RFID Rant

[Hawk]

If they don't check pass at all, I bet everybody's brother will be skiing with day old (or month old) passes!

At Sugarbush just a few years ago, you could skin or hike up to the upper lifts and then ski for free. No one check tickets at the upper lifts. At south that meant you could ski north linx, castle rock and Heavens gate. Now they have RFID at every lift. I think they realized what was happening.

 

[Smellytele]

At Sugarbush just a few years ago, you could skin or hike up to the upper lifts and then ski for free. No one check tickets at the upper lifts. At south that meant you could ski north linx, castle rock and Heavens gate. Now they have RFID at every lift. I think they realized what was happening.

You never know who’s listening so shhh! Don’t want other mountains to realize this…

 

[kbroderick]

You never know who’s listening so shhh! Don’t want other mountains to realize this…

I'm sure they realize it. Every so often, Sunday River used to put ticket-checking staff at upper-mountain lifts that usually had none; I assume they were aware of the potential loophole and keeping an eye out.

Another place I skied out west would keep an eye out for folks loading upper-mountain lifts with touring kits and was more likely to look for a pass in that situation.

On the original subject, I realized that part of my annoyance this year has been the confluence of (a) new RFID systems installed during a Covid (i.e. usually no singles line or attempts to fill chairs) season; (b) layouts that were adjusted based on the gates installed for (a) without serious consideration of singles lines; and (c) limited staffing to help. In a non-trivial number of places I've seen, the best place for a singles line to merge in and fill chairs would actually be on the wrong side of the RFID gate, so you need to choose between the best liftline performance and ensuring that everyone on the hill has a ticket.