Technology To Improve Future Safety On The Slopes
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Technology is likely to become ever more prevalent on the world’s ski slopes in coming years, with skiers probably split as to whether that’s a good or bad thing!
Recent technological advances that have brought together GPS systems, credit cards, mobile phones are wireless technology have already brought us, with varying degrees of success, hands free lift tickets we can ‘charge up’ (pay for) online or from our mobiles – avoiding the irritation of the ticket office queue and the lift turnstile.
Satellite tracking means we can trace our route and speed around the mountain and print off a souvenir map at some resorts.
Increasingly this technology will be used to send us real time information on where we are, what the snow and weather is doing, and soon, no doubt, which nearby restaurant has a lunch special that might tempt us.
New patents approved this week by Apple include a sports strip – a thin health and heart monitor strip which would wirelessly instantly notify the resort’s medical staff of a serious health issue such as a cardiac arrest.
Another is a smarter lift ticket than anything yet produced which includes GPS which allows the resort operators to keep track of skiers and boarders. The implications here include the ability of the resort to set speed limits if they need to on some or all pistes and instantly know and potentially penalise transgressors – for example by cancelling their lift ticket whilst they’re still on the mountain. The same technology could apparently note if freestylers took to the air too many times fopr safety’s sake.
