Pass/Ticket Scanners

[ISki]

My pass gets "scanned" with a laser beam EVERY ride. The lift attendant aims a laser gun at me and the barcode of my pass and zap.

Does your area do this?

Is this to prevent service theft? Or does the ski area, like the grocery store, do something with this "user data"? What the heck are they scanning for???

Once upon a time, you'd be recognized after a while and no one would bother asking you to show your pass. It was nice. Now you're still recognized, it's not hard after a zillion runs on the same lift, but you still have to get zapped. I am sure it is the orders of ski area management. But why? We've already established that I've paid.

What's in that beam that is being aimed a me and my vital organs?

 

[Jilly]

We have them at Tremblant too. Its seems to be for fraud etc. I know last season I asked how many days I'd skied. They could tell me. Also there are passes only good for weekdays, another for special days (t-66 pass) and a discounted card. The discount card and T-66 are scanned and if nned be the lift ticket is billed to your credit card. No need to go to the ticket booth and stand in line. I would want to watch my credit card statement closely. The scanners at Tremblant are only on the bottom lifts. If you stay up top, the edge or la soliel lifts you are not scanned. So fraud and conceivence I think are the reason.

 

[BatGirl]

I got scanned this weekend. I think it's because Whitetail sells passes for four-hour blocks of time, so they must scan right around the times the passes are supposed to run out (maybe around 4 p.m., then 8 p.m.). Probably to keep people from overstaying the passes they bought.

 

[RachelV]

At Solitude they have RFID tickets now -- so the ticket has a chip in it, and you ski through readers on your way to the lift. So there's no attendant manually scanning you, and the ski area can still make sure no one's skiing with a bad ticket. Very cool. Plus you can log on to their website somewhere and see how many runs you took that day, vertical feet, etc.

They have people manually scanning at Killington, but they definitely recognize you after a while and stop.

 

[Cambridge Kate]

other possibility

It may be that scanning gives the mtn managers traffic info about how often and where people are skiing. Then they can put snow-making into that area or know that they need to expand one type of terrain over another - that sort of thing.

Batgirl - Whitetail was my home mountain for many years. Pretty good hill given its geographical location (down south). I had many a fine ski day there.

CK

 

[Pequenita]

rachelv - I was just about to say that re: Solitude. So cool - headed out there tomorrow night!

 

[Little Lightning]

All the big resorts here in Summit County scan tickets at the lifts at the bottom.

Copper has an express line where the ticket holder skis up to a scanner, gets scanned then bumps the lift line. The only people I know who has them are tourists who are staying in the condos at Copper Village.

I remember when they used to punch a hole in the ticket.

When I tore my ACL last year, Copper reimbursed me 3 days at $20 a day for my season pass. Without scanning the ticket and keeping a record of my ski days they would not have been able to reimburse me.

BTW, Vail resorts gave me nothing back on my season pass.

Kathi

 

[num]

When I tore my ACL last year, Copper reimbursed me 3 days at $20 a day for my season pass. Without scanning the ticket and keeping a record of my ski days they would not have been able to reimburse me.

BTW, Vail resorts gave me nothing back on my season pass.

Kathi

That's awesome that they reimbursed you! Or is that standard practice and I just didn't know :o

How did they decide on 3 days?

 

[Little Lightning]

They have records of the no. of days I skied. On a season pass 1 day is worth $20. So based on the value of the pass and the no of days I skied they figured I had 3 days left and that's what they reimbursed me.

I did need a doctors statement saying I suffered a serious injury and was out for the season.

Another thing about Intrawest, if you have the Copper/Winter Park pass you get 3 days at Taos for free. We went a couple of weeks ago and had a great time and good snow.

Kathi

 

[Little Lightning]

It's standard practice for Copper. I don't know about other resorts.

 

[Lori_K]

Another thing about Intrawest, if you have the Copper/Winter Park pass you get 3 days at Taos for free. We went a couple of weeks ago and had a great time and good snow.

Kathi

Glad you liked Taos, Kathi! Should have looked us up--it's our home mountain and we could have taken a few runs together. ;)

Our Taos pass also gets us three days at several Colorado resorts. We spent a weekend at Wolf Creek a couple weeks ago, but haven't gone anywhere else yet because the conditions have been so good here!

Oh, and Taos also scans every pass at the main lift, and at the lift over on the back side.

 

[Little Lightning]

Lori,

I understand, the conditions at Taos are much better than Summit County. We were surprised how uncrowded it was in spite of the good snow.

We met a ski instructor named Deb. She showed us around and gave us some tips. Let me know if you make it to Copper.

Kathi

 

[RachelV]

I remember when they used to punch a hole in the ticket.

They still do that at Brighton. Why do they do that?

 

[smpayne]

Was at Snowbird today and was SCANNED at every lift except the mid mountain lift. At home, we have the electronic credit card type passes, which you sometimes have to almost hump the machine to get it to open the turnstyle gates. However, based on the number of people I still see jumping the lines, it is probably necessay. I do believe it is a more effective and quicker way to verify if the pass is still valid.

 

[lv2ski]

They also scan here in NH, I asked the attendant...it is to prevent fraud. Many hotels, etc. sell their own discounted tickets to guests so they just want to make sure they are all the real thing. Plus, there are so many creative crooks out there.....

 

[Lisamarie]

Scanning in Summit County helps us catch the kids who are playing hookie midweek and crowding up the slopes! :D

 

[Elangirl]

We scan all passes on every run here at Big Mountain. If you loose your pass, you go to the ticket office and it is blocked immediately, which prevents some theft. Also, the scanner keeps track of number of days and your vertical. They give prized for the most vertical--a pair of B3 last year. I have 63 days on my pass right now, but vertical is limited for a ski instructor!!

 

[SkiBaby]

We met a ski instructor named Deb. She showed us around and gave us some tips.

Kathi

Was that by any chance Deb Armstrong, Olympic Gold Medalist?! She teaches up in Taos, from what I understand, so I'm sure you got quite the top-of-the-line tour!

And to make sure I stick with the thread - Santa Fe scans at every lift, every time. I once heard someone turned away from the quad chair because the scanner showed her pass only covered one lift used for a green run. Plus it makes sure half-day pass holders don't over-extend/pre-start their stay on the slopes.