From long听road trips to planning weekend adventures, smartphones can make traveling easier, and your next ski trip is no different. There are fantastic apps for everything from tracking where the next big storm will hit to booking听last-minute flights to score that powder. They鈥檒l even make skiing safer and more fun once you make it to the slopes. 听听听听听听听听
OpenSnow
If you鈥檙e a skier or boarder and听don鈥檛 use , fix that immediately. Yes, its accumulation predictions shouldn鈥檛 be taken as gospel鈥攖hat鈥檚 just the nature of the beast鈥攂ut with quick access to forecasts, mountain cams, and write-ups on the latest storm systems, there鈥檚 no better way to track听how much fresh stuff your home mountain is set to get or where you should chase next. 听听
Hopper
This 听not only lets you see when flights are most affordable several months in advance, which is great for planning bigger ski听trips,听it鈥檚 also terrific for landing last-minute deals. And since you鈥檒l have to wait until just a few days before a storm to get an accurate forecast, you鈥檙e going to need that to score听powder without blowing your savings.
Liftopia
If you don鈥檛 have a megapass, 听is your answer for lift tickets. Just pick a date and the region you want to ski, and you鈥檒l get a quick look at the best deals available. That, plus quick access to on-mountain conditions and the ability to get deal alerts for your favorite resort, makes trip planning easy.
SkiFit听($13)
Nothing is worse than your legs turning to Jell-O听on the first run of your epic ski vacation. To enjoy your trip to the fullest, start training early to get in听shape for the season. 听is an eight-week exercise program developed in Chamonix, France, that focuses on bodyweight exercises you can do anywhere. Video guidance and an easy-to-use design听help keep you on track and get you ready for the slopes.
Fatmap
This is the 听I鈥檝e found. Not only do you get a 3-D plot that tracks your location and allows you to see where you are in the resort better than any paper map, you can overlay gradient, altitude, aspect, avalanche risk, and even a flats indicator (so snowboarders can avoid stalling听out). Maps can be downloaded for offline use, and听there鈥檚 also an integrated snow cover overlay, customizable terrain tools, and you can now publish your routes publicly to the map for everyone to see.
Ski Tracks听($1)
If you鈥檙e into data tracking, 听lets you record metrics like maximum speed, number of runs, distance skied, and your total vertical. It鈥檚 also a great way to log the number of days you get on your planks听for bragging rights in the off-season.
PeakFinder AR听($5)
If you鈥檙e like听me, conversations on the听chairlift often turn into guessing games about which听mountain we鈥檙e staring at on the horizon. Stop听guessing and get , which has more than 650,000 mountains in its database and shows you their names on its听360-degree display. Just launch the app, point your phone at a peak, and impress your ski buddies with your newfound topographic knowledge.