Slopes, Ski Tracks, Esquiades and Windy compared — run-by-run tracking that works offline, daily snow reports and altitude-specific weather.
First-time tracker users are always surprised by the same numbers: the vertical metres stacked over a normal day, the top speed reached on a red run they took cautiously, and how much of the day disappears into lift queues. Measuring the day is one job; deciding whether the trip is worth booking is another, and that hinges on the snow report and what the weather is doing at altitude rather than in the valley. The 4 apps in this guide were picked to cover both halves — detailed and stripped-down run tracking, resort booking with daily reports, and forecast depth before you leave home.
Slopes logs every run separately with speed and vertical drop, tells runs from lift rides automatically, and is the highest-rated tracker of the group.
The level of detail is remarkable: each descent is logged on its own with top speed, vertical drop and a track drawn over the resort map, and the app distinguishes runs from lifts automatically without you tagging anything at the bottom of a chairlift. Resort maps span mountains worldwide, so it follows you from the Pyrenees to the Alps. That polish is why it leads the category's ratings. The advanced statistics require a subscription, GPS can misread among trees, and the interface is largely in English.
Esquiades is the Spanish reference for booking hotel-plus-lift-pass packages, with daily snow reports for Spain, Andorra and the Pyrenees.
It is a travel service rather than a tracker, and it does that one job thoroughly: combined hotel and lift-pass packages for resorts in Spain, Andorra and the French Pyrenees, generally cheaper than booking the two separately, with snow conditions and a fresh daily report for every resort it sells. Anyone planning a trip around the peninsula starts here. Know what it is not. The user base is small so reviews are scarce, coverage stops at nearby European resorts, and on the mountain itself it offers none of the GPS tracking Slopes or Ski Tracks provide.
Ski Tracks records a full day on GPS alone, with no signal needed and very low battery use, for a single one-off payment.
The category veteran takes a deliberately sober approach aimed at the one condition that defines mountain phone use: patchy coverage. It logs the day using GPS with no data connection, so it keeps working at resorts where your carrier does not, battery drain is very low even in the cold, and you pay once up front with no subscription to renew each season. What you give up is modernity. The interface looks dated, there are no detailed resort maps inside the app, and recent versions have drawn uneven ratings.
Windy shows wind, temperature and precipitation by altitude with animated maps and multiple models, the forecast app for deciding snow versus rain up top.
It is built for people who need the actual weather picture rather than a sun-cloud icon: animated maps of wind, rain, waves and temperature, with several forecast models — including ECMWF and GFS — comparable side by side so you can see where they agree. For skiing that altitude-level detail decides whether precipitation falls as snow or rain mid-mountain, and it is the same reference tool sailors, surfers, drone pilots and mountaineers use. Casual users will find it overkill and slow to learn if they only want rain or shine, and some advanced layers require payment.
Pros
Animated wind, rain and wave maps
Several forecast models to compare
Trusted for outdoor sports
Cons
Overkill for a simple rain check
Takes time to learn
Some advanced layers are paid
Download price only. In-app purchases and subscriptions may cost extra.
Questions & answers
Do ski tracking apps work with no mobile coverage?
Yes, because GPS itself does not use a data connection. Ski Tracks is built entirely around offline use, and Slopes downloads resort maps beforehand so it can run without coverage. What still needs data is checking the snow report or sharing the day afterwards.
How much battery does tracking a ski day use?
Less than feared when the app is well built: Slopes is optimised for GPS in cold weather and lasts a full day. The real enemy is temperature, because cold sharply cuts battery capacity. Keeping the phone in an inside pocket close to your body helps more than any setting inside the app.
Where should I check the snow report?
Esquiades publishes daily reports for Spanish, Andorran and French Pyrenees resorts, with snow depths and kilometres of slopes open. Windy complements it with altitude-level forecasts that decide whether mid-mountain precipitation falls as snow or rain. The resort's own website remains the most accurate source on the day itself.
Do these trackers work for snowboarding?
Yes, all of them record the activity identically whatever you ride, and Slopes lets you set the discipline so some metrics adjust. The only practical difference: snowboarding involves more stops to strap in, which some apps count as stopped time and can skew the averages slightly.
More related apps
App library · United States App Store. Prices and availability reflect the last check.
