I’m hardly an expert on COVID, but there seems to be a few themes emerging in what is deemed as safe (or at least safer than other things) according to the science and healthcare communities:

• Doing things outdoors
• Keeping your group small
• Sticking to close family

I’m sure 33 seconds in a Twitter thread of Facebook comments section could take that list 100 ways, but let’s use those ideas as our starting point.

Check the Boxes
Because, yeah, going on vacation to a resort as a family is one thing. But being able to do something fun and active without bumping into other families?

That’s tricky. But that’s exactly why I love the concept behind The Big Smuggle. Not new in 2020, but perfectly designed for a year like this.

From their website, The Big Smuggle works something like this.

Join us for a fast paced family fun race around the village of Smugglers’ Notch Resort. There is no right or wrong way to complete the course – Families can choose their own path, collecting gold bullion along the way. Begin by developing your strategy to outwit and outmatch your opponents and then the race is on! Sneakers are suggested, be prepared to get a little bit wet.

Note a few things.

Individual
While you are competing against other families, you’re also forging your own path which keeps families separated.

Outdoors
From the first challenge to the last, families remain outdoors. Again, a great idea any year, but especially in 2020.

Different
The Big Smuggle has been around for a couple years, but chances are most folks haven’t participated. We’re all craving some fun, new, unique distraction. And this delivers.

Simple, Smart
As I’ve said a hundred times on SlopeFillers, my favorite part of this is how simple it is.

There is no million dollar investment required, there’s no complicated setup, there’s no requirement for a long list of employees to supervise. It’s simple, smart, and, more importantly, fun.

Nice work, Smuggs.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.