MGMountain guideVerified proExample Guides AG
AvalancheSlab · D2 · natural
WhereNE · 2,850 m · 38°
ProblemWind slab
TestECTP12 SC down 45
- 0.5 m
- terrain grid · swissALTI3D
- 10 cm
- aerial imagery · SWISSIMAGE
- 15 min
- forecast and station ingest
- 24
- cells in every danger rose
One map. Every layer.
Twelve layers. One mountain.
Each layer drapes over the same 3D terrain. Turn one on and the whole mountain answers a different question. Pick one, or let it play.
Playing through the layers
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01
Terrain you can measure
The relief is built from swissALTI3D, a half-metre elevation model, so every couloir, rib and roll is really there. Click anywhere for elevation, slope and aspect.
Terrain model only. Does not reflect current snow conditions. Source: swisstopo swissALTI3D, 0.5 m.
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02
Slope angle, in bands that matter
30–35°, 35–40°, 40–45° and steeper. Pick the default bands or a CalTopo-style preset, then filter by aspect and elevation so only the slopes a problem applies to light up.
Terrain model only. Does not reflect current snow conditions. Source: swisstopo swissALTI3D, 0.5 m.
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03
The official forecast, exactly as published
We ingest the SLF bulletin every 15 minutes and show it unchanged: provider, issue time, valid-until and a link to the original. Expired, off-season and unavailable forecasts turn grey and say so.
Illustration. In the app the colours come only from the current SLF bulletin.
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04
What professionals saw today
Guides, patrollers and forecasters pin avalanches, red flags, weather and stability tests to the slope they were on. Draw the crown and the path; we compute its terrain from the DEM.
Reports from people. Each shows its author, organisation, time and age.
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05
Every station reading, kept forever
IMIS snow and wind stations on the ridges: snow depth, new snow, wind, temperature. SLF open data keeps seven days. We keep every reading, so you can see the whole season.
Station data shows its age. Old readings are marked as old.
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06
Snowfall and loading
New snow over 24 and 72 hours, by elevation. Combined with wind, it tells you which aspects are taking on load. That is where the problems start.
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07
Rain on snow
See where the rain line sits against the terrain. Rain on a cold snowpack changes the day fast, and the map shows the slopes below that line.
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08
Cloud, fog and inversions
Low cloud in the valley, clear skies on the peaks. Know what visibility you will have at the col before you leave the hut.
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09
Sun and shade, hour by hour
Scrub the clock and watch shadows move across real terrain. Time a corn-snow descent, an east-face exit before it warms, or a shaded skin track.
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10
Trails, routes and huts
Every hiking path and alpine route, plus the huts, drawn on the 3D terrain. Pick a route and you get its profile, distance, gain and steepest section.
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11
The ski area, in winter
Switch to winter and the whole map changes: snow cover, blue, red and black pistes, and the lifts and cable cars linking Sunnegga, Gornergrat and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.
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12
Your line, start to finish
Plan a ski tour, export it as GPX, take it offline and share it with your group. If you are overdue, the people you chose get an alert.
The app
This is the real thing.
Everything below is Aspect running today, recorded straight from the app with its own data.
Inside the app
Scroll sideways
The professional network
What one guide sees at 9:40,
every patrol knows by 9:41.
Forecasters, patrollers, mountain guides and observers share what they find in the field, on the map, the moment they find it. Every report starts a conversation with the people who need it.
5roles, each verified
3levels of visibility
1map they all share
The life of a report
One observation.
Everyone who needs it.
- Filed from the slope. A guide pins a slab avalanche with the crown drawn, a photo and the test result.
- Sent to followers. Everyone following Zermatt gets an alert.
- Confirmed nearby. A patroller adds the same signs on the next aspect over.
- Questioned by a forecaster. Which layer failed? The answer stays on the record.
- Seen from the valley. The public add sightings, labelled as public and unverified.
Alert sent to 38 people following Zermatt
PTPatrollerOrg staffExample Ski Patrol
Same signs on the Stockhorn NE side, 2,900 m. Shooting cracks on the skin track. ECTP14, down 40 on buried surface hoar.
✓ Confirms · 4Disputes · 0
FCForecasterForecaster
@Mountain guide was the bed surface the mid-January crust?
MGMountain guide
Yes. Failed on the crust, about 45 cm down. Photo of the bed surface added.
PPublic sightingUnverified
Saw a fresh crown below the Stockhorn from the Gornergrat train around 10:15.
Forecasters
See every report in their zones, including restricted incident data. Ask questions, and later draft and publish forecasts.
- File reports
- Read restricted fields
Patrollers
Post under their organisation. Keep internal notes private to the patrol, or share them with the network.
- File reports
- Private org reports
Mountain guides
Report from every tour. Your guide office vouches for its staff, and the badge shows it.
- File reports
- Org badge
Observers
Independent professionals, verified by hand before their first report goes live.
- File reports
- Verified pro badge
The public
Read every public report and its thread, and add sightings. They are always labelled as public.
- Read and comment
- Add sightings
Share as widely as it helps.
No wider.
Each report chooses its circle: your organisation, the network of organisations that opted in, or everyone. Incident involvement never leaves the inner circle.
- LiveReport threads with public sightings
- LiveVerified pro and organisation badges
- LiveThree visibility levels, restricted incident fields
- LivePhotos with location removed from shared copies
- NextRegion channels and direct messages
- LiveMentions, confirm and dispute, live updates
- LiveAlerts for regions you follow: in-app, email and push
Avalanche operations
Built for the people
who make the call.
Forecasters, guides, patrollers and observers share one picture of the snowpack: the official forecast, then what people saw, measured and tested, with the evidence one tap away.
- 01
A slide is reported
A guide pins a fresh slab on the slope they were on. The crown and path are drawn on the map and follow the real fall line.
- 02
The report opens
Size, trigger, problem, the test that explains it, photos and a thread with the people who know the area.
- 03
The danger zone appears
The forecast's danger rose is painted onto the terrain: every aspect and elevation band in its rating's colour, on slopes steep enough to slide.
- 04
Every slope, rated Next
Point at any slope for its aspect, elevation, angle, rating and problem, taken straight from the forecast. Try it: move over the terrain.
MG
Mountain guide Verified pro
Example Guides AG · 09:40 · 12 min ago
Example Guides AG · 09:40 · 12 min ago
Slab avalanche · D2 · natural
Crown about 60 cm- WhereNE · 2,850 m
- ProblemWind slab
- Width~180 m
- TestECTP12 SC down 45
- Red flagsShooting cracks · recent loading
Thread · 4 replies · 1 public sighting
Inside the 3 Considerable zone · Wind slab
Danger rose Example forecast
1234
Bands: below 2,600 m · 2,600–3,100 m · above 3,100 m (example limits)
Example forecast and report. Uncoloured slopes are not lower danger; they are outside the aspects, elevations or slope angles shown. The public map shows SLF's bulletin exactly as published.
Official forecastExample layout
3Considerable
Shown as published, never averaged, blended or re-derived. Where SLF splits a region, the map uses the highest published rating and a split badge, just like SLF's own map.
Expired
No rating
Off season
Unavailable
Anything that isn't a current rating is grey and says why, so it never looks like low danger.
Danger roseExample data
8 aspects × 3 elevation bands. Band limits are set per zone, and the same rose can recolour the 3D terrain so you see exactly which slopes it covers.
1234
Field reportExample
Mountain guide Verified pro
Example Guides AG · 2 h ago · 09:40 UTC
Example Guides AG · 2 h ago · 09:40 UTC
- AvalancheSlab · D2 · natural · NE · 2,850 m
- ProblemWind slab (EAWS)
- Red flagsShooting cracks · recent loading
- TestECTP12 SC down 45
Thread · 4 replies · 1 public sighting
One report per field visit with optional sections: avalanches, red flags, weather, incident, photos. Revisions are append-only; reports are withdrawn, never deleted.
SnowpitComing in phase C
Hand hardness bars, temperature curve, ICSSG grain types and test results on one profile, exported as CAAML v6. A weak-layer tracker follows each layer through the season.
IMIS stationExample data
182cm snow depth
+34 cm / 72 h
Wind NW 42 km/hAir −11.4 °Creading 20 min ago
Sharing and privacy
PublicAnyone can read the report and its thread.
NetworkShared between organisations that opted in.
Private orgOnly your patrol, guide office or centre.
Caught, buried, injured or killed: incident involvement is visible only to the author, the owning organisation and forecasters. Shared photos have their location data removed.
Standards
EAWSCMAH · 9 problemsICSSG grainsSWAGOGRSCAAML v6ECT · CT · PST · RBD1–D5 · R1–R5ATES v2
One international observation model that keeps each standard's own codes word for word. EAWS terms first in the Alps; North American terms are one switch away, mapped but never auto-converted back.
Season archiveExample data
Every bulletin, station reading and report from the season, on one timeline. Scrub back to the storm that built the layer you are worried about.
The data underneath
Every number has
a source and a time.
Aspect pulls official bulletins, station networks and weather models every 15 minutes, checks them, keeps the raw copy, and turns them into features forecasters can use. Nothing is guessed and nothing is thrown away.
Sources
SLF bulletinsCAAML v6 · SwitzerlandLive
IMIS stationsSnow, wind, temperatureLive
NAC bulletinsUS avalanche centersLive
SNOTELNRCS snow stations, USLive
Weather modelOpen-Meteo, per elevation bandOff by default
Radar detectionsSentinel-1, signed webhookStub
Field reportsPros, snowpits, CAAML importLive
Ingest
Fetch and validateEvery 15 min · strict parser · times in UTC
Raw payloads keptEvery response stored as received
Check and keep
Station QCRange · spike · stuck · gap. Flags, never edits
Season archiveEvery reading and bulletin, forever
Features
Feature engineZone × elevation band × aspect
Out
Map and cardsForecast, stations, reports
Rule alertsIn-app, email, push · pros only
Forecaster reviewDetections confirmed or rejected
ExportsCAAML v6 · JSON · GeoJSON
Center websitesPublished pages, live forecast
Feature engine
Zermatt · above treeline · last 24 h
- New snow
- 34 cm 24 h · 61 cm 72 h
- Water equivalent
- 29 mm 24 h
- Rain / snow share
- 0 mm · 100 % snow
- Wind, strongest hour
- 17 m/s from NW
- Warming
- +3.1 °C vs same 6 h yesterday
- Freezing level
- 1,850 m
- Surface hoar hours
- 0 last night
- Basal facet days
- 3 of 7
Example output. Features are model and station values with their unit, source and window. They never change a measured value or an official rating.
Station QC
Spike flaggedStuck sensor flaggedGap marked
Readings are flagged, never changed. A flagged value stays visible with its flag.
Rapid loading
NE–E aspects, above treeline: wind loading 212 m/s·h and 34 cm new snow in 24 h. Rule: your Zermatt alerts.
Automated weather-model alert. Not an avalanche forecast.
Strict parsing
Unknown values are refused and raise an alert. A rating is never guessed.
Raw copy kept
Every provider response is stored as received, so any day can be replayed and checked.
UTC, always
Times are stored in UTC. A provider time without a zone is read the way that provider publishes it.
Model ≠ measured
Terrain and weather-model values sit beside what people measured and never fill it in.
Trip planner
Plan it on the terrain you'll ski.
- Draw a line and get the profile, distance, gain, and the steepest pitch on it.
- Trip brief: the forecast, recent reports and stations along your route on one page.
- Sun timing along the route, hour by hour.
- Offline: take the map and your route out of signal. The app shows how old each piece of data is.
- Group trips stay in sync in real time.
- Overdue alerts: if you're not back by your turnaround time, the people you chose are told.
Under the snow
How it's built.
Every number on the map can be traced back to where it came from.
0.5 m
Survey-grade terrain
swissALTI3D elevation turned into terrain tiles quantised to 1/32 m, finer than the model's own accuracy.
10 cm
Aerial imagery
SWISSIMAGE from a single 2023 flight with matched sun angle, so snow and rock shadows agree across the map.
Strict
Rejects what it can't read
The CAAML parser refuses unknown values and raises an alert. It never guesses a rating.
∞
Nothing thrown away
Raw provider payloads and every station reading are archived, so any season can be replayed.
Audit
Every change recorded
Append-only revisions and an audit log, enforced in the database itself, not only in app code.
Policy
One gate for every read
Who sees what is decided in one place and tested against a full matrix of roles and visibility.
Model ≠ measured
Terrain values kept apart
Slope and aspect from the DEM are stored alongside what the observer measured and never fill it in silently.
UTC
Times you can trust
Everything is stored in UTC. Photo times are used only when the camera recorded a time zone.
Where it's going
From map to forecasting desk.
- Foundation
Organisations, visibility rules, shared avalanche vocabulary.
- Observe and map
Report sections, crown and path drawing, photos, filters.
- Snowpits and weak layers
Profiles, CAAML export, weak-layer tracker.
- Collaborate
Live threads, mentions, confirm or dispute, moderation.
- Terrain
Aspect × elevation × slope filter, ATES, offline zone packs.
- Data and alerts
Weather models, wind loading, warming and solar indices, rule alerts.
- Hazard engine
An explainable engine that drafts a forecast from the evidence. Only a named forecaster can publish it.
- Verification
Backtests against the archived season, with hit, miss and calibration scores.
Our rules
We never call a slope safe.
The official forecast is the official forecast. We show it as published and link to the source.
Grey means no rating. Expired or missing data is never shown as low danger.
A model is labelled as a model. Terrain layers say what they are and where they came from.
Reports are from people. With a name, a time and an age. Unverified ones say so.
Drafts stay drafts until a forecaster signs them.
Aspect
Start in Zermatt.
Pro access is for guides, patrollers, forecasters and observers, checked by hand. Organisations can bring their whole team.