their 15 North American ski resorts starting Sunday, March 15 until further notice. This includes both Winter Park and Steamboat resorts in Colorado.

All lift operations, food and beverage, retail and rental services will be closed as well. 

The resort is still housing guests like Ethan and his childhood friends who met from across the country here on Saturday.

“We were planning on going early this morning so we didn’t ski as much yesterday so it’s really a bummer because we missed out big time,” Ethan said.

Winter Park says that they plan to continue paychecks for employees during this time.

“Our employees and our guests are top priority definitely through all of this because the impact is much larger than the fact that people can’t ski,” Jen Miller of Winter Park Resort said.

The press release stated that each resort will work directly with guests to assist in canceling their visit and will provide refunds to those who have hotel and other bookings during the closure period.

You can email reservations@winterparkresort.com to inquire about refunds. They ask customers to include their reservation number, full name and COVID-10 service request in the subject line.