Live Information and Advertising Displayed on More Chairlift Safety Bars
A company which puts digital display boards under skiers’ noses as they ride up the mountain on a chairlift is going from strength to strength.
Alpine Media Technology was first established a couple of years ago but has received $1m in funding and says it is set to more than double the number of ski areas using its tech by the end of the year.
The basic concept is that the safety bar on the chairlift is fitted with an iPad sized digital screen in front of every skier sat on it. The screen provides live information and also has advertising permanently in view, although Alpine Media Technology are keen to stress that the ads don’t take up more than 10% of the screen.
The screens are linked by 4G so live information which can include open/closed lifts and trails, grooming or queuing information as well as safety announcements due to weather or perhaps avalanche danger can all be live streamed and updated at any time.
One popular feature on the lifts where the technology has been installed in Colorado is lice streaming of traffic on the bust I 70 Freeway back to Denver, helping skiers and boarders plan when to end their ski day based on whether it is quiet enough to head home early or so busy they might as well stay on the slopes than sit in a stationary car.
So far the company’s chairlift screens (they also work in gondola cabins) are in place on lifts at Steamboat and Winter Park in Colorado as well as Wachusett Mountain in Massachusetts and Shawnee Peak in Maine. The company say they expect to have 10-15 areas signed up by the end of this year.
The company is currently installing screens to more than 100 chairs on the Super Gauge Express lift from Winter Park’s Mary Jane base, to be operational this coming ski season.
The units don’t need a fixed electric supply or batteries but uses a special power technology that allows their energy to be boosted for 20 minutes of power each time they pass a charging unit in the lift’s base station. The units then go in to ‘sleep mode’ on the descent from the top station if the bar is raised.
A big plus for the resorts themselves is that they don’t have to pay for the screens to be installed, Alpine Media Technology make their income from advertising sales and like companies including Go Pro and Coca Cola on their partners list.
