I would like to form a routine on when and how I access backcountry information to inform where I tour in the Alps. In Truckee, I think I had a decent routine of reading the avalanche forecast every morning, then on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday, I would scour our group caltopo, guidebooks, check slack if there were any ideas there, and call/text people to get their opinion. On the day of, I had my Gaia map downloaded and was ready for the tour. Now in Zurich, I have not skied enough to form a routine, but I would like to share the resources I have been playing with in the hopes that discussing these tools will help me formulate which ones I like and are important, and give you a head start when you visit! Note that most of these tools have great mobile apps, which is how I primarily access them.
Avalanche Bulletins
In Switzerland, I use WhiteRisk App, which is operated by the SLF (Institut für Schnee und Lawinenforschung). The SLF is a well funded research group based in Davos under ETH (the technical university in Zurich) that studies snow, avalanches, humans recreating in avalanche terrain, mountain and arctic ecosystems, and effects of climate change.
I use their app and read their twice daily avalanche report on the train, normally for the region that I plan to ski that weekend. I could also do it the other way around and start by reading the weather and snowpack first to see where it snowed the most in a given storm. There are some observations on their site, but they don’t publish public observations like Sierra Avalanche Center did. It's good reading for a quick tram ride.
Here’s some other info they provide:
- Snow depth maps + snow pit data
- Data published on snow measurement sites
- On their app, they have an inclinometer and some other free tools to help with decision making (I haven’t used these)
- They have a paid version called White Risk Tour that helps you plan your tours taking into account the danger rating. From promo video, it seems similar to skitourenguru, so I haven’t felt inclined to pay.
Meteo France Avalanche Bulletin
When we went to Chamonix, we relied on the French Avalanche bulletin. I liked the trending avalanche stability, which helped me think about how snow is settling (or not!). They have other good resources like, previous 5 days of snow accumulation and avalanche forecast, wind, snow depth, and a few observations. Be sure to have google translate at the ready!
Weather
SLF/Whiterisk
I read the weather/snowpack update everyday, and they have a short range forecast for the country. It gives me a high level sense of how much snow in each region, windy, and sun. I’m a simple gal and mostly use this.
It makes me understand where storms are coming from. I like the overlay of snow in the next three days, then moving the location dot around my screen to see where it’s projected to snow the most. Once I decide on a point, and for practice, let’s say Engelberg, I can look at the temp, wind, rain in the forecast in three hour increments. I use the ECMWF model - thank you Peter (read the Weather Machine if you haven’t!). I also love the airgram to see where the clouds are. This was helpful when the fog descended upon Zurich for weeks. I knew how high I needed to go to get some vitamin D.
Left - Windy: Looking at temperature, clouds, snow accumulation, and wind. Right - MeteoSwiss: Zero degree level is really helpful.
I don’t use it very much, but I like that it forecasts the freezing line in each region of Switzerland (I bet Windy does that and I haven’t figured it out). It’s also easier to find weather in Zurich because that’s featured prominently.
Mapping
This is a helpful site with a large collection of ski tours in Switzerland and Austria. It gives you a series of routes based on your needs like how far from home, the difficulty, and most interesting, the danger level. Then you can click into a tour and it gives you elevation profile, a danger rating between 0-3 (0-1 Green, 1-2 Yellow, 2-3 Red), and an ascent time. On the map (it’s SwissTopo which I will get to), the route changes color depending on the risk at that point. It circles on the map if it is a face that avalanches frequently ascent time, if there has been an avalanche fatality, even where to drop skis for a summit scramble. You might be asking how they make the risk assessment. Their risk indicator takes into account elevation, current avalanche report from SLF, forest coverage, and the Quantitative Reduction Method (TBH only got through the abstract, but I think it analyzes avalanche accidents and how recreationalists use the terrain to predict high risk areas.) Note that I only use the web version - I don’t think there’s a mobile app. I use this when planning a tour.
SwissTopo has got 400 people on staff continually surveying and updating the national map. Every street, building, tram, etc is accurately represented. I mean every farmer’s barn high up on a hillside. When Freddy and I were hiking the Via Alpina from Altdorf to Engelberg, we saw a lone surveyor walking down from a summer village. Once you get over how detail-oriented the base map is, you will then be impressed by the different layers for each sport: hiking, cycling, snowsports, and aviation. The snowsports layer has ski routes, slope angle shading, and public transport stops. You can also download offline maps and draw tours all for free! I really love this product and use it for some planning and a lot while I am doing the activity. It has replaced Gaia for me, though I keep Gaia around because there are other countries.
Left - SwissTopo: Blue lines are ski tours, red line is trams, black blocks are buildings. Right: Fatmap when you click on a ski tour.
I use Fatmap to look for route ideas (they seem to have different routes, like multi-day stuff that skitourenguru doesn’t). Then when I am looking at specific routes, I use it to look at the terrain. I have a hard time using it for a specific slope, but I think it helps me look at an area/region as a whole to get a sense of the terrain. I’ve been using it before and during ski tours here, but sometimes the app is really slow.
Inbounds lift status
Bergfex connects with ski resort data to tell you what lifts are open, what the ticket price is, new snow totals, ski maps, and webcams for each ski resort in Europe. I use the webcams a lot to see what conditions are in an area even if I’m planning to tour.
How to get to the Trailhead
SBB will take you anywhere you want to go in this country. They have a great app that gives straightforward directions, maps, and integration with payment. We’ve been taking trains and buses to get to all trailheads, and I’ve only gotten lost once!
As always, there's more to learn, and I'm excited for all the new tools/apps I've tried since moving here. BTW, here is Fred's Swiss CalTopo if you are interested 🙂 it's bare now, but we'll ski more and add more stuff!
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