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Ski resort courses functionalities

9651951
over 4 years ago

Hi,

I recently bought a Fenix 6 and I want to use it for upcoming snowboard trips.
However, while I was trying to make courses dedicated to snowboarding I noticed that it was not particularly easy.
Does anyone know if Garmin is working on improving the ski resort functionality?

I have a few ideas that could take a ski trip to the next level and I was wondering if other people are also interested in these functionalities. Hopefully Garmin will notice people's interest.

1 First of all it should be easier to make a course dedicated to ski slopes in garmin connect. I think it would by great if you could select a routing activity specifically for skiing (instead of direct routing) which would follow the ski slopes. This would make creating a ski course for a day user friendly and fast.

2 a heatmap that displays which slopes you have taken in the last couple of days/weeks. That way you can easily see which slopes you haven't taken during your ski trip.

3 a functionality that automatically gives you options for unridden slopes on the fly. For instance while standing at a peak with multiple routes down, Garmin can recommend a slope you haven't taken before or recommend a slope based on your riding level (novice/expert)

What do you think about these functionalities? do you have other ideas/wishes for skiing? or is there an app that I don't know about that does some of these things?

Cheers

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    One problem I can see is that your Garmin would have no idea if a particular lift or run if open or closed. The ski maps have only the slopes on them and not the lift positions so your suggestion #1 wouldn't work. 

    Now, if the Garmin could detect that those fire trucking snowboarders are sitting on their irresponsible asses spread out across the middle of the run just beyond your field of view and then electrocute them then that would be a feature I'd happily pay for Slight smile

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to RichardB

     I proposed a ski routing option that would follow the ski slopes, just like a running routing follows streets. 

    I don't expect Garmin to know which ski lifts are open and which are closed (although that information is freely available on every ski resort site, so technically it is possible)

    as for your comment that ski maps have only the slopes on them and not the lift positions: Garmin uses OpenStreetMaps, and they do have ski lift information so it's not a stretch for Garmin to incorporate that into their ski maps. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    As of now the ski maps in garmin devices are there to look at as a map, not to be used with any routing.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I think your ideas are good. I enjoy planning ahead when I am in new areas, especially if they are large (like Andorra). I use the built in ski maps quite a lot. It is of course a bit tricky with the small screen, but to a degree it helps to navigate.

    Try the MapOut map. I just did a route across slopes and lifts to try your first question. This route is the exported to Connect, stored there, and transferred to the watch. I then started a ski activity, selected "navigate" and the route I did.

    For navigation I have "follow route" as setting. And in Connect i selected "trail run" as activity (since skiing is not an option). Planning routes, and navigating for XC skiing works just as for trail running. But now I did this for downhill skiing. I will try my route live next week, as we will go skiing.

    My Garmin ski map includes both slopes and lifts in the watch, but the maps in connect have none. That is why I use MapOut.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to n.y.a.n

    Exactly, I like to do large trackings and explore the entire area. Planning which slopes I need to take could help a lot by giving an ETA and total distance still to cover (so you'll know if you have to hurry up).

    Or when you want to take a small detour, Garmin could advice how to get back to your original planned route.  

    MapOut sounds interesting and looks nice, though it seems it is only supported by iOS.

    How do you export a route to Connect with Mapout?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 9651951

    In MapOuts, after creating a route (or tour in MapOut), selecting tours. Long press on tour. Select share. And “open with connect”.

    In connect, edit or save as is, saving it as a trail run. And then transfer to device. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    So in a few weeks I am going skiing, so i thought I would make a few ski courses. 

    I found opensnowmap which shows all slopes AND the route follows the slopes which makes planning large courses really easy. This is exactly what i was looking for. (http://www.opensnowmap.org/#map=2/0/30&b=snowmap&m=false&h=false)

    unfortunately, its not possible to export the routes you createas a .gpx for your watch.

    It would be nice if garmin made a map like opensnowmap in garmin connect. With a ski routing activity dedicated to following the ski slopes and with the skiview maps viewable from connect.