Cooler weather is coming to Colorado, and that means people are starting to think about skiing. But getting all that gear together — even before braving the mountain highways — can be daunting.
Vail Resorts thinks it might have a way to make things easier. The resort giant is pitching people on a new subscription called My Epic Gear that will let people use an app to order their equipment and have it waiting for them at the gondola.
After a pilot last season, the program is being rolled out at 12 U.S. resorts this year, including all of Vail’s Colorado properties, which include Keystone, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek and Crested Butte.
The program could be especially appealing to people who don’t ski all the time and want to avoid dealing with a rental shop. But even frequent skiers can get bogged down when lugging around equipment for an entire family.
Take Jay and Jess Feaster, a couple from Golden who met as rafting guides in Cañon City. They love everything about the outdoor Colorado lifestyle. They haven’t always loved schlepping all their skiing gear to the lift with their twin boys.
“When they're little, getting them to the mountain is the hardest part of the day,” Jess Feaster said. “There's the traffic on I-70, that is a big part of skiing now in Colorado. But then also when you just get to the mountain, particularly a young kid, it's just really tough when they have their poles, they have their skis, they're walking in their boots.”
It would be great to streamline the process, she said.
“It's kind of like camping. Sometimes you second guess the experience as you're getting ready for it, but then once you're actually there and doing it, it's awesome, and it’s totally worth the ruckus,” Jess said.
The skis and snowboards will be the newest models, according to John Plack, a spokesperson for Vail. Customers will be able to try different equipment for different kinds of conditions, he said.
“You get a great powder day, you want those powder skis. And if you have a carving day where it hasn't snowed in a little bit and you want some carving skis,” Plack said.
Jess Feaster found out about Epic Gear through a friend who works at Vail. She’s not sure it’s right for her family this season. Her kids are 12 now, so it’s getting a little easier to get everybody where they need to be.
But even so, it could be fun to have her sons try out top-of-the-line skis. She’s been sticking to relatively inexpensive rentals while they are still growing.
“My kids now are blowing my ski skills away … I can't go with them anymore,” Feaster said. “I would be happy to price it out. I would love the idea of them in really nice skis.”
