Developments on the #epicrace

Vail is having a brilliant contest this year with the Epic Race (first 10 racers to all 26 of their resorts gets a pass for life). That is, well, fantastic. The race has a ton of  racers and I laid out how to win it here.

Vail just sent out an update with this juicy addition:

And, new as of today: EVERY racer who officially finishes all 26 mountains and the race requirements by the end of this season, will get a FREE Epic Pass from Vail Resorts for the 2014-2015 season!

 The worst possible scenario for Vail would be a bottleneck of racers being cut throat at the final mountain, angry. With this change, it makes it much more about the adventure and less about the grand prize. A great move. 

Also, this update to the race:

If you are at a resort on or after the official /published opening day and the opening is delayed, or the resort is closed, due to weather we are waiving the requirement of an on-mountain scan. You are required to submit a total of three pieces of content* from the resort list

Another relaxation of the rules. I almost want to say “racers should have to wait for the resort to open” but also realize that hey, this is playing in the snow, the more fun the better and camping out for early season just doesn’t sound fun. So resorts might open early, but none will open late as far as itineraries are concerned.

I’m going to miss the first few days because I’m at a conference in Ogden, Utah (an amazing place). Although Canyons is 40 minutes away (I drove past it today) I won’t be able to ski it until it opens next Friday.

Game on.