Regional
(2010-09-01)
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photo courtesy of Vail.net
This winter if you ski at any of Vail's five resorts in Colorado or California, a tiny chip attached to your lift ticket will keep tabs on the vertical elevation you log skiing, the number of runs you do, and it will even let you know which one of your Facebook friends are also on the mountain.
As a skier, this all may seem a bit distracting from the very reason you're out in the great outdoors on the slopes in the first place. But Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz sees it differently.
"It does not in any way change the ski experience," Katz says. "You could be as wild and crazy, of course skiing safe, you could really explore the mountain, ski as much as you want, and you will not download, interact with an application or interact with a phone all day."
But Katz says at the end of the day you'll be able to power on your smart phone or laptop and have numerous photos and stats to share with your friends.
The technology is similar to what runners now tie on to their shoes to get accurate times in races. Katz says skiers will be able to share their experiences with family and friends back home, and this word of mouth marketing, he says, has always been key for promoting products.
"Other folks will see that, and that's the way it's always been done in travel, which is people talking to people, now they're just using technology to do it," he says.
The new technology does raise some privacy concerns, and Katz says Vail is sensitive to these.
"Privacy is a critical concern for us," he says. "Anyone has the option to just totally disable the RFID chip in their pass or in their ticket, and no one can see where they go."
Katz unveiled the new application and spoke at a Vail Resorts business luncheon in Denver meant to preview the upcoming ski season Wednesday. The new app is expected to be formally launched November 5th, when Keystone is scheduled to open for the season. © Copyright 2012, KUNC
