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
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
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
“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
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