4 Must-Have Apple Watch Apps For Snowboarders & Skiers

The weather outside is getting dangerously close to frightful. That means those who prefer to spend their winter months kicking up powder at high altitudes astride a pair of skis or a snowboard are no doubt plotting trips to lodges and Alpine locales all across the globe. If you count yourself among them, you're probably already eyeing upgrades to some of your gear, including skis, boots, poles, and gloves.

Once you've ensured that those most vital items are ready to hit the slopes with you, you might start looking to enhance your next run with certain other creature features. Certain slope-ready gadgets like a SlashGear-approved GoPro Camera or even heated gloves will likely make your next ski trip more memorable than the last, but folks who currently have an Apple Watch adorning their wrist might also be looking for an app that can help make the device useful the next time they're out to kick up some serious powder. 

Sure, you can utilize the built-in GPS features and barometric altimeter on your Apple Watch if you choose, as they can accurately measure distances and speeds on the slopes and provide readings for elevation descent and gain in real time. But there are also a handful of Apple Watch-ready apps that can help you track those stats and more all in one convenient place. Here's a look at a few that any skier or snowboarder should consider downloading as they prep for their next trip down the slopes. 

We'll start things off with Slopes: Ski & Snowboarder, as it currently boasts the highest user score of any app on this list with a 4.9 stars out five stars rating. The Apple Watch version of the app is stripped back in terms of visual appeal compared to the flashier iPhone version, but Slopes is no less functional in its paired back state, if only because it is essentially pulling data from the same sort of tracking points as it would on an iPhone.

Slopes' capabilities on your Apple Watch don't vary too much from the iPhone version either, allowing users to simply open the app when they hit the slopes first thing in the morning, select an activity — everything from skiing to monoskiing — and let it run throughout the day. Along the way, Slopes will measure every downhill journey you make in the course of the day, compiling and recording stats such as performance, speed, altitude, vertical descent, and run times.

The app can even store your data so you can track your progress and improvement in certain areas from one ski season to the next, with some reviewers praising it as the best ski app in The App Store. Though it's free to download, the app is also the most expensive on this list, with the Premium Unlimited and Premium Family plans running $29.99 and $49.99, respectively. There are less comprehensive versions available that should allow you to tailor the app to your needs, with single trip tracking costing as little as $3.99. When paired with your iPhone, Slopes is, perhaps, the most comprehensive skiing and snowboarding app available.

If you do not want to invest quite so much money in detailing the ins and outs of your day (or days) on the slopes, Ski Tracks may better suit your needs. Like Slopes, Ski Track utilizes the watch's GPS, distance tracking and health tracking functions to help you keep tabs on every trip you make up and down the mountain. If you're the sort of person who enjoys cross-country skiing or even snowshoeing, though parts both unknown and far from a cellular tower, you'll no doubt be happy to know Ski Track can still collect your day's stats without a cellular signal or cutting into your coveted mobile data.

As for what you get with the Apple Watch version, tracking and location services are the big features here, with the app specifically designed to deliver accurate stats for skiers, compiling them in an easy-to-read, no-nonsense display. The app will also allow you to share and compare your stats with any pals who've hit the slopes with you. Yes, the Ski Track app is a touch more utilitarian than Slopes, but at a cost of $1.99, it could be a perfect ski and snowboarding app for those who are primarily interested in collecting hard data in a simple format.

If you visit Ski Tracks' App Store page, you'll surely notice it's rated lower than Slopes by users, currently boasting a 4.2 stars out of 5 rating. Of the lower ratings, it would seem some users have had issues with the app properly communicating with and transmitting data to various iPhones, so that might be worth considering if you're looking to use it on both devices.

While Ski Tracks is a budget-friendly, barebones ski and snowboard tracking app, some winter sports enthusiasts might prefer to get some of the more comprehensive Slopes-style coverage at Ski Tracks pricing. Luckily, SkiPal offers a list of tracking and features on par with those offered by Slopes, but at a cost of just $0.99 to download. We'll tell you upfront, however, that SkiPal is more of a subscription-based format, so you'll need to pony up another $0.99 every month you intend to use it, or you can go all in with a full-year sub at $8.49.

We should, perhaps, also warn you that, as opposed to the previous two trackers — which boast over 65,000 and almost 700 user reviews, respectively — SkiPal is the lesser-known of the apps listed here, with only 71 user reviews to date. However, the app does carry a 4.5 rating, and while there are no written reviews to speak of on its App Store page, the 5-star reviews clearly outnumber the 1-stars.

Whatever the case, the app is free to download, and with a monthly sub available at $.0.99, it might be worth it for any skier or snowboarder to test it out for a month the next time they're looking to get up and down the mountain. If the offered features are any indication, it could be a legit bargain, with the Apple Watch version tracking all the major stats as the other apps, as well as offering other intriguing features like segmented trip analysis and customizable waypoints, and it offers all that in, arguably, a more appealing display than many other comparable apps. 

As any ski or snowboarding die-hard knows, it's getting harder to predict what snowfall will be from one week, month, or year to the next. That's because some parts of the world are either not getting as much snow as they used to or just getting far less. There's little reason to suspect that might change anytime in the near future, and when you're looking to download a ski app to track your day on the slopes, it might be a good idea to find one that also tracks the weather. That way, you'll have a better idea which slopes will have the freshest powder.

Enter the aptly named Ski Tracker & Snow Forecast app, which tracks both your stats on the slope and weather patterns across the United States. Ski Tracker purports to keep accurate tabs on most of the same stats as the other apps on this list, but it also provides weather updates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (aka NOAA), meaning you should be able to check the snow conditions near your lodge in the days leading up to your ski or snowboarding trip.

Ski Tracker & Snow Forecast is free to download from The App Store, but if you're looking to get the most out of the app, you may need to utilize in-app purchases, with a pro subscription option available at $4.99. Just FYI — it appears access to NOAA's weather updates will cost you an additional $0.99, and yes, you can likely get much of the same info from any number of weather apps currently in The App Store.