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Vail Resorts launches EpicMix Time for lift-line wait-time data

Kim Fuller
Special to the Daily
EpicMix Time icon gives real-time lift-line wait-time data at the Vail Resorts’ four Colorado resorts — Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone
Vail Resorts | Special to the Daily |

VAIL — Heading to Vail Mountain’s Back Bowls is even more enticing when you know High Noon Express has a one-minute wait. Now, skiers and snowboarders can pull out their phones to check their EpicMix for even more mountain information. Tapping on the app’s new EpicMix Time icon gives real-time lift-line wait-time data at the company’s four Colorado resorts — Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone.

“EpicMix Time provides transparency for lift-line wait times, which helps our skiers and riders get the most out of their day on the mountain at our Colorado resorts,” said Kirsten Lynch, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Vail Resorts.

The feature is easy-to-use, as is the whole app, which offers on-mountain conditions, challenges to try, pins to earn and a guide to follow, and keeps track of a pass holder’s photos, season statistics, earned challenges, ski school accolades, race times and contact with other EpicMix participants.



‘First for the ski industry’

The application does put those long-looking lift lines in perspective. With many of today’s high-speed chairlifts, the back-up can move through more quickly than expected. EpixMix Time takes away the “guess-timating” game, so skiers and riders know what wait times to really anticipate.



“Providing real-time lift line wait times is a first for the ski industry,” said Robert Urwiler, Vail Resorts’ executive vice president and chief information officer. “We’re applying unique and sophisticated analytics to calculate reliable wait time information for our guests. As the season goes on, we’ll continue to ‘fine-tune’ the system to become more and more accurate.”

GPS-enabled trail maps are also paired with the lift-line wait times, designed to help skiers and riders know where they are on the map and to navigate terrain and lift lines.

Stacey Pool, director of digital experience for Vail Resorts, has worked on EpicMix since it was launched in 2010. She said the intent of the app technology from the start was to really focus on “capturing those special moments on the mountain that you can share with your friends and family.”

EpicMix Time is an addition to the app that is more about enjoying the day to its fullest than competing with other users and sharing the on-mountain experience with social media networks — which the Pins, Stats, Photos, Challenges and Racing elements of the app are designed to encourage.

Pool said in places like Vail, where there is a “massive amount of terrain,” the app update helps to improve guest experience.

“We really wanted to focus on reducing anxiety, and allowing people to maximize their time,” she said, “and to give them transparency to know what lifts to go on, which is why we launched EpicMix Time.”

Update or download the free EpicMix app from the iTunes Store for Apple products, or Google Play for the Android Market.


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