“Taco Beast”是搭建在雪地履帶式卡車上的流動餐車，在Steamboat滑雪度假村，饑餓的滑雪玩家和滑雪板玩家可以通過應用程序來尋找它。在本滑雪季季末，“Taco Beast”將可以通過纜椅直接配送玉米卷餅和啤酒。

Steamboat及其Taco Beast是母公司Alterra一項宏偉計劃的一部分，該計劃旨在將科技引入滑雪場。借助Alterra的Ikon滑雪聯卡，滑雪玩家可以享用24個滑雪度假村的設施。

Steamboat的首席運營官兼總裁鮑勃·珀爾曼說：“你可以使用這個應用程序來繪制日間的滑雪路線圖，并查看哪些朋友在山里。”

與此同時，Alterra及其競爭對手Vail Resorts還推出了其他技術驅動型服務，來改善山里的體驗，其中包括可以透過服裝識別的智能通行證，而且為滑雪者和滑雪板玩家拍攝日間照片的滑道攝像頭亦能識別此類通行證。其他創新包括使用技術來幫助客戶尋找纜車和特許通道，并在纜車使用旺季管理交通流量。

新科技反映了度假村改善其客戶體驗的決心，但這也是滑雪行業為避免業務下滑而采取的緊急舉措之一。盡管2018-19年滑雪季充足的雪量為美國滑雪場帶來了5900萬名游客，這一數字自1979-80年度以來排名第四，然而事實在于，這一運動的參與者正在下滑。活躍滑雪者和滑雪板玩家的數量此前在2011年超過了1000萬，但如今略低于900萬。

滑雪行業面臨的挑戰包括休閑愛好的改變以及較高的價格——優質雪場單日票價如今接近200美元。另一個重大的挑戰在于環境變化，它有可能會導致滑雪季的縮短或消失，而且長期以來，嬰兒潮一代一直是這項運動的中堅力量，但隨著其年齡的增長，他們的身體變得越來越脆弱，因此也就無法從事這項運動。

在這一背景下，Taco Beast提供的應用下單服務以及其他新潮手段可能有助于減緩滑雪行業的下滑，但難以遏制這一趨勢。（財富中文網）

譯者：馮豐

審校：夏林

At Steamboat Ski Resort in Colorado, hungry skiers and snowboarders can use an app to track down the “Taco Beast,” a roving food truck set atop a Snowcat. By the end of this ski season, they’ll be able to send taco and beer orders right from the chairlift.

Steamboat and its Taco Beast are part of a larger effort by parent company Alterra, which offers access to two dozen ski resorts through its Ikon pass, to bring tech to the slopes.

“You can use the app to map your day skiing, track total vertical feet, and see where your friends are on the mountains,” says Rob Perlman, COO and President of Steamboat.

Meanwhile, Alterra and its competitor, Vail Resorts, have dabbled with other tech-driven tricks to improve the mountain experience. These include smart passes that can be scanned through clothing, and which can be read by on-slope cameras that offer skiers and boarders photos of their day. Other innovations involve using tech to help customers navigate lift and concession lines, and manage traffic flow on busy lift days.

The new tech reflects the resorts’ desire to improve the customer experience, but it’s also part of an urgent effort by the ski industry to stave off decline. While abundant snow in the 2018-19 season produced 59 million visits to U.S. slopes—the fourth best total since 1979-80—the reality is the number of participants in the sport is tapering. The number of active skiers and snowboarders last eclipsed 10 million in 2011 and the number is now much closer to 9 million.

The challenges facing the ski industry include shifting leisure habits as well as high prices—single day tickets for a premium resort now cost almost $200. Equally pressing is climate change, which threatens to shorten or eliminate the ski season, and aging baby-boomers, who long made up the nucleus of the sport but are now increasingly too fragile to pursue it.

In this context, app-based orders from a Taco Beast and other gimmicks may help slow skiing’s decline but are unlikely to stop it.