Bingo. You ride a lift with who you show up with. Lift capacity will likely be 50% of normal, just like what led to mile long lines at summer gondola operations. So here’s the thing, the resorts are not set up to operate at 100% this season. Like this summer they were set up to accommodate like 60% of normal visitors but 80-100% came and it was a poor experience. The places were overrun, long lines, traffic, etc.
Its the same this winter, they are planning for reduced visitors so if the full boat of visitors show up it’s going to be like getting caught with your pants down. Lift lines have been massive everywhere that’s started skiing or even tried it last summer. The resorts in the Alps opened for two days before the optics of massive lines were so bad the gov’t forced them to close.
I still think the resorts are being set up to handle only limited amounts of skiers and the fear is still that *too many* show up and they aren’t prepared to manage that crowd.