Ever more ski apps appear each winter, and it can be hard to know before you try them whether claimed features really work or will be really helpful.
However the new SkiLynx “wearable app” that’s optimised for the Apple Watch and also works on iPhone does appear to have some new ideas.
“The app beautifully and seamlessly solves the age-old frustration of finding your ski group on the mountain. I’m not always impressed by the consumer tech targeted at skiers – but this app is a game changer,” said Amelia Richmond, who formerly worked at Squaw Valley in California, one of a handful of US resorts where the new app will work initially – ahead of a worldwide roll out.
The app offers several functions which its makers say have never before been seen in apps for skiers and snowboarders, including the ability to tell those looking for you if you’re going up on a lift or skiing down the mountain, and what percentage along you are.
Because SkiLynx’s advanced mapping system knows if you are riding up a lift or skiing down a run, the app also offers the ability to track actual miles skied or snowboarded, unlike most ski apps which can only track your “vertical feet/metres”
There are also “location-aware hashtags” so that “Meet me at #here” becomes “Meet me at Lift X” when you are riding Lift X. Quick messaging let you chat with your group with just one tap – and with Apple Watch, you can keep your iPhone safely in your pocket and chat with the group by using the microphone on Apple Watch.
After SkiLynx California, out now, the platform will expand to include more US regions, including Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, by mid-winter.