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http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?cmpid=SOC00309
Don't think they can actually track where you are on the hill. Probably just which lifts you take, thus your travel patterns based on lift useage. Am I correct or is big brother really watching my duck ropes?
xbox/steam achievements coming soon to a slope near you!
Was thinking the same thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by legallyillegal
I just hope we can get past achievements awarded, because I really don't ever want to night ski on keystone's ice / shit dust / razor blade front face ever again.
It's just lifts. They've been using this internally every since they started using the RF, but now they're opening it up on the consumer side.
I wasn't lying when I said they had RF readers at BC gates last year.
This is the starting point of having technology take on a new role in skiing inbounds. Next step, LCD digital advertisements all over the fucking mountain, on the lift towers, on the chair lifts, and even more in the lodges.
The RF tracking might even create a new season pass pay structure where you have to pre-buy vertical in terms of chair lift usage.
Be scared!!
If I ever have to 'pre-buy vertical' I'm done with riding at resorts.
Does EPIC trump heated lift chairs? The curious are dying to know.
This is so fucked.... I'm with him^
I am not sure it is only limited to RF Data at lifts, or gates. The mobile app would also have GPS built in.
I spoke to someone at Vail and it indeed is limited to lifts/gates, anywhere where it can scan you. The app only shows ur location on the mountain relative to last chair ridden.
anyone count how many times the guy said "epic" in the vid?
If VA did start tracking and prosecuting poaching via GPS and rf passes, we'd all be running around with tinfoil hats on our passes. Would be funny if the first person at a popular poaching spot had to carry aluminum foil to cover the sensors.
I watched a promo from them earlier today and thought that the tracking was from loading an app on your iphone or droid that syncs with the Epic pass if you load your epic pas info on the app, but I could be wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by montanaskier
I've been wrong before...
I am not their target audience for this particular application. :rolleyes2
Am I missing something here how is this different from what Alta offers with their RF passes?
VA started using RF passes last year or whenever it was. Now they have released an app and website to allow you to track your adventures across Vail Resorts mountains, recorded via RF scanners at the lifts and fed through teh webz to Iphones and Droids. They've apparently been tracking us already anyhow. What's really fancy is that EpicMix can feed stats from your adventure to Facebook or Twitter (kinda scary?)Quote:
Originally Posted by admx
Vail is a great place, but I'm not sure I trust VA not to access the GPS in my Iphone... Though I might check the web for my daily vertical stats.
Any resort that has lift tickets they scan has been tracking skiers. It is the basic way they count skier days. It looks like Vail is just making the info available to the public. Even the basic bar code scanner can tell you what lift and what time someone rode that lift. The vertical Vail gives you will only be based on the lift you rode. The only difference with the RF is you do not need to have your pass out of your pocket to be scanned.
But I still don't understand how it knows how epic you are?
Solitude lets season pass holders view their vertical data online. Not available for single day passes, at least it wasn't last season..
No difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by admx
Altering the card via punching, folding it and blah, blah, blah will defunct the tracking. It will also defunct the card. Be warned. $40 for a replacement. Alta will add the EPIC next year....
:D
Vaporware?
Or one of these....Quote:
Originally Posted by PowTrees
http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/1115/as_spd_200.jpgQuote:
Radio frequency identity has revolutionized the ski industry. Instead of fumbling with frozen fingers, skiers and snowboarders can now move through scanners, letting RFID chips embedded in lift passes open gates before them.
But are there consequences to this convenience? Ski instructor, identity theft expert and former Vail Resorts employee Jon Lawson says yes, and he has invented a product called Ski Pass Defender to protect snow riders' privacy.
Off the hill, RFID has dozens of uses, from tracking inventory and livestock to linking debit accounts with chips injected under the skin of nightclub frequenters. But from Jay Peak to Verbier, ski resorts worldwide are increasingly using RFID for more than just lift access. This season, Aspen Skiing Co. will allow guests to attach a credit card to season passes, and Vail Resorts is using RFID to power its new social media application, EpicMix, which tracks vertical feet and terrain skied by users via the lifts they ride. A user who chooses to create an online account will be able to view this information. EpicMix also allows users to opt in to share this information with Facebook friends.
To Lawson, this is cause for concern. "RFID is an open structure. It was never meant to be encrypted or to have safe data on it. I realized as chips became less expensive and more robust, companies could put more information on them. I saw more of a need, so I wanted to get in front of that wave," he told ESPN.
Lawson has found a ready customer base for his product, which launched in June. He has sold 700 Ski Pass Defenders since September, with a surge of sales since Keystone and Breckenridge opened (Nov. 5 and 12, respectively). He has also received multiple requests from local ski shops to stock his product. "Some are anti-corporate," Lawson said of his customers. "Others -- like me -- say, 'I choose not to give that information, I choose not to be tracked.'"
The SPD, which sells for $15.95, is comprised of two aluminum-backed sheaths attached to a lanyard. The aluminum prevents the RFID chip from being read. To board a lift, an alligator-style clip is squeezed, activating patented "squeeze to read" technology, allowing passholders to control when and how the information on their RFID chip can be shared.
I found this.....
Would this mean if we don't want it tracking us it won't? Or does it simply mean if we don't want to post to our friends on Facebook to show how rad we are for skiing at fail that we won't be able to view it?Quote:
What if I don’t want to participate in EpicMix?
Guests who do not want to participate in Epic Mix can simply not activate their account to view their vertical feet and days skied. Guests will also have the opportunity to disable the RF chip in their pass or lift ticket. More details on RF chip disablement will be posted closer to our mountain opening dates.