About SkiBuds

SkiBuds is an app for finding people to ski and snowboard with. Stephen Phillips started building it while riding every day at Whistler in the 2018/19 season, after conversations on chairlifts and in a shared dorm room kept coming back to the same problem: finding someone to ride with, and to share the drive. The app is now being rebuilt for iOS and Android, and the new version is coming soon.

Where it started

The first idea was to help people find others to share accommodation with. It soon became something simpler: finding people to ride with, so nobody had to ride alone, and to carpool to the mountain to cut traffic, emissions and the cost of parking.

The original app was built for both iOS and Android so that anyone could use it. It was free, was never monetized, and was built in spare time alongside a full-time job. Growth was grassroots: stickers, flags, apparel and a lot of conversations with riders at the resort and in online groups.

What the first version did

By the 2019/20 season the original SkiBuds had about 6,600 users, with more than 350 people using it every day before the season ended. By March 2020 Stephen had met more than 60 people through the app, and by 2021 more than 100, many of whom he still rides with.

Those meetups led to trips that would not have happened otherwise: a stranger met at Whistler became a riding partner for the closing days at Kicking Horse and Lake Louise. Stephen tells the full story, including the setbacks, in History, Vision, Future of SkiBuds (and why I need your help), written in March 2021.

Why the app is being rebuilt

The rebuilt app keeps the original purpose, finding people who share your riding style, and brings the rest of the mountain day into one place: mountain weather and snow forecasts, rider discovery, maps, private and group messaging, and GPS run tracking with day recaps. The features page describes where it is heading. Some ideas from the 2021 app, such as lift-status notifications, are not part of the new plans.

The rebuilt app is for adults 18 and over, with content filtering, reporting, blocking and 24-hour moderation. The safety page explains how that works.

What you can use today

While the app is rebuilt, this website covers the planning that happens before the first chair:

• A researched guide for each of the 115 supported mountains, with terrain by ability, arrival advice, a snow forecast and links to official resort sources.
• Region guides for Colorado, Utah, California, Oregon, Vermont and British Columbia.
• Ski and snowboard guides on finding riding partners, reading snow forecasts, carpooling and getting ready for the season.
• A free meetup planner that turns your plan into a message you can send.

Stories from riders, such as teaching a 20-month-old to snowboard and sending the Hatcher Pass canyon gap in Alaska, are on the blog.

Get involved

SkiBuds has always been built with its riders. Follow the launch status and the latest launch update for news, and follow SkiBuds on Instagram. Clubs, resorts and publishers can get in touch about partnering, and writers and riders can find press and community resources.