Ski Tracks for iOS

When we went skiing last month I wanted something that would track how far I’d skied, so I could add the totals to my 2012km in 2012 challenge. I didn’t want to buy a GPS watch, I wanted an app to use on my iPhone. After some research I chose Ski Tracks.

Ski Tracks is an iphone app which allows you to track your time on the slopes so when you get back to your hotel you can see where you went, how long it took and how fast you went.

And because it uses GPS you don’t use any data to track your skiing, so if you’re abroad you don’t have to worry about that.

At the end of each run (and during, actually) you are given details on max and average speed, distance travelled, distance skied, maximum and minimum altitude, number of runs, average degree of the slopes, and duration. It also plots where you’ve been on a map so you can see exactly – in case you want to go back to exactly the same spot next time.

You also have camera and iPod controls within the app, although Ski Tracks also runs happily in the background so you can use those apps properly if you prefer, which I tend to.

There is a pause function but I just left mine going all day, even on lunch and hot chocolate stops. I was impressed that it didn’t drink too much of my iPhone’s battery.

One of the best things about this app is that it knows when you are on a lift and when you are actually skiing. Brilliant. This means you don’t need to tell it – you just put your phone in your inside pocket where it’s protected and can forget about it all day without having to stop/start it for each run. When you then view the map you can see straight lines for the lifts, and very wiggly ones for your downhill.

You can then export the information for Google Earth or as a gpx file (you send these by email when you’re back on wifi or can afford roaming data), which means you can view your runs on a computer. The gpx file can also be imported into Run Keeper and the like. The biggest problem with that though is despite Ski Tracks knowing when you were on a lift and when you were actually skiing, Run Keeper does not and assumes the total distance is what you travelled – so I ended up manually inputting the runs to keep all my 2012km in 2012 data in one place.

The best use for this? Well apart from being able to track the km I skied for my 2012 km in 2012 challenge (which was the reason I downloaded it in the first place), it was being able to compete against my husband on speed! Who’s faster is a very important thing to know! (I was, by the way!)

I thought this app worked really well, was intuitive, and just got on with it in the background.  It probably has no real use but the stats are very interesting.  I will definitely be using it again next time we go skiing.

Ski Tracks is currently 69p from the App Store.