"Bigger is better" has been the ski industry's credo for years. More terrain, lifts, and hotels are on the way. This year, though, that tactic isn't working out so well, with some of the larger resorts understaffed and unable to handle the crowds, which are spurred by pent-up pandemic demand for travel following missed ski seasons. Resorts and major ski resorts have been hit by a double whammy: a labor shortage and an omicron variant outbreak that is decimating the ranks of the few employees they do have. The general labor scarcity is affecting numerous industries, but it's especially bad for ski resorts, which rely on a large number of seasonal visa employees from other countries, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, a scenario compounded by the pandemic's travel restrictions. As a result, some services have been discontinued, operations have been reduced, and even elevators have been left unstaffed. Today, I spoke with a skier who had just returned from one of North America's largest and busiest resorts, who said that operations were running at roughly a third of normal, but that crowds had not decreased. Read more at HelpMeChas.com