There are simply stacks of skiing apps available to download nowadays, but which ones will actually add value to your ski experience? We give the lowdown on the most practical skiing apps on the market.
The Mammut Safety App helps assess local avalanche risk.
Mammut Safety - Free
Stay safe on the mountain by using this ski app to measure the angle of the slope you’re on, find out which direction you’re skiing in, what altitude you’re at and receive up-to-date avalanche bulletins. But the best feature is that if your skiing trip goes wrong, you can use the SOS button to send your co-ordinates by text message to the emergency services, should a problem arise.
We say - particularly valuable for off-piste skiers
Ski Club Snow Reports - Free
Get up-to-date snow reports before your skiing holidays from more than 250 ski resorts, worldwide, including snow depths, piste conditions, live weather reports and the status of the chair lifts. The app even links to live web cameras, so you can see the conditions for yourself.
We say - a really useful app for all types of skier
The Ski School app helps improve ski techniques.
Ski School Beginner/Advanced/Intermediate - £2.99
Choose the app that matches your level of skiing (beginner, intermediate or advanced)and use it to touch up your ski technique before you hit the slopes, then perfect your stance with on-piste instruction. It includes professional video lessons from instructor Darren Turner and uses movement analysis technology to critique your style.
We say - far cheaper than booking a ski lesson
RealSki - Free
Take a photo with your phone and RealSki will annotate it with the names of chairlifts, landmarks, restaurants and anything else that’s interesting or important in the scene. Ideal for when you’re new to a resort or feeling a bit lost. The only downside that it’s US based only at the moment.
We say - particularly good for skiing in new resorts
iTrailMap3D - £2.99
Put your piste map into 3D and pan around the resort to find out what’s where. You can also use this app to record your movements across the mountain and find facilities. Export the info into Google Earth when you get home to map out your holiday.
We say - better than a paper piste map.
Ski Maps app: record GPS tracks, view graphs of your speed, distance and altitude.
Ski Maps - £1.99
If you take skiing holidays that take you off piste for the afternoon, this clever little app allows you to download a ski resort map to your mobile and find your exact position, and way back, by using your phone's GPS positioner.
We say - great for ski touring
Ski forecast - Free
Get the weather forecast and conditions for more than 800 European ski resorts, as well as info on the snow quality on the ground.
We say - straightforward weather reporting covering loads of resorts
Ski Webcams - Free
If you’re wary of weather reports, this app lets you make your own forecasts by linking to more than 1,500 webcams across 400 worldwide resorts worldwide.
We say - the high definition cameras are particularly good
Snow Edge - Free
Track your every movement and collect stats on acceleration, speed, g-force, number of turns and airtime. Simply switch it on, stick your phone in your pocket and go skiing! Make sure your ski buddies download it too, so you can bring some serious competition into your time on the piste.
We say - the skier with the least g-force buys the après beers.
Ski Tracks - £0.69
This fun and easy to use ap allows you to record stats such as your top speed, distance skied and total vertical descent - you can even opt to upload the geo-tagged stats to your Facebook page throughout the day.
We say - a fun way to reflect back on your holiday.
Exploco Writer: Lucy Grewcock
Lucy has been a member of the writing team since 2010. Her travel journalism has appeared in likes of The Independent on Sunday, Ski and Board, Wanderlust magazine, ABTA magazine and The Mail on Sunday. In the past three years she has won two awards for her travel writing with The Daily Telegraph and won The Guardian's 2011 Adventure Travel Writing competition. Lucy also lectures on World Development and Geography and, as an expedition leader, keen skier, surfer, mountain-biker and scuba-diver, she has a passion for adventure sports.
