Vail Resorts: Fun of Epic Proportions

One Epic Pass: Tons of On-Mountain Adventures

It’s that time of year again. Ski areas are opening up one after another here in Colorado and one of the first questions on people’s lips (right after what are the conditions) is what’s new?

It seems as though Vail Resorts might be out-doing the rest of our best-loved Colorado ski resorts this year, at least in terms of high-tech fun. Yeah, you no longer head to the mountains to get away from it all—especially in terms of communication—since smartphones and social media make staying in touch an inevitability.

And then comes the EpicMix, an application launched last season by Vail Resorts that features technology embedded into a card that does just about everything to enhance your on-mountain experience except carry your gear. The card—which is provided just as easily for season passes as for day lift tickets—allows the ski company to scan passes through jackets without the hassle of needing to make them visible. Add to this a ton of other special features that allow you to track vertical feet, number of days on the mountain, noteworthy feats and other achievements and you’ve got a whole lot of stats about your snowsports experience at the ready.

This year Vail Resorts takes it up a notch with the introduction of EpicMix Photos, a card that allows you to share on-mountain photography with your friends and family. Now you can document that impressive descent down your first black or that even more sensational face plant you did on a killer powder day. Photos of ski and snowboard vacations are among the most treasured, so why not give this a try?

As for the snow report, I passed Vail yesterday on the Interstate with my hunny on the way back to Telluride from Denver. The conditions looked spectacular—there was nary a bare spot in view. We remarked the same for Copper and Loveland.

I suppose I could get on social media to find out the exact report, especially since today was Vail’s opening day. Neah, call me old-fashioned but I’ll stick with my drive-by impression. I’m already nervous about how much my new iPhone is going to interfere with my on-mountain experience this season. My guess is just the right amount, especially if I promise myself not to take it out on the chairlift. Technology is awesome, but just like wine and chocolate, you never want too much of a good thing.

EpicMix is available at all Vail Resorts including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly and Northstar at Tahoe in California.

Thank you to Vail Resorts, Thomas H. Green and Jack Affleck for the use of the images in this story.

Skiing the Back Bowls of Vail