Data and systems for mountain safety

Better decisions in avalanche terrain start with better data.

We are a Norwegian company working for the long term on the data, models and systems behind safer days in the mountains. Together with forecasters, guides, researchers and the alpine community, we make knowledge flow both ways.

Read the stories Work with us

Why we exist

The forecast is written in the evening. The decision is made at the trailhead.

Between the two sit bulletins, terrain models, observations and route descriptions, spread across formats, languages and scales. Our work is to close that gap, season after season, so the people making the call have what they need in the minutes that matter.

01
Long-term by design
We build infrastructure, not campaigns: shared schemas, curated datasets and models that improve with every season they run.
02
Applied research
We take open questions to research partners, then test the answers with guides and forecasters in the field before they reach anyone's tour plan.
03
Shared, not hoarded
We build on EAWS and the professional route scales, and we give observations back to the forecasters whose open data we use.

20 000+: ski-touring routes graded on professional scales
60 000+: registered users in the field with Skida

Stories from the mountain

Five people. Five decisions. One shared picture.

The same data reaches very different people. Here is what changes for each of them.

Wind slabElevation> 800 m

Skida app: a ski route in the 3D map with its KAST grade

The ski tourer

07:00 at the trailhead in Lyngen.

The bulletin warns of wind slab on north and east aspects above 800 metres. She opens her planned line in 3D and sees exactly which slopes face that way, how steep they are and where they run out. She swaps the couloir for the ridge, and still reaches the top.

Built onAvalanche Forecast API Terrain Analysis Skida

AlpineD-RouteGenerated

Photo: Robert Ungh

Skida app: a route generated by Alpine Autorouting from two points, graded Alpine D-

The mountain guide

Tomorrow's tour, planned the night before.

Six clients, and a forecast that rules out the usual line. The guide sets a start and a summit, Alpine Autorouting draws a route through the terrain and grades it, and she adjusts it with what she knows about the valley. The plan goes to the clients that evening, so the morning briefing starts from the same map.

Built onAlpine Autorouting Route Classification Skida PRO

Persistent weak layerHand hardness4FICSSGFaceted

Photo: Robert Ungh

The avalanche forecaster

More eyes in the field than any service could staff.

A forecasting service covers a large region with a handful of observers. Through our Partner API, snow and avalanche observations from skiers and guides arrive geolocated and in a standard format, ready for the evening's forecast. Avalanche services in Italy and Andorra are already exploring them.

Built onMountain Observations The knowledge loop

The avalanche instructor

When the storm keeps the course indoors.

The field day is cancelled. The instructor puts the bulletin's avalanche problems on the 3D map and switches them on and off, one at a time, so the students see where a wind slab would sit and why one aspect matters more than the rest. Words, numbers and icons turn into terrain.

Built onDigital Avalanche Training

TOPONEIGE4.2SACZSATES2 Challenging

The research partner

One dataset, three regions, comparable answers.

A research group needs routes and terrain classified the same way in Norway, the Alps and New Zealand. Instead of building that from scratch, they work from our routes and terrain models, and what they learn flows back into how we grade routes.

Built onSki Touring Database Terrain Analysis Applied research

How the ecosystem works

Open data in. Better forecasts out.

We started by giving people better tools for faster, better-informed decisions in the mountains. As the community grew, so did the value of what it shares, and forecasters saw it too. So in return for their open data, we give avalanche forecasting institutions the observations our users report.

01
Forecasters publish
Avalanche services share their bulletins as open data.
02
We make it usable
Bulletins, terrain and routes become one picture, in our APIs and in Skida.
03
The community observes
Skiers and guides report snow and avalanche observations.
Persistent weak layer
04
We give it back
Observations flow to forecasters and inform tomorrow's bulletin. Avalanche services in Italy and Andorra are already exploring them.
↺ back to 01

Applied research

We work on the hard questions, then take the answers into the field.

Most of what we ship started as a research question. We work on them over several seasons with research partners and public funding, and we test the results with guides and forecasters before they go live.

Research track 01

Can software grade a route the way a guide would?

Automatic grading on TOPONEIGE, SAC and alpine scales, checked against routes written by mountain professionals.

Now in useRoute Classification across 20 000+ routes

Research track 02

Can a model draw a sensible line through alpine terrain?

Routing on a high-resolution terrain model, using slope angle, aspect, elevation and terrain traps. The skier or guide still decides.

Now in useAlpine Autorouting by API, in Skida and Skida PRO

Research track 03

Can observations from the public improve the forecast?

Structured snow and avalanche observations, in a format forecasters can use, shared through a Partner API.

Now in useMountain Observations explored by services in Italy and Andorra

Supported by

Our research is supported by public programmes for innovation and research.

The Research Council of Norway

Innovation Norway

ESA BIC Norway

Partners

Nobody makes the mountains safer alone.

We work with the people who know the mountains best, and each partnership changes what we build.

Guide companies

They run our tools on real trips with real clients, and tell us where they fall short.

KMX (Klättermusen Experiences)

Tromsø Powder Guides

Wānaka Mountain Guides

Off Piste Performance

Forecasting and safety

We build on their open bulletins, standards and safety work, and give observations back where they want them.

Varsom

Avalanche Canada

Skitourenguru

Mountain Safety Collective

Open data sources

Public terrain and map data from mapping agencies make our models possible. We credit them wherever we use it.

Kartverket

swisstopo

Toitū Te Whenua – LINZ

NVE

See all partners, data sources and friends

What we build

Data, tools and training, wherever the work happens.

For platforms and services

Data & APIs

Avalanche Forecast APIEvery bulletin, one schema
Mountain ObservationsPartner API
Terrain AnalysisHigh-res DEM
Route ClassificationTOPONEIGE · SAC · alpine
Ski Touring Database20 000+ routes
Alpine AutoroutingNewBy API

Request API access

Skida 3D map with the avalanche problem layer: slopes where the bulletin's problems apply are shaded red, beside a panel of the day's avalanche problems

For resorts, events and courses

Studio & training

Terrain StudioFilms and maps
Digital Avalanche TrainingFor instructors
Custom projectsOn request

Talk to us about a project

For skiers and guides

SkidaFor ski tourers
Skida PROFor guide companies and schools

Our own apps, where the data meets the day's plan. Skida is made by Mountainsnow.

Skida Skida PRO

We speak the standards.

We build on the scales guides, forecasters and rescue teams already use, rather than inventing our own. A shared language is part of the safety work.

EAWSDanger scale 1–5ATESTerrainKASTTerrengTOPONEIGE1–5.6SACL–EXIFASF–EDICSSGSnow profiles

Work with us

Let's build it together.

Tell us what you are working on. The best things we have built started with a partner's problem.

Avalanche services

Receive observations

Get geolocated snow and avalanche observations in a standard format, in return for your open bulletin data.

Start a conversation

Guide companies and schools

See Skida PRO

Plan, brief and run trips with your team on 20 000+ professional routes.

Research and platforms

Use our data

APIs, datasets and research collaboration on terrain, routes and avalanche data.

Request API access