'Waze for skiing' uses cell phones, cameras to track wait times at Vail
VAIL, Colo. — Skiers and snowboarders are now using the same technology as drivers to find the best routes back up the mountains of the country’s biggest ski resort operator.
Vail Resorts has rolled out new technology to check wait times at the company's 55 chairlifts and gondolas in Colorado. The system anonymously tracks the progress of patrons’ smartphones and GoPro cameras through the lift lines to build a realtime map of wait times. Patrons using the company’s EPIC Mix app can then check lift lines from anywhere on the mountain, including from the comfort of their slopeside lodge.
“We didn’t invent any of the technology ourselves — we just put it together in an innovative way,” said Jeremy Coleman, the company’s vice president of marketing technology. “It’s a real first for the skiing industry.”
The wait times system works like Google Maps, Waze or Apple Maps, which use smartphone data to generate a real-time map of drivers’ movements. Coleman showed off the technology to Paste BN during a midweek ski day. Constantly updated, the system at times showed waits of a minute or less at most of Vail mountain’s lifts, including Riva Bahn, Mountain Top Express and Cascade Village. During busy periods, wait times can stretch to 10 minutes or more as thousands of skiers and snowboarders flock to the mountains. The lines can be longest first thing in the morning or during days with significant fresh snowfall, which draw more local visitors.
Most ski resorts have multiple lifts to carry patrons uphill, and skiers and snowboarders must decide which one to take, and whether it’s worth waiting slightly longer to take a heated gondola equipped with Wi-Fi or zip back up on a chairlift without a line. Other factors include the terrain served by the lift, access to restaurants and restrooms, and snow conditions that can vary depending on which way the slopes face.
The system is part of Vail’s efforts to use modern technology to improve the skier experience. Company spokesman Russ Pecoraro said surveys found that many patrons were “anxious” about lift lines, even though high-speed chairlifts and gondolas can whisk thousands of people per hour up the mountains. He said the new system means customers who want to maximize their time on the slopes can choose the lifts with the shortest waits.
The system is currently available only at Vail’s four resorts in Colorado: Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek, but could be rolled out out to its other properties, which include Park City in Utah, the nation’s largest ski resort, along with Heavenly and Northstar at Tahoe.
The company says more than 700,000 people have downloaded the EPIC Mix app, which also offers access to live webcams, trail maps and a system from tracking students’ progress through ski school. Using chips embedded in patrons’ ski passes, the company can also track and report how many vertical feet a patron descended that day, which lifts he or she rode, and share free on-mountain photos taken by staff photographers.