And You Thought You Knew Everything About the Afton Alps Ski Resort
For every one thing you thought you knew about Afton Alps Ski Resort in Minnesota, there’s another one thing that you didn’t – so let’s bring you up to speed!
So here’s a little back-story. . .
In 2008, the parent company of Afton Alps (Vail Resorts) started using RFID technology to make it easier to check lift tickets at the chairlifts. So now each season pass and lift ticket contains an RF chip that when detected by the reader, allows the pass holder to board the lift.
In 2010, the company introduced an online and mobile app that leverages the RFID technology as a way to give visitors the ability to capture and share their skiing experiences. Yes, we’re talking about EpicMix, the app that changed the game for everyone. With this new app, skiers are now able to:
Track how many vertical feet they skied and share it with their family and friends via social media;
Track their days on the slopes
Earn collectible digital pins for special achievements
Receive alerts when their Facebook friends are on the mountain
Send private messages to meet with their friends
And with such an overwhelming response to the app, it wasn’t long before the company added some new features to the app:
EpicMix Photo – Say cheese! All around Afton Alps are photographers that help you capture the best moments of your mountain experience, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
EpicMix Racing – This is a great feature that lets you race against yourself and your friends. But the greatest and most exciting thing about it is that if you race 10+ times at the NASTAR course at Afton Alps, you will be eligible to race against Lindsey Vonn in the Lindsey Vonn Race Series event.
EpicMix Academy – This is a ski school app that lets you track your progress and share your accomplishments via social media.
This new-found technology put Afton Alps at the top of its game, and made it one of the premier ski resorts to visit when looking for new and exciting family adventures.
OK, so here’s the NEW story Afton wants you to know. . .
Earlier this season, two new features joined the EpicMix family:
The EpicMix Challenge – The Challenge is feature-packed with exciting challenges that visitors can perform at their own pace; and is available for guests in every age group, and at every ski level.
EpicMix Guide – This is a step-by-step guide designed to help visitors navigate the mountain at any Vail Resort.
With cell phones in hand, visitors amass to attempt (and later share) new adventures and challenges, and are ready to track their real-time progress against one another. But not only can they track their progress with one another on the current mountain, they can also track it with one another while on different mountains. . .as long as the resort itself, is in the Vail family. These new features are unquestionably E.P.I.C and are a fantastic Mix that will have visitors coming back for seasons to come! It is clearly one of the reasons Afton Alps remains the most family friendly resort to visit during the ski season.
So let’s bring this home. . .
There are so many interesting things happening at the Afton Alps now, and it’s clear that their guests are truly getting more from the mountain experience these days! The new EpicMix Challenge and EpicMix Guide are two more reasons why investing in a season pass for the new ski season is extremely beneficial for families seeking the most the resort has to offer.
Oh, and for that one more thing that you didn’t know. . .
It may surprise you to know that the name “Afton” (given by the settlers of that area in Minnesota) references a poem entitled “Afton Water.” Robert Burns wrote this poem about the River Afton in Scotland. So now you know more about Afton than you did before!