Very few things will get me out of bed before 5am. Okay, aside from snowboarding, nothing will get me out of bed before 5am. But getting up before the crack of dawn requires a plan. A plan that needs to be mobile and should be as fluid as possible.
Before I even pack my snowboarding bag, I fire up a few snow report apps on the iPhone. Right now my favorite is the North Face Snow Report (free). It’s possible that this is the only nonfleece North Face product I own (further research required). In addition to showing the required weather and snow report, the app also has trail maps and webcams of the resorts. So even if a resort exaggerates its report, you can see the half-inch of snow and decide for yourself if it’s really an “epic powder day.”
Is it warm and fuzzy? Then how is it North Face?
Once I pick which resort to head to, it’s time to figure out the best way to get up the mountain. All the AWD (all-wheel drive) in the world won’t get me to my precious snow if the roads are closed. I use Road Conditions Pro ($0.99) when a particularly nasty storm starts dumping on Tahoe, since the app has a section for mountain roads. With just a few taps I’m able to determine which roads are open and which I should avoid like an intermediate run on a holiday weekend. The app has traffic cams, but the coverage is spotty, only covering California roads as of press time. But the developers plan on adding more states soon.
AWD FTW!
If you think that once I get to the mountain, my iPhone stays in the car while I start falling down the hill, you’re wrong. Of course, my inability to stay upright while flying down a mountain at unreasonable speeds does put my precious in danger. I’ve been using the OtterBox Defender Series case ($49.95, otterbox.com) since the first-generation iPhone, and I’m happy to report that smacking into a tree, while horrible for the ribs, hasn’t inflicted damage on my iPhones. OtterBox is careful to warn users that the Defender case isn’t waterproof, but I’m not scuba diving with it. Still, I’ve been stuck in powder and the iPhone stays dry. That’ll do.
Safe for sound.
Of course, the main reason for bringing my iPhone to the mountain is to listen to my specially selected snowboarding jams. Nothing says awesome like a well-placed mogul jump set to Dethklok. Even so, riders need to be concerned about hearing fellow snow warriors, or the familiar crunching sound as a run turns from pow to ice under their feet. I wear AirDrives for iPhone ($69.99, airdrives.com) earbuds to solve this dilemma. They go over your ear and unlike earbuds that block out most of the exterior noise, they actually hang over your ear canal. I get my sweet tunes with a comfortable earpiece and I can still hear when I’ve wandered onto Ice Sheet Mountain.
Don't try to sneak up on me, bears. I can hear you.
At the end of the day, sure I’m sore and there’s a good chance that all this blood I’m spitting up is a sign that I should have slowed down before ramming into that ski school, but I know that thanks to careful planning and iPhone protection, I can find a nearby hospital and my iPhone will be there for me in the emergency room.
purplemaizenjm
December 11, 2010 at 10:57pm
your advertising a cool thing about what the iphone can do and all what other people can do is advertise products in the comment section that is so sick. No body is going to read them, that is your spam. You should no longer have that person as your member. If all they are going to do is advertise.
