Broomfield, CO – Ski area operator Vail Resorts on Wednesday announced the next generation of its ski and snowboard applilcation, EpicMix, which adds photo sharing to RF-enabled lift tickets and season passes at the company’s six ski resorts.
Upon request, the company’s photographers will take portrait and action photos and automatically deliver the images to the guest’s EpicMix account by quickly scanning their lift ticket or pass. Vail Resorts will provide these professional photos free to guests in a low resolution format for sharing on Facebook and Twitter, while a high-resolution image can be purchased online allowing guests to print unlimited copies at the vendor of their choice or on their own.
In addition to professional images, guests will be able to take their own photos and combine them in one place together with their vertical feet, digital pins and memories of other moments through the new EpicMix platform. They’ll also be able to create a “Remix” collage, a singular snapshot (or jpeg) customized with their digital information.
EpicMix allows all of these images and information to easily be shared on Facebook and other social sites, or uploaded to popular photo storage sites such as Flickr, Snapfish and Shutterfly. Facebook estimates that more than 250 million photos are uploaded each day, making photo sharing one of the most popular activities on the social network.
As part of its expansion of EpicMix, Vail Resorts also announced on Wednesday that it will eliminate nearly all paper tickets for the 2011-12 winter season by providing guests with a reusable and durable RFID card loaded with their daily lift tickets or season pass. The upgraded and smarter lift access card, which will be provided at no extra charge, will allow scanning at the lifts without a need to show a ticket or pass to the Vail Resorts lift scanning employees.
“Last year’s introduction of EpicMix was truly revolutionary in how it brought together the digital and physical experience of skiing and riding without anything getting in the way of truly enjoying the outdoors,” said Rob Katz, Vail Resorts chief executive officer. “This season we’re re-imagining how guest photos are taken, stored and shared at our resorts and delivering a groundbreaking way for skiers and riders to capture their experience on the mountains. Our six resorts will be offering something not available at any other ski mountain or other resort destination. Through EpicMix we’re allowing people to remember their vacation – and photos are one of the most critical ways to create and share those memories.”
Instead of manual check-ins, the RF-enabled pass or ticket allows for automatic check-ins via Twitter and Facebook at each lift at all six resorts, which then tracks the vertical feet and rewards guests for accomplishments like riding every lift in one day to earn the Conqueror pin.
Nearly 100,000 guests activated their EpicMix accounts last ski and snowboard season which equated to a 15 percent adoption rate and resulted in 275,000 social posts on Facebook and Twitter and more than 35 million social impressions, based on Facebook’s estimate of 130 friends per person. While privacy advocates questioned the resort’s motives, Vail Resorts officials stress that no information collected through EpicMix will be shared unless a guest “opts in” and specifically chooses to share their information. Guests can further choose to disable the RF chip in their pass to prevent any scanning. Children under 13 participating in EpicMix have only limited features and a connection only to their parents’ account.
EpicMix will be available to all Vail Resorts guests who purchase any lift ticket or season pass this year. Almost every ticket and pass will be enabled with RF technology and allow guests to participate in EpicMix and the new photo sharing functionality starting in mid-December.