Summer 2017 Resort Upgrades

[Jully]

Black Mountain of Maine

More pipe is being laid for increased snow making coverage.

Famous Glades of the Angry Beavers could double in size!!!

Hike to open runs have been destumped and graded.

Lodge has new paint, carpet and dance floor.

Last Run Pub upstairs is expanding its floor space. If you go to Black you need to stop by the pub.

Tickets remain $20 on Friday and $37 on weekends.

Exciting! Will definitely look to get up there on a Friday or Sunday this year.

 

[thetrailboss]

So who is running Black Mountain? Is it a local non-profit after the foundation left?

 

[thebigo]

All the RFID places I've ever been to had you keep the pass in your pocket. They advertised that as one of the major "perks" of the system.

Always thought this was one of the limitations of RFID. Keeping the pass in your pocket invites pass sharing. I reality I doubt many people are busted for sharing a pass but being forced to show your pass with a picture is a deterrent.

 

[slatham]

Always thought this was one of the limitations of RFID. Keeping the pass in your pocket invites pass sharing. I reality I doubt many people are busted for sharing a pass but being forced to show your pass with a picture is a deterrent.

Wow, never thought of that, and it obviously applies to any pass - day or season. Of course the downside to doing this with a season pass is that if they do occasional spot checks and you get caught that is likely the end of your pass.

Question - do they get any output readings when a person goes through the gate? I recall at Stowe there was a guy standing at what looked like a podium and the time I had trouble he proactively came over to help. Could there be a display console, potentially with the picture of any season passes going through the gate?

 

[jimmywilson69]

Im pretty sure you still get a picture on your pass. Then it pops up when you go through RFID. If they look and see that you aren't who the pass says it is, its an easy bust.

 

[cdskier]

Wow, never thought of that, and it obviously applies to any pass - day or season. Of course the downside to doing this with a season pass is that if they do occasional spot checks and you get caught that is likely the end of your pass.

Question - do they get any output readings when a person goes through the gate? I recall at Stowe there was a guy standing at what looked like a podium and the time I had trouble he proactively came over to help. Could there be a display console, potentially with the picture of any season passes going through the gate?

Depends on the exact system/options they choose, but yes, having a photo display on a screen of the person that owns the pass that just went through the gate is certainly an option.

Technically sharing a pass not only could cost the passholder losing the pass for the remainder of the season, but I believe it is also considered theft of services so they could press charges. Certainly not a risk I would ever take.

 

[benski]

I once switched rfid tickets at snowbird. I had skied the day I landed but switched with someone who hadn't. We didn't find out till we realized the wrong persons ticket had no days left on it.

 

[thetrailboss]

Wow, never thought of that, and it obviously applies to any pass - day or season. Of course the downside to doing this with a season pass is that if they do occasional spot checks and you get caught that is likely the end of your pass.

Question - do they get any output readings when a person goes through the gate? I recall at Stowe there was a guy standing at what looked like a podium and the time I had trouble he proactively came over to help. Could there be a display console, potentially with the picture of any season passes going through the gate?

So as someone else said, for season passes they still take a picture of you (at least at Snowbird and Alta) and keep it on file. When you go through the gate, a picture and name flash up for your respective gate on the tablet. So they naturally say to me, "have a good day, [real name]." Now I have had my daughter's pass in my pocket and I don't look like a 5 year old girl, so they stop you and question you.

As to day tickets, no photo. That makes it relatively easy to just give it to someone else.

 

[machski]

Interesting on the day ticket. When we skied in NZ four Summer's ago now, we got pictures taken at each mountain before getting the RFID cards for day passes. Everyone had pictures on file and one liftie at each gate used an iPad to monitor.

Edit:. Since the only RFID I've used was at Bachelor. I can't remember if I had a picture taken to get their RFID card but I was on Max Pass days so I bet when the issued the card, they could have pulled my Max Pass photo over.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[slatham]

Interesting on the day ticket. When we skied in NZ four Summer's ago now, we got pictures taken at each mountain before getting the RFID cards for day passes. Everyone had pictures on file and one liftie at each gate used an iPad to monitor.

Edit:. Since the only RFID I've used was at Bachelor. I can't remember if I had a picture taken to get their RFID card but I was on Max Pass days so I bet when the issued the card, they could have pulled my Max Pass photo over.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

I've only had experience at Okemo and Stowe. No picture either time, though the Stowe tickets were through a ski club. Okemo we walked up and bought. I find it hard to believe they would do pics for a day pass, but I could see them doing so for a multi day ticket.

 

[thetrailboss]

I've only had experience at Okemo and Stowe. No picture either time, though the Stowe tickets were through a ski club. Okemo we walked up and bought. I find it hard to believe they would do pics for a day pass, but I could see them doing so for a multi day ticket.

Yes, RFID day tickets I have used do not require any sort of photograph.

 

[Cat in January]

So who is running Black Mountain? Is it a local non-profit after the foundation left?

When the Libra Foundation divested from the mountain a 501c was developed with the mountain becoming a community mountain. I think there may be some financial support from the town of Rumford, but do not know the ins and outs of the financials. Essentially the mountain is owned by the board of directors for the benefit of the community (no geographic designation of community).

No deep pockets here, just a bunch of folks who enjoy getting out and skiing. Lots of volunteer hours and donation of material. One example last year a landscaper brought in his crew with several large dump trucks, an excavator, stone and pavers and spent several days building an outdoor fire pit.

 

[Newpylong]

FYI - non profits are not owned by the board of directors. They really aren't owned by anyone ie they serve the community at large. The Board of Directors are by statute the governing body.

 

[crystalmountainskier]

Wow, never thought of that, and it obviously applies to any pass - day or season. Of course the downside to doing this with a season pass is that if they do occasional spot checks and you get caught that is likely the end of your pass.

Question - do they get any output readings when a person goes through the gate? I recall at Stowe there was a guy standing at what looked like a podium and the time I had trouble he proactively came over to help. Could there be a display console, potentially with the picture of any season passes going through the gate?

I work for a major resort with RFID. Virtually every card is linked with a profile at the time of purchase - name, birthday, hometown and gender at a minimum. Before you even get through the gate, that info (along with a picture for passholders) is on our tablets. A single employee here caught over 50 offenders last season, many of whom were sharing day tickets. We have cameras trained on every gate so can go back and show the footage to you (and the sheriff.)

It's also super helpful for tracking missing children!

 

[Cat in January]

FYI - non profits are not owned by the board of directors. They really aren't owned by anyone ie they serve the community at large. The Board of Directors are by statute the governing body.

Thanks for the clarification. Knew I had read something along the way that had me believing the other way and pretty sure it was this article that is a bit misleading on the point. http://bangordailynews.com/2013/09/...r-of-black-mountain-ski-area-in-final-stages/

 

[dlague]

There are hand held RFID scanners as opposed to the gates. Vail uses these at its resorts.

And they use scanners at lifts higher up that are not hand held. They have scanners on every lift. It is good marketing data and the users of Epic Mix get to see their lift history and vert.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[dlague]

Always thought this was one of the limitations of RFID. Keeping the pass in your pocket invites pass sharing. I reality I doubt many people are busted for sharing a pass but being forced to show your pass with a picture is a deterrent.

That is why Vail resorts use hand held scanners - your picture shows up on the scanner.

I know people that have shared passes where they were scanned with barcode readers and lifties did not notice or really care.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[machski]

Killington is once again doing some rehab/upgrades to Snowdon Triple. New crossarms, sheave trains and haul rope this year.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[BenedictGomez]

And they use scanners at lifts higher up that are not hand held. They have scanners on every lift. It is good marketing data and the users of Epic Mix get to see their lift history and vert.

The only place I saw Vail using the hand scanners was at the base lifts, presumably because that's where you're going to catch people for theft of services.

I know people that have shared passes where they were scanned with barcode readers and lifties did not notice or really care.

I was shocked how overtly obvious & rampant season pass selling and even "rental" was on Craigslist. There were many individual postings I saw, as in > 20 instances and probably many more when I was looking to buy lift tickets online.

Most were end of year selling that went something like......

"Meet me at Walmart in Denver or Circle K in Silverhorne, $150 for my pass, I'm male, about 6 feet tall, brown hair"

The boldest were "rental" offers, $60 for the day, meet and return at same location, etc... some of them requested security deposits! One of them even demanded she hold your drivers license until you returned her pass that day. LOL.

These people are obviously not brain surgeons, as if Vail were ever to decide to set-up a sting, they could easily catch every single one of them, so apparently it's not worth their bother.

 

[Smellytele]

The only place I saw Vail using the hand scanners was at the base lifts, presumably because that's where you're going to catch people for theft of services.



I was shocked how overtly obvious & rampant season pass selling and even "rental" was on Craigslist. There were many individual postings I saw, as in > 20 instances and probably many more when I was looking to buy lift tickets online.

Most were end of year selling that went something like......

"Meet me at Walmart in Denver or Circle K in Silverhorne, $150 for my pass, I'm male, about 6 feet tall, brown hair"

The boldest were "rental" offers, $60 for the day, meet and return at same location, etc... some of them requested security deposits! One of them even demanded she hold your drivers license until you returned her pass that day. LOL.

These people are obviously not brain surgeons, as if Vail were ever to decide to set-up a sting, they could easily catch every single one of them, so apparently it's not worth their bother.

I know that some ski areas (Bretton Woods for example) scan Craigslist for people selling tickets/passes and will email those people to remove the post or risk prosecution. They may even contact Craigslist and have them remove the posts as well.