Industry News
Vail Resorts have said that next season they will not be giving out paper maps unless requested. Winter Park Resort in Colorado, however, is going one step further in its mission to save the environment, and will not be offering paper maps at all––although you can download the map to your smartphone free of charge.
- Related: The Death of the Paper Trail Map? Vail Resorts Will Only Provide Paper Trail Maps on Request
Opening for the season today, the resort is instead pointing skiers and riders towards its new app, an improved digital experience for guests that will help reduce Winter Park’s impact on the environment, reports Sky-Hi News. For those not ready to transition to a digital experience, Winter Park will be handing out leftover maps from last season––but when they’re gone they’re gone.
The resort claims that by not printing paper trail maps to give out for free, they will save 12,000-pounds of paper. Maps can be bought from retail outlets throughout the resort, although only as a souvenir or commemorative item, the map is not in a format suitable to fold up and put in your pocket.
As well as providing a digital version of the trail map, the app is capable of tracking your day, including vertical feet and number of days skied, it can offer you turn-by-turn directions around the village, allow you to order food and drinks, and offer up-to-date lift and grooming reports. Guests will also be able to track their friends and family across the mountains.
The resort has invested some of the money saved by not printing trail maps in improved physical and digital signage both on and off the mountain.
The app is a free download from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Called Winter Park – no one there knows what the trail maps cost or where to buy them… (the maps they were printing were not even the high quality stone paper, just the dissolve-in-your-hands variety)