Mountain Pass Systems, LLC      

No More Free Lift Rides

Increases ski area revenue

Reduces lift line labor

Maximize lift ticket revenue by making sure all skiers and boarders pay to use your lifts. Mountain Pass Entry^TM prevents lift ticket abuse and is the only ticket verification gate that uses UHF RFID to confirm lift tickets are valid. Use your manpower in more effective ways besides manually checking or scanning lift tickets. 

UHF RFID Tags

 Mountain Pass Systems is using UHF 915 MHz RFID inlay tags for its ski lift tickets. These inlays are presently being used in the retail supply chain by companies  such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and other large retailers. The advantage of using these UHF tags is that the cost is low. In volume we can provide lift ickets for 18 cents. The other advantage is the read range. With UHF tags the range can be typically 20 feet which will allow other ski area applications some of which are listed in the "RFID Ski Area Solutions".

Lift Ticket Scam Prevention 

For a large ski area such as Vail Resorts, it is estimated that over a million dollars per year is lost due to lift ticket fraud.

One of the main advantages of using our system versus other methods of ticket verification is that it will be able to prevent all known ski lift ticket scams. Because it is a fully automatic gate, a valid lift ticket is required to go through it, removing the human element from the checking process.

Verifier Distraction

Our system will prevent skiers from distracting the ticket verifiers and skiing around them. Bunched tickets from previous visits can also distract the verifier who has been standing out in the cold trying to keep up with the rush of skiers in the lift line.

Since most mountains check lift ticket only on the lower lifts. Once skiers get passed the first verification, they can ski the upper mountain all day with no further checking.

Sweetheart Verifier

Some verifiers will let their friends or relatives get on the lifts without any tickets. Lift ticket barcode scanning provides slightly more security but it only applies to tickets that are manually scanned.

Upper Mountain Ski Groups

Most ski areas verify tickets only at the lower lifts. A popular scam is for a group of, say, 8 skiers to buy only 2 lift tickets. Two group members will ride the lift to the upper part of the mountain. One will come down with the two tickets and take another group member up. Within a short amount of time the entire group of 8 are skiing the top of the mountain having only paid for 2 tickets. Our system will be used on all lifts and with tickets checked at every lift, this scam will be prevented.   

Bogus tickets 

With the advent of personal computers and color printers, ski lift tickets can be copied very precisely. These fraudulent tickets can be sold in parking lots at discounted rates to skiers that think they are getting a bargain on a legitimate ticket. The bar code on a copied ticket will scan just as well as on a real ticket. 

Ticket Transfers

A lift ticket is designated to an individual skier. It may be for the person who purchased the ticket or it may be for someone who the purchaser designated. Once a person uses the ticket, he or she is the only one authorized to continue to use the ticket. However, in some situations, the designated person may no longer wish to use the ticket and may either give it or sell it to another skier. Although this transfer is not allowed, it becomes very difficult for the ski lift operator to know which are valid tickets and which have been illegally transferred. For multi day tickets, or season tickets, some ski areas are printing the picture of the legitimate holder right on the ticket. Although this may prevent some fraud, the picture on the ticket is relatively small and requires close examination by the lift operator. Skier wear helmets, goggles, ski masks, scarves, and other articles of clothing covering their faces making any type of identification impossible. The ticket is worn on the outside of ski clothing and may become folded or bent during skiing mishaps, making it more difficult to compare the photo with the skier.  

Patent Pending Biometrics

Our system will be able to verify that the skier that used the ticket in the morning is the same one that continues to use it throught out the day and thus prevent this costliy ticket scam. 

When the skier accesses one of our gates for the first time, our RFID reading system will read the RFID number of the tag that is part of the lift ticket. This will allow access to the data base record that relates to the particular skier. Key biometrics will be taken of the skier during first use that are stored in the database. The next time that the RFID ticket number is detected, the system will measure the biometrics again and compared them to what is stored in the database. If these do not match, the system will declare a biometric failure meaning that the ticket is being used by another person. The ski area can handle this situation in any way they feel is appropriate.

Lift Ticket Flexibility

Various types of lift tickets can be sold at ski areas. As an example, the time duration of the ticket can vary. A lift ticket may be valid for only the morning or only the afternoon of the day purchased or maybe even for one hour of the day. Another possibility is to link the ticket to a credit card and charge each time a lift is used. 

Another variation is the number of lifts that the ticket is good for. For instance, the ticket may be usable only at the beginner’s area and be sold at a lower price than a full mountain lift ticket or it may only be usable at a terrain park or on the expert part of the mountain. Our system allows this flexibility.

RFID lift ticket

The lift ticket below is 4 by 1.5 inches made of sturdy mylar material. The square QR barcode can be imaged by a cell phone camera and allows the ticket to be reloaded through the ski resort's website.

Skier Safety - With gate attendants no longer focused on ski ticket verification, they can now focus on skier safety during lift loading.