Every now and then you come across an application that blows you away. Recently, I wrote an article about applications for skiers and snowboarders, and this one flew under my radar. Recently, I decided to spend the $0.99 to try it out, and I must say that Ski Tracks completely blew me away. This skiing app for iPhone offers so much for skiers that it is staggering. I just got into skiing this season, and I absolutely love it. As if it were not fun enough, this application actually finds a way to make it better.
The purpose of this app is to keep track of your stats while skiing. I hate to quote a line from an infomercial, but with this application, you really just need to "set it and forget it". It sits in your pocket while you ski or snowboard and keeps track of everything you do, from your speed, to your slope and everything in between. If there was anything you were curious about in your performance while on the slopes, chances are great that this app will have you covered.
How It Works
Ski Tracks uses GPS to keep track of your statistical information while skiing. It is able to find your location using the phone's built in location service. The thing that is incredible is that you do not need to manage it manually. It knows when you are on a chairlift. This means it is able to start a new run automatically. You do not have to pull your phone out and fuss with it each time you ride to the bottom of the mountain. It is incredibly impressive.
Since Ski Tracks uses GPS, it can also track where you are on the mountain. This is awesome if you need to see what runs you have missed. In all honesty, the fact this app works as well as it does seems like some sort of voodoo magic to me. I am certainly not complaining, because it has made skiing even better.
Stat Tracking
This application’s main selling point is its ability to keep track of your performance on the mountain. To get it to track your stats, you simply need to open the application on your iOS device and click the start button on the bottom right corner of the screen. From there, you can just throw your phone into your pocket and it will keep track of everything automatically.
I suppose saying it keeps track of “everything” is a little broad and perhaps I should narrow it down. To start with, it keeps track of speed, which was the statistic about which I was most excited. It tracks your top speed throughout the day as well as your average.
Another of my favorites is distance. It lets you know how far you have skied and how far you have ridden on the lift. This gives you an amazing feel for how much ground you have covered throughout the day.
The complete list of stats the app tracks is as follows:
- Speed
- Distance
- Ski Vertical
- Altitude
- Number of runs
- Slope
- Duration
It will also break all of this information down run by run, so you can see how you compared on each run down the mountain. It is impressive just how much this application can tell you about your ski day.
Social Features
After you finish skiing, click the ski icon on the top right corner of the screen to edit the name of your day and give it some information such as the current weather and the snow conditions. Click “save” and the track will be locked in.
After you save the track, you can click the share button on the bottom right of the screen to email it to a friend, upload it to Facebook or send it to your computer with iTunes document sharing. This is an awesome way to show you friends how well you killed it on the slopes on your last trip.
The app will create an album in your Facebook photos and add all of the images there. It will add your charts, maps and any photos you took during that ski trip for all of your friends to see.
Of course, you can also access your ski tracks at any time from the application. This way, if you wanted to see how you did last time at a particular mountain, you can do so quickly and easily.
Other Features
Ski Tracks has iPod controls built right in. You can control your tunes while on the slopes without ever exiting the app. It also features a camera, so you can quickly take photos from the mountain.
They also added a proximity sensor that works similarly to using the phone. It will automatically turn the screen on when you remove the phone from your pocket and turn it off when you place it back. The app has surprisingly low battery drain. I was able to have it running for about 7 hours straight before my phone died. That is impressive considering it is constantly using location services.
On top of these cool features, you can also choose to have the app measure in metric or imperial units, depending on where you live.
Conclusion
This is without question the best ski application I have ever used. It keeps very accurate stats that make skiing a lot more fun. For example, you can try to beat your best speeds or cover a greater distance that you did on a previous trip. This app allows you to take the act of skiing and make it into a competition with yourself. The data it provides is awesome, and it is so useful for any skier or snowboarder.
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