VAIL — As skiers shuffle through lift lines at many Colorado resorts these days, all they need to do is point to the pocket holding their lift ticket or pass. New technology — radio-chipped “smart cards” — have done away with the antiquated hole punch and the visual scan.
But the seemingly invisible pass check has given rise to scofflaws who figure lack of eyeball scrutiny means it’s easier to sneak onto the hill.
“Some people have the misperception that it’s easier because the pass isn’t visible,” says Greg Morrison, assistant chief with the police at Breckenridge, where the radio-frequency passes debuted this season. “Actually, it’s more efficient and it catches more violators.”
With last year’s introduction of Vail Resorts’ five-mountain, $600 Epic Pass, more skiers than ever are using season passes. Even though the season pass agreement explicitly forbids any sharing of the pass, incidents of pass fraud soared. The spike in the number of fraud tickets issued by Vail police climbed from 90 tickets in 2007-08 to 204 in the 2008-09 ski season, the same year the company introduced its smart passes.
Aspen Skiing Co. also introduced radio-chipped passes last season and saw a surge in fraud attempts and busts, though it couldn’t say just how many people were caught.
“What was intended as a customer-service benefit actually had the increased effect of fraud monitoring,” said spokesman Jeff Hanle, noting that Aspen Skiing upped the fee for returning a pass involved in fraudulent use to $500. “This year, we are seeing fewer people getting caught.”
Resorts and law enforcement say it’s hard to know whether the uptick in fraud cases is from more people trying to sneak onto the hill or from the new radio-frequency technology enabling ticket checkers to more easily spot scammers.
Even though skiers do not need to remove their pass from their pocket, ticket checkers can review a host of data from each pass they scan, including a large photograph of the skier.
Vail Resorts designed its own software for lift-ticket scanning, engineering a system that is both efficient — virtually eliminating lift lines — and hawk-like in its search for scofflaws. Scanners get a $50 to $75 bonus for each scam they disrupt.
“Sometimes, all we have to say is the person’s name and if they don’t turn around, we go deeper and ask more questions,” says Eric Simon, head of product sales for Vail Resorts.
Signs in Vail’s lift lines are updated daily to show how many ski days have been ruined by scanners sniffing out ticket fraud. Vail had tallied 14 busts by the week before Christmas.
“The challenge sometimes is updating that number during the day,” says Eric Holle, ticket-scanning manager at Vail. “This is a really direct approach, and the reaction from our guests is that they seem really glad we are on top of it.”
The fines in Vail, says Police Chief Dwight Henninger, typically run $500 and include forfeiture of any season pass used in the fraud. Fines can reach $999. Lie about your name — or in the most popular case from Keystone so far this season, lie about undergoing a sex-change procedure when busted with your boyfriend’s pass — and you get jail time.
“Hopefully, people are learning that this is theft,” says Henninger, whose officers often patrol Vail’s slopes and sometimes scout lift lines during busy times. “With passes being so much less expensive than they used to be in the past, there is no excuse.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
Resorts run stings to nab unauthorized instructors on their slopes
Many resorts have begun stings to nab renegade ski instructors who offer on-the-hill lessons without going through the resort.
Last season, Vail ski instructors groused about the increasing prevalence of underground paid lessons and guiding at Vail and Beaver Creek. They wondered whether Vail’s guardians were doing enough to stop it and protect their jobs.
“I was hearing that from our instructors, so we stepped up and had instant results,” said Vail Mountain chief Chris Jarnot.
The mountain joined the U.S. Forest Service in an undercover operation that netted a dozen illegal instructors. Those instructors faced federal charges and fines up to $5,000, although most first-time offenders were cited for $525. The real sting is a lifetime ban from skiing at all five Vail Resorts ski areas.
Anyone — including hunting, rafting, hiking or snowmobiling guides — who makes money in exchange for services on public land without a permit is breaking federal law, says Forest Service ranger Don Dressler.
“Our big message that we try to get across is that this is for public safety,” Dressler said. “We permit people who are licensed and insured and properly trained. I can understand the economics of the situation, and we sympathize, but we need to protect the public.”
Aspen Skiing Co. looks to its army of 1,200 to 1,400 instructors to keep an eye out for underground instruction. And they are vigilant in their watch, says spokesman Jeff Hanle.
In Vail, several of the underground instructors nabbed last season were former resort employees. Many of the instructors had told their clients, if questioned, to deny any financial deal.
“In several cases, we found the client had been coached,” Jarnot said. Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
