While being outdoors is a great time to get away from your daily screen time there are some fantastic apps for summer in the mountains that can help you learn more, explore or just be safer. Here are some of our favourites at the moment:
PEAKFINDER
This augmented reality app uses your current location to overlay an illustration of the mountains on top of what you are seeing and allows you to identify any peak surrounding you. While the overlay is not always perfect it works really well and you can easily recognise the mountains. It is a great way to familiarise yourself with a new area.
WEATHERPRO
As in the winter, it’s vital to know what is happening with the weather in the mountains. The weather can change in no time and particularly with the hot days of the summer, we can get some very stormy afternoons. Being caught out in the open in an alpine thunderstorm is something best avoided.
There are loads of weather apps and sites and to be honest it is worth looking at a few to get an overall picture of the weather. But if you are just going to choose one this is good. It has detailed forecasts, for the town and some locations on the mountain as well as radar to give you an overview of the weather systems.
LUMY
This is an app aimed at photographers, it uses your location to tell you sunrise and sunset as well as the time of the magic hour for each. The time when the light is at it’s best for taking photos. You can set custom reminders for different locations on dates in the future. Use this and you will capture epic images to remind you of your visit to the mountains. It’s also good to know when sunset is so you don’t end up wandering around in the dark!
There are loads of weather apps and sites and to be honest it is worth looking at a few to get an overall picture of the weather. But if you are just going to choose one this is good. It has detailed forecasts, for the town and some locations on the mountain as well as radar to give you an overview of the weather systems.
CLOUDSPOTTER
This one is a little specialist but one I really like. There are often interesting clouds up high or around the peaks in the summer. If you’ve always wanted to know what they are then this is the app for you! It’s great with the family too as you can take photos of the clouds you spot, submit them with what you think it is and get told if you are correct, a fun interactive way for kids to learn about what they are seeing.There are loads of weather apps and sites and to be honest it is worth looking at a few to get an overall picture of the weather. But if you are just going to choose one this is good. It has detailed forecasts, for the town and some locations on the mountain as well as radar to give you an overview of the weather systems.
OUTDOOR ACTIVE
There are lots of apps out there for maps and navigation, to help you not get lost and enjoy your outdoor adventures. This one gets our pick for this summer in Zermatt. It offers maps, ideas on trails and specific walking routes. When you register, you can leave feedback on each trail and create your own. The Zermatt tourist office has created routes for all the hiking trails on their website, all the information on each one, where to go, hard it is, the elevation profile is right there!
