Now that Timberline is using RFID for lift access, more people in the mid-Altantic will come to understand why it can be useful from a customer perspective.  The investment of $5 for an RFID card is worth it.

Wisp installed RFID for the 2019-20 season.  They chose Axess, which is a common vendor in the U.S.  Not surprisingly Wintergreen is also using Axess.  Wisp and Wintergreen are operated by the same company.

I first noticed RFID installations in recent years when I was checking out skiing in New England (my daughter was in school in Boston).  There were a number of installations between 2015 and 2018.  A mid-size resort that chose to invest in RFID early on was Jiminy Peak.  Jiminy has a lot in common with Mid-A resorts in terms of acreage, vertical, and the fact that there is very good night skiing.  Having RFID meant Jiminy could easily implement 4-hour, 8-hour, and night skiing (starts at 3pm).  Waschusett (near Boston) has also made good use of RFID.  Both Jiminy and RFID owners also saw the value of installing high-speed detachable lifts even with only about 1000 ft vertical.

Vail Resorts also uses RFID for Epic passes.  However, VR opted to use hand scanners in addition to RFID gate readers.  They picked a slightly different technology.  EpicMix grew out of the capabilities of the system that evolved for Epic.  I think I read that Whitetail is now scanning Epic passes.

marzNC wrote:

Camelback uses RFID in the waterpark.  What about the ski lifts?

 They didn't 3 years ago

And they use the cheapest card vendor ever. Their cards suck. A group of 4 of us required 7 card replacements over a two day period a year ago.

And the lifties tried to blame us every time - even though the only thing in the pocket near it was a chapstick.