A UMD Student Developed An App For Cross Country Ski Trail Conditions

Spencer Pauly is a Senior at UMD and is a computer science major from Shoreview, Minnesota, along with being an avid cross country skier. Like many others who enjoy Nordic skiing he is very particular about trail conditions and in the past would drive out to a trail only to find that it was not groomed or there was no snow.

About a year ago he got the idea to develop an app for other skiers to submit reports on their phone. That is how the Skiwise app was invented. The app was up and running last January with about 33 users, but Pauly said he is still working on some functions.

This year he already has more than 1,000 users who have downloaded the app even though with the lack of snow conditions have not been great. The app is available to download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android. You can also visit skiwise-app.com.

Pauly said:

I’m trying to keep it fun but informative. It’s fun because you can post how your ski went that day right in the report… Or maybe post about the kind of weather that’s been happening at the trail you’re at, or some big event coming up. So you can look at it when you are in your car and ready to go. And when you get done with your ski, and you are warming up in your car, you can post how the ski went.

Pauly hopes his app will help more people get into the sport and help connect others in the community. Being someone who downhill skis with winters like this I always felt bad for people who cross country ski. At least if it is cold enough hills can still make snow, even though it is not generally ideal at least you can still hit the slopes. This is a great time saver for people heading out to the trails and hopefully more people will download the app and communicate conditions for everyone to enjoy.