Epic asked me if I wanted a hard pass or use the app on my phone. Phone passes seem like an awful idea. I am assuming it is a visual scan vice RF .

I have a hard enough time keeping my phone charged while skiing. I stick hand warmers on it and bury it in my inside jacket. Pulling it out every run to scan seems like a pain and a way to run down my battery fast. 

RF passes are fast, can be scanned at a distance and are not degraded by light, snow etc.... 

Just seems like a bad idea to me but... it probably saves Vail a few beans which multiplied by the number of passes probably makes sense to their bottom line, but it sure adds to my lift line!!!

It is an RF scan, in past years it has been unreliable.  At times comically so.

And something to be aware of:  you can use both but once you scan one for a given day it deactivates the other.  Which is understandable and prevents duplicate use/sharing.  But if you start using your phone and it goes dead or whatever, you can't just start scanning your physical pass that same day.

I can see the argument for both.  Personally I want the physical pass.  It just stays in my ski pants which I always have on regardless of temp or conditions etc. 

My son and I use the physical Epic pass and snap it in a holder on our helmets or keep it in our pockets - haven't had a problem with scanning those at all.  Wife is very phone-centric and switched to phone.  Phone sucks not only because "you" are your phone these days, but, yeah your phone can die and you're screwed.   I've had the unfortunate event of misplacing a pass only to find it later -  the good thing about hard passes is that (at least to my current knowledge) places like 7S HV and laurel will print you a new one on the spot given the correct verification, or if you have someone in your family who has one on them so they can look up the info. 

Vail would rather you use your phone.  Saves them print and postage.

I don't yet have a tattoo, but if you could do a barcode across the back of my neck, I'd use that before using my phone, but hey to each his or her own.

Honestly, last season I enabled the digital pass and had the physical pass in my pocket. The few times I asked they said it always picked up my phone first. 

I usually keep my phone in a pocket on the inside of my coat at chest height so I suspect that gets scanned easier than the pass in my pocket. 

Also I had several days where my pass was scanned once at places like breck and vail where I never went back to the base area after my first lift ride. 

I also had one day I accidentally threw my ikon pass in my pocket instead of my epic pass, realized it when I went to use the discount for food. I just brought up the barcode on the app and it wasn’t an issue, but it is nice having a backup opposed to needing to visit guest services.