Vail Resorts ends printed trail maps at all its locations

[newboots]

It was still there in 2010/11. That's the best I can do.
View attachment 148389

The discrepancy is solved! I hadn’t yet learned to ski back then.

 

[mdf]

The discrepancy is solved! I hadn’t yet learned to ski back then.

Well, it still leaves a 6 year window of uncertainty for when it was moved.

 

[Ogg]

Well, it still leaves a 6 year window of uncertainty for when it was moved.

According to this it was moved in 2018 http://www.chairlift.org/killington.html

"UPPER SNOWDON POMA (POMA) - Built in 1958, this is one of the mountains original 2 lifts. It was removed from its
original location summer of 2018 but will live on as the KMS Poma relocated to the Rams Head area. and going!"

 

[pchewn]

According to Liftblog @Lift Blog https://liftblog.com/killington-vt/ that platter lift was installed in 1992 and removed in 2018. Curiously, it is listed as a "QUAD" platter lift -- but I doubt that is accurate.

 

[dbostedo]

Overwhelming results.
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Is that "miss them" in a nostalgic sense? Or is that "miss them" in an "I actually use them and this will affect my ski trip" sense? I suspect a significant percentage of the former. (Where's the poll, btw? I can't find it.)

 

[Ogg]

According to Liftblog @Lift Blog https://liftblog.com/killington-vt/ that platter lift was installed in 1992 and removed in 2018. Curiously, it is listed as a "QUAD" platter lift -- but I doubt that is accurate.

I believe that's actually referring to the snowdon quad that was replaced with the bubble 6 pack. Poma is the manufacturer of the lift.

 

[SKI-3PO]

This is the Liftblog entry for the platter

Alpine Training Venue – Killington, VT

Visit the post for more.

liftblog.com

 

[James]

Is that "miss them" in a nostalgic sense? Or is that "miss them" in an "I actually use them and this will affect my ski trip" sense? I suspect a significant percentage of the former. (Where's the poll, btw? I can't find it.)

Actual. I never use a phone for a map.

According to this it was moved in 2018 http://www.chairlift.org/killington.html

Well I was close, or right. I don’t think I ever saw that lift running, but that doesn’t mean much. It’s interesting that the moved version is using some old towers from Stratton.
The lift will celebrate 70 years since first installed next season!

 

[Ogg]

Actual. I never use a phone for a map.



Well I was close, or right. I don’t think I ever saw that lift running, but that doesn’t mean much. It’s interesting that the moved version is using some old towers from Stratton.
The lift will celebrate 70 years since first installed next season!

I remember lapping it on a few crowded days. The trees between Bunny Buster and Mouse run are(were?) relatively open so you could duck in there when there was a course set up.

 

[cantunamunch]

Tyvek maps would be cool!

Talking of map materials, PPG do a really nice Teslin that is available in ink-jet and laser printer grades.

 

[Lorenzzo]

I remember when I was 23 and decided to learn to ski I collected maps beforehand from the few Tahoe places I planned on visiting. Back then there was little in the way of media from which to obtain ski content. It was mostly Ski Mags, books and maps. The Mags were a little stale, the books were staler. But the maps expanded the mind. Before I'd ever touched the snow with skis I'd looked at those maps and pictured myself on the trails. The cartoonish nature of the trails, trees, etc. got me to fantasize about skiing them. I think I imprinted on the mystique of the maps. Years later I had a collection, all carefully folded back to original form. As great and expansive as ski media and content is today, I wonder if it feeds imagination in the same way.

 

[Prosper]

Is that "miss them" in a nostalgic sense? Or is that "miss them" in an "I actually use them and this will affect my ski trip" sense? I suspect a significant percentage of the former. (Where's the poll, btw? I can't find it.)

When I created the survey last year I didn’t think about making that distinction. So, miss is whatever it means to you.

 

[Prosper]

Skied Keystone yesterday. Went to the ticket window to ask for a paper trail map since we have a decorative clip board of local trail maps at our Silverthorne rental property and wanted to get the 20/21 map. Was told that Keystone is not doing paper trail maps anymore and was directed to the EpicMix app. I’ve always loved looking at trail maps. Before the interwebby, I fondly recall going to ski shows, picking up trail maps from resorts I’d like to visit and just looking/studying those map, planning in my head what trails I’d like to ski. If I was planning a ski trip and didn’t have a trail map I’d contact the resort and ask them to mail me a trail map. Yes, it sounds pretty ski-nerdy. If paper trail maps go away what will you miss about them?

@dbostedo Here’s what I wrote last year.

 

[Tricia]

Is that "miss them" in a nostalgic sense? Or is that "miss them" in an "I actually use them and this will affect my ski trip" sense? I suspect a significant percentage of the former. (Where's the poll, btw? I can't find it.)

"Miss them" is whatever it means to you.

When I created the survey last year I didn’t think about making that distinction. So, miss is whatever it means to you.

LOL I just came here to say that.

 

[Wendy]

"Miss them" is whatever it means to you.


LOL I just came here to say that.

I’d miss them in a nostalgic sense, but also in a practical sense. I get uncomfortable when I see an increasing amount of people walking around staring at their phones. Especially, in a beautiful natural environment. However, seeing several people clustered around a paper map…that’s great…people are engaged and talking to one another in the process.

I like real maps. Maps on phones suck.

@Lorenzzo ’s post about feeding imagination is important. I worry about kids’ sense of imagination being lost with so much digital content. There’s a reason why people in the tech industry often send their kids to schools that ban cell phones/computers until the kids are teenagers.

 

[Wendy]

I thought that was over on Ramshead. Alpine Training Venue?

It is.

 

[Jerez]

I would hate to be forced to use a phone map, especially at a complicated place like Vail. If you have polarized lenses or it's really sunny out, you can't see much of anything on a phone. And the maps on the chair lift are better than a phone but what if you need to figure out where to go after you've gotten off the lift? I use the billboard maps often if I'm at a hill I don't know well. But I also like the paper map for deciding with a group where to go after lunch or where to meet up if we're splitting up.

 

[amorFati]

The maps are going to be available, they're just planning on printing a smaller number and you have to ask for one at the ticket window. It seems like a perfectly fine update, honestly.

Agree with this. I like the maps as I don't want to pull out my phone and a lot of lifts don't have the maps on them. I'm surprised Vail doesn't go the airline route and charge extra for the the non-conformists who want a paper map. Great for environmental image and great for the bottom line. I hate the idea but seems like it is only a matter of time before airlines charge you to use the bathroom. Remember when water was free?

 

[James]

They really need to make them out of better materials. A map that rips the first time you pull it out in a little wind is just a waste.

the non-conformists who want a paper map.

I thought we were Luddites?
We shall burn the paper maps! Err…I mean the maps in the phone! Burn those!
That’s what they do at concerts these days. Those are trail maps burning!

 

[zag]

I regularly skied Killington from mybe 2017-20, and I never saw the Poma near Bunny Buster.

They took it out (& had plans to install at new race training area) when they added the tunnel on great Northern, at the intersection with bunny buster.

Definitely remember riding it in Dec 2015, and think all the tunnels were installed before Dec 2016. [Edit] could have been a year or two later.