Ski season only comes once a year, and it’s never long enough. In order to make the most of your ski season, there are apps that give you weather reports, record your runs, and find your friends and family on the slopes. Here are the best ski apps to make your skiing and snowboarding trips a little easier.
OnTheSnow Ski and Snow Report
OnTheSnow Ski and Snow Report is one of the best free ski apps you can download to help you plan your next ski trip. With this app, you get access to weather reports and snow conditions for over 2,000 ski resorts around the world.
If you’re thinking about traveling to a particular ski resort, you can get powder alerts whenever the resort gets a certain amount of new snow. You can also view statistics and a snow history graph for popular resorts from Vail to Whistler.
On top of these tools, you get a weekly dose of regional weather reports from resident meteorologist Chris Tomer in the app’s inbox. Crowd-sourced information also allows you to get live webcam updates from other app users.
You can find this free app on the Google Play Store for Android users and the Apple App Store for iPhone users.
Liftopia
A budget-friendly ski trip is just a few clicks away with Liftopia, a multi-resort e-commerce skiing app. This one-stop-shop app lets you buy ski lift tickets, book resort lodging, and buy gift cards for ski rentals and lessons. You can get exclusive deals of up to 80% off on-mountain rates at more than 200 ski areas.
Liftopia makes it convenient for you to buy ski resort needs wherever you are. Once you complete a purchase, you will get an email with your itinerary and a mobile voucher. You can then show this voucher at the resort for your lift or lessons; no printing required.
To guide you in your buying decisions, the app offers detailed ski resort information, like snow conditions, resort amenities, ski resort photos, and more. You can also use your phone’s GPS features to look into more deals or other ski resorts.
You can find this app on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store for free.
OpenSnow
Don’t know where you want to go skiing yet? OpenSnow helps you find the best powder in your area. Users can get snow forecasts and reports from more than 2,000 mountain locations in the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe.
OpenSnow forecast data is sourced from local forecasters, the National Weather Service, and global forecast data. The app even has local weather forecasters that give you on-the-ground daily analysis of powder conditions.
You can also set up custom forecasts and report alerts, and see comparisons of snowfall from different seasons and regions. OpenSnow developers advise people looking for powder to check weather forecasts as much as 10 days in advance.
For an annual subscription of $20, you can get ad-free forecasts at longer intervals, and 24-hour access to camera feeds from ski resorts.
You can find this app on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store for free. However, there are in-app purchases that range from $0.99 to $19.99 per item.
Avalanche Forecasts
The only thing more important than having a good time on the slopes is safety. The Avalanche Forecasts app lets you see predicted avalanches for the next two days. For easy reference, danger levels are color-coded from low to extreme. The app will show you avalanche conditions on a map, and tapping on a region will show you detailed results. The app sources its data from every single avalanche forecast center in North America, covering more than 100 regions.
Losing a data connection in the mountains is possible. But you don’t need to worry, as the app stores a cached version of your data, so that you can access it offline.
You can only find this free app on the Apple App Store.
Slopes: Ski & Snowboard
The Slopes app logs your speed, vertical, distance, and more. You don’t have to constantly fuss with your phone or worry about the battery being drained. In addition, Slopes works with Siri, so you can use voice commands to start recording your stats. Using the motion processor in iPhones, Slopes can even tell when there is a sudden stop in your activity due to a wipeout.
However, where Slopes shines is its integration with the Apple Watch. The app’s developer, Consumed by Code, says 25% of its users log their runs on the Apple Watch instead of on the iPhone. Slopes can even connect to Apple Health to monitor your heart rate and calories burned.
This free app is only available on the Apple App Store. However, it does come with in-app purchases that range from $1.99 to $29.99.
SkiLynx
You can turn skiing into a fun social activity for family and friends with SkiLynx. This app offers location-based tracking and messaging features, so that you can stay connected with your ski buddies on the slope. When your friends use the app, it gives you a real-time view of where they are in the resort.
With just one tap, you can create an invite-only chat group to coordinate with your friends and family. Its smart messaging features allow you to create location-aware hashtags. Even if you don’t where you are, once you use the hashtag #here, the app will automatically detect your whereabouts and replace the hashtag with your location.
The app also offers weather updates and open chairlift and trail counts for participating resorts. You can get a MySki Day email summary, highlighting your group’s ski history and runs. Social integration with Facebook and Twitter lets you post updates about your time in the snow.
FATMAP
Exploring unknown terrain just got a little less intimidating with FATMAP, a 3D mapping app that lets you plan your routes for skiing, hiking, biking, or running. The 3D maps are created using high-resolution, tri-stereoscopic satellite imagery, which has between 15 and 45 times more detail than Google Earth. You can also access maps offline, so that you can wander around in areas without internet access.
FATMAP co-founder Misha Gopaul has described the app as an “advanced terrain intelligence toolkit.” With it, you can access topographic maps and custom terrain tools, like gradient, altitude, and aspect filters, to help you navigate your route. Be in the know with real-time depth, lift, or piste status in your areas of interest. Snow depth is updated every 24 hours, so that you can make smart decisions about your trip.
Not keen on planning everything on your own? You can take pre-charted routes curated by professional adventurers that have collaborated with FATMAP. The routes will have helpful information about terrain difficulty, avalanche ratings, and detailed guides by local experts. You also get a bird’s eye view of the route, so you can get a feel for the route before you go there.
You can download this app for free. However, there are in-app purchases that range from $5.49 to $54.99 per item.
Ski Tracks
If you want to know more about your skiing stats, the Ski Tracks app uses GPS to track your location and record all your activities on the mountain.
Once you press start, the app will begin logging how many runs you ski, your speed, your total distance, the slope angle, and how much time you spent on the slopes. All these stats are recorded in the background, so you don’t have to tinker with your phone every time you start a new run. At the end of the day, you can look at your averages, analyze them in a tabular or chart form, and compare them with other runs you’ve done in the season.
The mapping tools also allow you to see each run you did on a 3D map. You can then export these maps to share them by email or upload them to Facebook.
You can find this app on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store for $0.99.
Curious to see other apps which are a cut above the rest? Check out the best apps from Apple and Google for 2019.