The muffled silence of the winter wilderness. Only the sounds of the light patter of falling snow, your own breathing and…a synth version of Gnarls Barkley? Yep, we admit it. We definitely bring our iPhones on the mountain.
The days of skiing and snowboarding sans gadgets, especially mobile phones, are basically a thing of the past. It’s a long way from the days when skiers and snowboarders would get pissed if they heard somebody talking on their cell phone in the lift line, on a chairlift, or, god forbid, in between turns. But you know what? We at 360 are not sure we’d ever want to be without a phone while riding again.
We don’t need our iPhones because we just can’t miss Jay-Z’s next twitter update or have a 9:30am conference call with a client in Zurich. Nope, it’s because sometimes we like to listen to music, we get lost pretty regularly and can always use a map or GPS, and hell, the thing might just work as an alternative to pieps if we get buried in an avalanche.
There is no real end to what kind of iPhone apps will lead us through the mountains next. Although there are a few basic apps dedicated to life in the mountains, 360 has the feeling we are just at the tip of what is possible with handhelds and life in the mountains.
Here are a few iPhone apps that have caught our attention of late. Some are out of this world. Some are basic, but useful. Others, we think might be on to something, but have a little work left to do.
Top 5 Ski and Snowboard iPhone Apps
#1 Google Earth for the iPhone
Man, the people at Google are awesome. Talk about dreams becoming a reality. With Google Earth you can day dream up and down the world’s best mountains with the click of a button. And think about Google Street View in Whistler; great for finding your way around the village, but just wait until they do it for West Bowl or Harmony. Not sure if they’ve got plans yet but come on Google. Gives us a dingle. We’ll sort it out for you!
We’ve talked to 30-year locals who still find new spots to slash powder in bounds on Whistler. If they need help, you definitely need it. This app claims to have 100 of the best secret spots on Whistler Mountain.
This one is getting much play of late, with a mention in Men’s Fitness. They host hundreds of maps and are adding to that total and their functionality daily. Probably means you should never pick up a printed mountain map again.
For the upcoming Olympics, why not? Cypress can be a bit of a funny place to get around so you can use all the help you can get. And we bet they’ll be focusing some attention on this during the Games.
These guys give ticket deals, play videos, and offer GPS. Definitely on the right track.
We have no doubt that more cool alpine phone apps will pop up regularly so stay tuned to Alpine 360.
