For years, skiers have collected lift tickets as a way to show their friends the cool places they’ve been. Foursquare is, of course, the new way to show people the cool places you’ve been, so today they’ve launched an effort to replace those lift ticket collections with a collection of digital badges. Simply following a participating resort and checking in at one of their venues will unlock that resort’s badge.

We’ve confirmed the participation of two resorts: Vermont’s Mount Snow and Whistler Blackcomb near Vancouver, Canada (and home to the skiing events during the 2010 Winter Olympics). We expect more resorts to be announced in the near future.

“We’ve had a small presence on Foursquare for nearly a year now and when they contacted us about a partnership opportunity, we couldn’t refuse,” said Amber Turnau, the Media
Relations and Social Media Strategist for Whistler Blackcomb. “With geo location remaining the emerging trend in social media, it makes sense for Whistler Blackcomb to take every opportunity we can to increase our brand presence on Foursquare.”

The participating resorts are also offering specials and giveaways for checking in to coincide with their badges. Whistler Blackcomb, for instance, will be raffling off WB schwag to users who’ve checked in each month.

Whistler Blackcomb is obviously one of North America’s largest resorts, so why is relatively small Mount Snow included in the program? “Because we’re awesome! (ok, and Dennis & Jonathan [Crowley] are pass holders),” said Dan Gullotti, their Interactive Marketing Manager.

These badges, along with the Ski Bum badge, will certainly be exciting for skiers. What do you think of the new badges?

UPDATE (1/20): Maine’s Sunday River resort is also part of the program.

No related posts.