Updated on January 10, 2020 with photos of new gates and the pass.
The sensors that read the ski pass are on the left side. The paper-like pass, the size of a credit card, works slipped into the back of the hand in the left ski glove or simply riding in the left pocket of ski pants.
If you had your own private ski resort, there would be no bother with lift passes. You'd just slap the snowboard to your feet or snap the skis on your boots and go. This winter, hitting the slopes at Wintergreen will move closer to that kind of experience.
The ski industry calls it providing a “direct-to-lift convenience” and how it works sounds more like a computer system (which it is) than a luxury service. Wintergreen Resort will have the “new RFID ticketing and gate system” in place this year. “Skiers and snowboarders can bypass the lift ticket windows and simply reload lift tickets or renew season passes online,” the resort explains on its website. (See the resort’s details on this new RFID system here.)
Rod Kessler, General Manager of Wintergreen Resort
While the new system will apply to all lift passes, one example of why the high-tech ski passes might be called luxurious is how they put a new twist on Wintergreen’s pre-season “Quad Pack of Lift Tickets” package for the resort started offering last year. This deal provides four completely unrestricted one-day passes for $180.
With the Quad Pack, you can use all four passes yourself or bring three guests with you. Now, with the new technology in place, you or your guests can simply hit the slopes as if you own the place. (Note that the Quad Pack is a pre-season deal ending on December 2. (See the details and purchase the passes here.)
At recent meetings with Wintergreen property owners, Rod Kessler, General Manager of Wintergreen Resort, noted that one of the major appeals of this new high-tech access tracking system was the amount of data it provided his management team and the increased security. Kessler stressed, however, that what he liked most about the RFID passes was how they provided a better experience for everyone coming to enjoy Wintergreen’s snow.
Projected opening of the 2019-20 snow season at Wintergreen is Saturday, December 14. See all of the resort’s news about the upcoming ski season on their website here.