Backcountry
Industry News
When FATMAP went dark after Strava acquired and folded it into its platform, a huge hole opened up for backcountry skiers, riders and mountain athletes. FATMAP wasn’t just another map app. It was a planning tool, an exploration tool and, for a lot of people, a daily habit. When it disappeared, the scramble for a true replacement began.
That gap didn’t last long. Outmap has stepped into the space with the right vision, the right technology, and maybe most importantly, the right people behind it. And it’s quickly becoming the app everyone hoped would emerge after FATMAP’s shutdown.
Built by people who understand the loss and how to fix it
Outmap didn’t start as a company trying to capitalize on a moment. It began as a one-person project from founder Félix Gourdeau, built for a crew of Canadian ski tourers who wanted a tool as powerful and intuitive as FATMAP. Once Strava sunsetted FATMAP, the timing made sense, but the foundation was already there.
Then something big happened: people from FATMAP joined the Outmap team. Dave Cowell, FATMAP’s original founder, is now advising the project. Charlie Boscoe, one of FATMAP’s longtime content leads, is contributing as well. Add in experts like Evan Stevens of Zenith Guides, Tucker Roderick from Altus Mountain Guides, and input from dozens of guides and ambassadors worldwide, and the app now has one of the strongest brain trusts in the backcountry space.
The mapping app backcountry users actually want
Outmap focuses directly on freeride and backcountry skiing and snowboarding—a niche most big mapping apps only partially support. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, it tackles one category extremely well.
It gives users:
- Thousands of backcountry routes worldwide
- Clean topo maps with the right amount of detail
- High-definition satellite imagery and high-resolution elevation data
- True 3D terrain you can move through smoothly
- Offline maps that are simple to manage
- Resort maps and off-piste zones displayed together
This is the combination people relied on FATMAP for, and Outmap delivers it. Unlike OnX, which is limited to a handful of regions, Outmap works globally. And unlike Strava, AllTrails or Gaia, it isn’t cluttered with a thousand different use cases. It stays focused on mountain travel and terrain assessment.
A cleaner, more intuitive experience
One of the biggest complaints about FATMAP was bloat. Community content overwhelmed the map. Too many layers, too many toggles, too much noise. Outmap takes the opposite approach. When you open the app, you see the map—not a feed, not a pile of recommended routes, not other people’s uploads. The team plans to release curated route guides in the future, but the map itself remains the centerpiece.
A few standout features:
- Spotter Tool: A small red bullseye sits at the center of your map and becomes surprisingly addictive. Slide any feature beneath it and instantly see elevation, distance from your location and vertical relief. It’s the kind of tool you don’t know you need until you use it.
- Terrain Layers Built for Skiers: Slope angle shading, aspect, avalanche-related layers, flats and elevation bands—all presented cleanly, without visual clutter.
- Simple Offline Use: The app colors your downloaded tiles in red on the map, so you always know what terrain you have saved. No more guessing or hoping your map loads halfway up a ridge.
- Fast, smooth 3D: Satellite imagery doesn’t even appear until you’re in 3D, which keeps the 2D view clear. Once you hit 3D, it’s fluid and intuitive—exactly what made FATMAP so valuable.
For anyone who depended on FATMAP to study terrain or explore complex mountains in 3D, Outmap fills the gap more convincingly than anything that’s surfaced since the shutdown. It’s being built by people who understand why that tool mattered, it already covers the core features users lost, and it’s improving quickly with guidance from many of the experts who helped shape FATMAP in the first place. For former users who felt stranded, it offers a familiar level of clarity and detail, along with a development team that’s actively listening as the next generation of 3D backcountry mapping takes shape. You can download Outmap here.
