From long road trips to planning weekend adventures, smartphones can make traveling easier, and your next ski trip is no different. There are fantastic apps for everything from tracking where the next big storm will hit to booking last-minute flights to score that powder. They’ll even make skiing safer and more fun once you make it to the slopes.        Â
OpenSnow
If you’re a skier or boarder and don’t use OpenSnow, fix that immediately. Yes, its accumulation predictions shouldn’t be taken as gospel—that’s just the nature of the beast—but with quick access to forecasts, mountain cams, and write-ups on the latest storm systems, there’s no better way to track how much fresh stuff your home mountain is set to get or where you should chase next.  Â
Hopper
This intuitive app not only lets you see when flights are most affordable several months in advance, which is great for planning bigger ski trips, it’s also terrific for landing last-minute deals. And since you’ll have to wait until just a few days before a storm to get an accurate forecast, you’re going to need that to score powder without blowing your savings.
Liftopia
If you don’t have a megapass, this is your answer for lift tickets. Just pick a date and the region you want to ski, and you’ll get a quick look at the best deals available. That, plus quick access to on-mountain conditions and the ability to get deal alerts for your favorite resort, makes trip planning easy.
SkiFit ($13)
Nothing is worse than your legs turning to Jell-O on the first run of your epic ski vacation. To enjoy your trip to the fullest, start training early to get in shape for the season. This app is an eight-week exercise program developed in Chamonix, France, that focuses on bodyweight exercises you can do anywhere. Video guidance and an easy-to-use design help keep you on track and get you ready for the slopes.
Fatmap
This is the best terrain map I’ve found. Not only do you get a 3-D plot that tracks your location and allows you to see where you are in the resort better than any paper map, you can overlay gradient, altitude, aspect, avalanche risk, and even a flats indicator (so snowboarders can avoid stalling out). Maps can be downloaded for offline use, and there’s also an integrated snow cover overlay, customizable terrain tools, and you can now publish your routes publicly to the map for everyone to see.
Ski Tracks ($1)
If you’re into data tracking, Ski Tracks lets you record metrics like maximum speed, number of runs, distance skied, and your total vertical. It’s also a great way to log the number of days you get on your planks for bragging rights in the off-season.
PeakFinder ARÂ ($5)
If you’re like me, conversations on the chairlift often turn into guessing games about which mountain we’re staring at on the horizon. Stop guessing and get PeakFinder AR, which has more than 650,000 mountains in its database and shows you their names on its 360-degree display. Just launch the app, point your phone at a peak, and impress your ski buddies with your newfound topographic knowledge.