EPIC MIX - How it works.

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Monday, March 21, 2011

Capture.In addition to your usual lift ticket, you must request an Epic Pass at the ticket kiosk. Itʼs a little plastic ID card with an RF chip embedded and an ID number that corresponds to your online account. (Season pass holders have RF technology built into their pass.) The RF Epic Pass card works with RF gantrys [VIDEO] that collect your location as you get on and off each chair lift to calculate your vertical feet and coverage of the mountain.

Itʼs completely seamless. You never have to swipe anything. The card never leaves your pocket.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Connect.Earn points, badges, and level up by exploring more of the mountain. The whole system is based on which lifts you go up and how many runs you do. It knows which lifts lead to which peaks, so badges and points are earned for riding more often, and more difficult runs throughout each day encouraging riders to progress during their time on the mountain.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Share.When youʼre in between runs, at the chalet chowing down lunch, or having a beer after the lifts close, you can annoy your Facebook friends with geeky stats about how many vertical feet you shredded or compare your ride that day to your buddies as well as your cumulative progress throughout the season. If youʼre an engineer like my dad, this is all very interesting...

Monday, March 21, 2011

So what? Does all this RF app-trickery mean weʼll be spending our serene time in the woods sliding down mountains out west with our noses buried in our mobile? Maybe. Most Colorado ski resorts now have 3G cell service covering the entirety of each mountain. My Dad used my digital camera, but I kept to my iPhone and trusty Instagram posting to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Tumblr on the fly. As complicated as this is, it really only takes a second. Not much worse than some of the first digital cameras that took an age just to snap a photo. As for Epic Mix, you donʼt look at it until youʼre at the chalet. If nothing else it builds conversation and encourages people to become better riders and conquer new terrain. Pretty cool.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Thatʼs a mountain.The Epic Mix promo video talks about how the first revolution of the mountain came when man figured out how to ride down them and started carving runs through the trees. They say that digital technology is the second revolution of the mountain that will change the way we ride forever. Itʼs a big claim, but truly, theyʼre not far off. Burton and Nokia are pushing the sport too. Hereʼs to the digital revolution.

Monday, March 21, 2011