Vail Resorts Permanently Axes Trail Maps at All Its Resorts
A blow to those few people (like me) without a smartphone.
A blow to those few people (like me) without a smartphone.
I love trail maps on the safety bars! And at the top of each lift. I tend to use those a lot more than either a phone or paper map.I will say, once they started putting trail maps on the safety bars, I used the paper maps much less.
I remember being on family ski trips and sitting around the table after dinner with trail maps out and we would point out the trails we took and the ones we wanted to take the next day. It was a big part of family bonding on the trips.Plus….trail maps for me used to be souvenirs!
They want you to use their app. This is just another way to push you there.
I know that at least Stevens Pass does not have any of these. Some lifts don't even have safety bars.I will say, once they started putting trail maps on the safety bars, I used the paper maps much less.
Plus….trail maps for me used to be souvenirs!
That's me. I just can't be bothered with digging out a map, my reading glasses and fiddling with stuff.I haven't really used trail maps on the hill since my cataract surgery about 4 years ago. It's just too much hassle to get out reading glasses. And those safety bar maps are even less useful to me. Fortunately, in the last 10 years or so I've settled into skiing about 5 hills which I know well enough to not really need a map much anymore. And when I need to, I check out the maps at the top of each lift.
Now there will be 10-deep crowd looking at and puzzling over every big map at the top of the lifts.That's me. I just can't be bothered with digging out a map, my reading glasses and fiddling with stuff.
This doesn't mean that I'm for or against vail nixing maps, just that I haven't found myself using them much for a while.
I do like the giant map at the top of the lifts.