# Glossary

> Every term the Snowcat app uses, in one sentence each, with the page that explains it.

Canonical: https://getsnowcat.app/help/glossary/

## Page facts

- Status: Written for Snowcat 1.6.28, the App Store build.
- Plan: Not plan-specific
- Checked against the app: October 27, 2026
- Part of: Snowcat Help, https://getsnowcat.app/help/

## Runs and ratings

### Liftie’s rating

How hard a run is, measured from the terrain on one scale at every mountain, in four bands with three steps each. [More](https://getsnowcat.app/help/liftie-rating/)

### Band

One of green, blue, black and double black. A minus is the easier third of a band and a plus the harder third.

### Crux

A run’s steepest sustained stretch of 150 vertical feet, measured on 1 m lidar. Shown as “Steepest 150 ft”, and the main input to Liftie’s rating.

### Steepest point

On a run without Liftie’s rating, the steepest single map segment longer than 16 ft.

### Average pitch

The angle of a run’s vertical over its horizontal length, in degrees.

### Length

A run’s horizontal length along its mapped line, as on a map.

### Vertical

The net drop from a run’s top to its bottom.

### Normally

The word on a rating that today’s conditions changed, as in “Normally Black+, changed due to hard ice”.

### Feature size

A terrain park’s size from XS to XL, shown instead of a rating.

### Way down

A chain of named runs from a lift’s top to a base, a lodge or back to the same lift.

## Waits and status

### Wait

The median minutes from joining a lift line to boarding, for riders who join in that hour. [More](https://getsnowcat.app/help/lift-waits/)

### Current wait

The current hour’s point on today’s wait curve, shown when the curve was corrected in the last 60 minutes.

### Estimated, Forecast

Estimated is a wait for today from the corrected simulation. Forecast is a wait planned ahead of the day.

### Best hour

The hour of the day with the lowest estimated wait. Pro.

### Crowd score

A 1 to 10 score for a coming day, ranked against that mountain’s own season.

### Status not current

The lift status is more than 90 minutes old.

### Inferred status

A status Snowcat works out from the pattern of the resort’s reports when the resort doesn’t say, such as Late start or Stopped.

## Getting around

### Fastest, Easiest

The two route options every rider gets: the shortest travel time, and the gentlest terrain. [More](https://getsnowcat.app/help/directions/)

### “Recommended”

The Max route option suggested for how you ride, from your rider profile.

### Walk up

A climb on foot or sidestepping of more than 16 ft on a route, shown as “N ft walk up”.

### Flat ground

A stretch of run averaging less than 6°.

### Route preview

One of the 3 free routes per install, showing the whole route on the map without step-by-step directions.

### Keep offline

A Pro setting that saves a mountain’s map, terrain and last-known lift status on your iPhone for a day with no signal.

## Plans and testing

### Founding price

The lower season pass price, held through January 7, 2027. [More](https://getsnowcat.app/help/plans/)

### Season pass

A one-time purchase of Pro or Max that ends by July 1, 2027 and doesn’t renew.

### Day Pass

Max for 24 hours. A second pass adds 24 hours.

### TestFlight

Apple’s beta app. A feature marked **[TestFlight]** is only there, not in the App Store app.

### Early resort

A mountain still being added to Snowcat. Its data may be wrong, and it stays hidden until you sign in and turn on early resorts in Settings. [More](https://getsnowcat.app/help/resorts/#early-resorts)