SkiBuds App: Tinder for Skiers and Riders?

Have you ever been desperate to hit the slopes but couldn’t convince any of your family or friends to brave the snowy weather with you? A free new app, SkiBuds, hopes to connect strangers at the same hill together so you’ll never have to ski or ride alone again.

SkiBuds was founded in 2018 and they have been hard at work preparing the app for its first full season for the last 12 months. When you first download the app, you sign up for a free account and then create your profile, complete with a photo, a short bio about your skiing or riding interests and experience, and an optional description of your backcountry qualifications and abilities. You also indicate the type of riding you are interested in for the day: beginner, intermediate, semi-advanced, advanced, expert, backcountry, or park. This information is then publically available to anyone who clicks on your profile in the app.

After completing your profile you choose the mountain you are interested in riding for the day. SkiBuds is currently available at over 70 hills, and they plan to add more over the season. You can access carpool and travel chats as well as chats for all the levels of riding for each mountain, in addition to being able to privately message individual users. While there are many other apps to connect skiers and riders or make carpool groups to mountains, SkiBuds brings together both functions along with the additional ability to connect with backcountry riders and differentiate between riders’ experience levels.

• Related: Snowbird Ski Resort, UT Releases Industry-First Carpooling App

Skiing or snowboarding with other people is much safer than exploring alone, both at regulated ski hills and in the backcountry, and often it is a lot more enjoyable. Apps like SkiBuds are great because they make it so easy to get out into the world and have a great time even if you don’t know many other people who ski or snowboard, or if your friends and family are too busy. SkiBuds is also very practical for finding transport and carpools to ski hills, keeping the roads quieter and reducing pollution. Finally, it also provides people with a great opportunity to improve their skills and try out a new aspect of skiing or snowboarding by connecting with someone with a different skill set than their own.

SkiBuds represents one side of the future of technological integration into the skiing and snowboarding world. Try it out for free on IOS or Android this season!