Keystone – Some visitors checking in for their vacations at this sprawling ski resort are being handed GPS units – not to help them find their rooms but to participate in a high-tech, resort-wide treasure hunt.
Keystone has become the first ski resort officially to join the geocaching craze, in which scavengers use the hand-held satellite receivers to pinpoint hidden caches filled with trinkets.
“It’s intended to be a cool way to introduce people to Keystone, as well as a fun kind of adventure for families,” resort spokeswoman Amy Kemp said.
As part of a special lodging package, visitors receive a new Garmin eTrex Legend GPS – a $150 unit that is theirs to keep – and a list of coordinates and tips for finding four caches.
“You will ski, snowboard or snowshoe, all while searching high and low with your new GPS,” the instructions indicate.
Turning on the GPS at the top of the mountain, Kemp demonstrated how to plug in the coordinates and then press the “go to” function to follow a digital compass to one geocache nearby.
“We’re 259 feet away from it,” she said, skiing in the direction of the mountaintop restaurant while embarking on her first-time search, just as Keystone guests will attempt. “Now we’re 155 feet … 150 feet …”
Finally, she located an inconspicuous telephone box attached on the downhill side of a pole.
“Congratulations! You found it!” read a placard.
Inside was a small metal lockbox that contained a handful of carabiner keychains, some stickers, a logbook and a disposable camera.
“The only rules are if you take something from the cache you must leave something for the cache,” read a note inside.
Keystone additionally asks guests to shoot photos of themselves for the resort website. Tokens inside the caches also may be redeemed for prizes ranging from free hot chocolate to a pair of SmartWool socks.
The hints included in the instructions make finding the geocaches pretty simple – intended, Kemp said, to attract families and GPS neophytes – but resort officials anticipate that they could someday become Keystone’s answer to the shrines for famed musicians scattered in the trees around Aspen’s Ajax mountain.
But not everyone is impressed.
Public-lands managers generally hold a dim view on geocaching, equating the caches with nothing more than litter that violates the “leave no trace” ethic.
Richard Dyess of Brighton, who was skiing at Keystone last month, dismissed the craze as being too easy once someone learns how to use the GPS unit.
“What they need to do is learn how to read a topographic map and a compass,” the former competitive orienteer said.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
