These days smartphones are pretty much a must-have bit of kit on the slopes. From taking photos to measuring your speed, contacting the emergency services to accessing resort information and snow reports – apps really can enhance your skiing experience.
Here's a list of our 20 favourite ski-related apps!
1. Echo112 – The Pocket Lifesaver by MobileMed Sarl
- Available on iOS
- Free
- This essential lifesaving app sends your location to local emergency services across the globe
Activate the app in an emergency and it will detect your location and call the relevant local emergency services, providing them with your location details. No data? No problem: your location is sent by SMS. This app has been field tested by Swiss Emergency services for the last four years, it's now available worldwide.
2. mPassport by HTH Worldwide
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Brings you destination-specific information about the best local doctors, hospitals and resources – wherever you are in the world
Not only can this app be used to view safety alerts and locate your nearest emergency services, you can also schedule appointments, translate medical terms and locate medication brands!
3. Ski Tracks by Core Coders Ltd
- Available on Android for £1.19 and iOS for £1.99
- Claims to be the world's most downloaded ski and snowboard application!
Ski Tracks allows you to record your day on the slopes – just press the record button, put your phone in your pocket and your day’s movements will be recorded! Just a few of the stats recorded include maximum speed, distance covered, altitude reached and number of runs. It claims to have low power and data requirements. This app also supports Pebble, Android Wear and Apple Watch products.
4. GoPro Quik by GoPro
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Acts as a remote control for a GoPro
This is the essential app if you're taking your GoPro to the slopes this season. On the move you can use your phone to frame shots, start/recording and adjust the settings. Afterwards, footage can easily edited with music and effects, then shared socially with friends and family.
5. Les 3 Vallées
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
The official app for the largest ski area in the world provides detailed information about the ski area and the eight resorts within it: Courchevel, La Tania, Méribel, Brides-Les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint Martin de Belleville, Val Thorens and Orelle. The primary function is, what the app claims, as 'the most detailed interactive 3D piste map in the world'. It also shows the opening/closure of ski runs/lifts, weather forecasts, webcams and locations of the high-altitude restaurants.
6. On Piste by Rossignol
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Allows you to track and record all your runs during the season and provides you with a complete analysis
This app will record your runs throughout the season and allows you to share your stats with your friends! Statistics covered include maximum speed, average speed, duration, distance, ascent and descent. It also provides a global recap of your season. Although this app is similar to Ski Tracks, the emphasis is more on social sharing (as of January 2018 they have over 66.7k active members).
7. Paradiski YUGE
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Works in real time providing essential information on Paradiski
The YUGE app provides real-time information on Les Arcs, La Plagne and Peisey Vallandry including weather forecasts, how busy the area is/lifts are, snow condition info, and upcoming activities and events. It has a ski map that also works in real-time so it's easy to find friends and family, to plan routes and have answers about local points of interest. YUGE also records your skiing, you can even complete fun challenges and earn badges.
8. Ski & Snow Report by On The Snow
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Hugely popular app
This app provides information on current snow conditions at more than 2000 ski areas worldwide, complete with powder alerts, opening dates and weather forecasts. It also lets you see live webcams, piste maps and find nearby resorts using GPS. Plus read reviews, gear guides and news from their team of experts.
9. Courchevel by Courchevel Tourisme
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
Courchevel’s app has been specially designed to make your stay easier, smoother, and provide you with personalized content and relevant information depending on your needs. You can have access to live weather forecasts, webcams, events, activities and things to do, locations of nearby shops and restaurants, and shuttle timetables. It can also map your route and calculate your estimated arrival time, record your runs, and notify you about nearby attractions.
10. Find My Friends by Apple
- Available on iOS
- Free
- Has been optimised to avoid drainage of your battery
Although not specific to ski, this app may come in useful if you get separated from friends and family on the slopes, particularly useful if you are in a mixed ability party. Simply install the app, add your friends using your contacts, when your friend accepts your invitation using the app on their device, you will each be able to track each other’s location. If you don’t want to follow each other all the time, you can put it on a temporary setting – ideal for a ski holiday.
11. Les 2 Alpes by Skiplan Lumiplan Montagne
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
Brought to you by the Tourism Office of Les 2 Alpes and the ski lift company (Deux Alpes Loisirs), this app gives users access to a dynamic map of the ski area, GPS localization in the resort, detailed weather forecasts, a complete address book of all the stores and services available in Les 2 Alpes and emergency phone numbers
12. Chamonix by Skiplan Lumiplan Montagne
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- GPS tracking
Find all the practical information about Chamonix with this app, brought to you by the Chamonix Tourist Office, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc and la Chamoniarde (mountain safety and rescue organization). This includes piste maps, opening of pistes and ski-lifts in real time; weather forecasts, on-site webcams, positioning of the mountains by augmented reality; resort map, events, activities and entertainment; bus and train timetables; reports of road conditions, information on cross-country skiing - plus you can use the app to top up your ski pass!
13. Restaurants Ski by BPSA
- Available on Android
- Free
An experimental app offering information about restaurants in French ski resorts including Tignes, Val d’Isere, Les Arcs, La Plagne, La Rosiere, Sainte Foy, Meribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens and Les Menuires.
14. Skiresort.info by Skiresort Service International
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- Provides information about 4800 resorts worldwide
Created by a market leader in snow reports and ski resort data, this app supplied information about ski passes, opening times, trail maps, test reports, current snow reports, weather reports, webcams, photos and videos. It has 3000 trail maps, 500 test reports, 1000 current snow reports (updated daily), 3800 weather reports (updated four times daily), 4100 webcams, and a route planner for 4000 ski resorts across the world. You can even save your favourite resorts and with them without an internet connect.
15. Tignes by OPENIUM
- Available on iOS
- Free
As well as keeping you up-to-date with all the latest resort information, news, activities, bus timetables, events, weather forecasts, resort map and ski itinerary suggestions; this app also provides you with discount vouchers for the local shops, bars and restaurants. It includes social media feeds so you can keep in the loop about everything Tignes.
16. Slopes by Breakpoint Studio
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free, with a premium subscription available
- Track skiing statistics and compete with others
A great way to keep a track of your ski statistics, Slopes offers you access to plenty of useful information such as your top speed, distance, heart rate and more so that you can keep an eye on your improvements over time. You can also compare these stats and compete with friends with private leaderboards if you're the competitive type, as well as being able to locate friends with Slope's interactive ski maps. There are over 200 interactive maps, for French ski resorts this includes 3 Valleys, Tignes Val d'Isère, Portes du Soleil and Paradiski. There's even an Apple Watch version of the app available, allowing you to record your statistics all without the use of your phone.
17. PeakFinder by Fabio Soldati
- Available on Android for £3.99 and iOS for £4.99
- Identify peaks and learn more about them
An excellent tool to boost your knowledge of the peaks in the France, PeakFinder claims to know over 1,000,000 peaks and allows you to use your phone's GPS and camera to identify the names of peaks and then learn further information about them. The app can either be used online or offline so you can easily use it from wherever you are.
18. GPS on ski map (Maprika)
- Available on Android
- Free
- Locate friends and arrange meetings on the slopes
Another way to find your friends on the slopes, Maprika (called "GPS on ski map" on Google Play) is a mapping app that uses GPS to allow you to locate people you've added as a friend, set up meeting points and leave reviews of the routes you've completed. Maprika gives you access to 15,000 maps including piste maps, hiking trails and maps of various villages in the French Alps, as well as giving you the ability to create your own maps and share them with others.
19. FATMAP by Strava
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
- 3D maps of the mountains with a range of real time information
Mountain exploration is made a lot easier with FATMAP, which gives you access to 3D maps of routes for skiing and hiking. Coupled with real time resort information and snow conditions, as well as details on the terrain of the routes you want to explore, this app is great for planning a day of skiing, with the option to create your own routes and share them with others also being available. You can even download maps to be used offline so that you can access them in the moment.
20. Vaujany
- Available on iOS and Android
- Free
The official Vaujany app will give you information such as the resort's opening and closing dates, weather forecasts and any avalanche risks for the resort, emergency phone numbers and more. You can also look at maps of the ski area, view webcams and get details on various events both indoors and outdoors, including contact information and directions.
