With over two decades perfecting interactive maps and conditions reporting for ski resorts, this year we did a full overhaul of our approach and introduced what we like to call the Daily Dashboard. It combines daily content, webcams, interactive summer maps, current surface conditions, lift and trail status all on one page.

As more resorts expand summer operations with mountain biking, we saw that resorts also needed this for guest communications.

We partnered with Bolton Valley Report on our first... and the Dirt Report was born. 

Checkout Bolton's Mountain Bike Daily Dasbboard... AKA The Dirt Report

As Molly Coneybeer, Bolton's Director of Sales and Marketing, told me: "Riders want the dirt on the dirt, and now they're checking the report before they leave home."

Just like skiers and riders, mountain bikers want to know the status of trails before loading the car. To get this info, they've had to follow Facebook pages and memorize trail names. Who has the extra brain cells for that? Mountain bikers? (kidding)

Mountain bike interactive maps for resorts provide context to conditions reporting. When you see "Danger Pond is running mint" you can actually see where that trail is on the mountain biking dynamic map, what connects to it, and plan your route. It also shows mountain bikers that ski resorts are committed - that you care enough to invest in proper communication tools, not just throw up a PDF and call it good.

That's just lazy.

Bolton Valley's new Dirt Report & Mountain Bike Interactive Map shows what's possible when ski resorts treat summer riders with the same respect as winter guests.

Mountain Bikers Are Just as Neurotic as Skiers

Trust me, your mountain bikers are hitting refresh on their phones at 6 AM. They want to know:

• Can I actually ride today or is everything still swamped?
• Did trail crew fix that sketchy drop on Danger Pond?
• Is it hero dirt or moon dust?
• Are the jump lines running good?
• What's actually open vs. what's technically open but sketchy?

Most resorts give them nothing. Maybe a trail count. Maybe.

I watched a guy last week spend 20 minutes trying to figure out if Burke was rideable after the storms. Checked their website, Facebook, Instagram, called the bike shop. Still had no idea. So he drove to Kingdom Trails instead.

That's money driving right past your ticket window because you couldn't be bothered to communicate.

Same Problems We Fixed for Winter, Just Dustier

Remember when skiers had to call the snow phone? Or show up hoping for the best? We fixed that years ago. But we're still doing that to mountain bikers.

The Information Scavenger Hunt
Right now riders check your website for hours. Download a PDF. Stalk your social media. Check weather apps. Call the shop. Text their buddy who "knows a guy who works there." Bolton put everything in one place. Groundbreaking, I know.

The Trail Name Problem
Your trail names mean nothing to 90% of riders. Is "Double Down" the fun flowy one or the one that'll send you to the hospital? Bolton's interactive map actually shows people where trails are and what they're in for. No decoder ring required.

What Bolton Got Right

Bolton took our new daily dashboard, which combines our propCONDITIONS reporting with our interactive map (plus web cams, daily report, weather, etc) - same tools that power winter operations at ski resorts - and pointed it at dirt. Not complicated. Not expensive. Just common sense.

The setup hits different though:

• Trail crew can update conditions from anywhere - desktop or mobile
• Riders see exactly which trails are mint and which are sketch
• Weather context that actually matters ("Lower mountain = peanut butter, upper mountain = hero dirt")
• Integration ready for webcams when resorts add them
• Works on mobile 

Molly nailed it when she told me: "It's not just 'open or closed' anymore. We're able to share a more accurate story about the trails and how they're riding." That's the difference between basic communication and actually serving your riders.

She discovered: "The new implementation has reduced the number of calls and questions we get about daily mountain conditions," Molly told me. "Which frees up our team to give more attention to in-person interactions."

Think about that. Better online communication = less phone tag = happier staff = better guest experience. It's a win all around.

Impact On Your Team? Micro

Here's what you actually need for your mountain biking dynamic map:

• That trail map JPEG your marketing person has somewhere
• Your logo and brand colors (we can grab them from your website)
• 30 minutes to chat about how your trail crew operates
• We build the interactive summer map and then the daily dashboard. We host them. We give you a simple embed code. Done.

Support You Guests Year Around

Level up both your winter and summer digital guest services with a set for summer and another for winter. We'll even give you a deal. Just don't leave guests in the dark. Don't ask your guests to memorize all of your lift and trail names. And don't post a pdf of your printed trail map and call it a day.

Stop that.