Tech on the Slopes

Record and relive epic runs

By Anca Gagiuc on Dec 23, 2014 in Technology

Winter sports fans, this one is for you. The white powder sparkles from the top of the mountains and you can’t wait to get there and slide down, over and over again. The next generation skiing and snowboarding is here powered by the most exciting wearable technology existing on any mountain anywhere.

One of the most popular devices out there is the action cam GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition. It offers stunning image quality and powerful new features that takes the cameras’ industry to a whole new level. The camera itself is a tiny box with a powerful processor able to record amazing video quality. The Hero4 Black displays incredible high-resolution 4K30 and 2.7K50 video and high frame rate 1080p120 video. Its features include built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with super upload speed that sends your ride-videos up on various channels of social media.

To help you find easier those cool moments without having to go through hours and hours of video, Hero4 Black has on its right side a ‘Hilight Tag’ button, which when activated, puts a tag on them and helping you find them faster when viewing the footage in GoPro’s free mobile app or desktop Studio software. On its left side is an easy-to-lose removable cover that protects Micro-HDMI and Mini-USB ports and the microSD slot that supports cards of up to 64GB. The Mini-USB port is used to charge the device and transfer the content off your microSD card, but can also be used with an optional 3.5mm stereo mic cable so you can attach a studio-quality external mic.

The device doesn’t have a built-in touchscreen, but it has a Hero port on back that allows you to attach GoPro’s LCD Touch BacPac or the Battery BacPac. Unlike Hero3+ Black, Hero4 Black doesn’t have the GoPro Wi-Fi Smart Remote included (if you want one, think about adding an extra $80 on top of the $499.99 that it sells for). However, you can use the smartphone as remote instead – change the settings, preview and review, and transfer content using GoPro’s mobile app and connect the Black via Wi-Fi directly to it. Bluetooth has been added to make reconnecting faster and easier.

Battery life is probably the aspect that won’t please you as much – around 1 hour and 5 minutes of recording at 4K at 30fps in Protune mode with Wi-Fi off, and 55 minutes with Wi-Fi on – but this is actually the price you pay for getting such a small yet powerful camera.

The BearTek Gloves represent the new generation of weatherproof gloves that allow remote access and control of target devices. They work with two interchangeable modules: the patent pending Bluetooth/Wireless Sync Module technology and the Camera Module, designed for use with GoPro products. Their setup is simple: after syncing the glove and embedded Bluetooth module to your smartphone (exactly the same way you’d do it with any other device), you tap the silver touchpad on the thumb to one of the six silver touch points along the first three fingers. The interchangeable modules plug into a connector onside the glove’s zipper pocket (located above the wrist) and can be used with any future series of BearTek Gloves.

The functionality includes: Music – play/pause, skip track, fast forward, rewind; Phone – answer/hang-up/reject call; Action Camera – Video record/stop & Change Modes: video/single shot/burst; Power On/Off. Currently it pairs with iOS devices only, Android being still in development.

Its battery needs 8 hours for a full charge which, the company says, will last for around 80 hours. The gloves come in three versions: snow ($120), classic ($95), and moto ($145).

AvaTech’s mission is to help mountaineers understand the snow under their feet and avoid avalanches before they happen. So if you like to ski off-slope, the SP1 shouldn’t leave your side. The device looks like a rugged construction with a collapsible 150cm probe that folds to fit in a backpack and weight about one pound. The SP1 is designed to measure snowpack structure, slope angle and aspect, and geo-tag it all within seconds. Then, wirelessly, sends snowpack data to your smartphone and the AvaNet cloud platform and share it with the community.

As Professional Skier and Two Time World Extreme Skiing Champion Chris Davenport puts it: “This product is something I know we are going to look back on 20 years, 40 years and know that we had a really positive impact.”

Recon Instruments introduced Snow2, an amazing piece of high tech equipment which delivers Heads-Up Displays (HUD) for the consumer market. The ski goggles project an image with information that is hovering in front of your eyes and follow your head movements.

Snow2 is all about sensors; these sensors measure your speed, jumps, directions, vertical descent, and more. The accessory-device has in it GPS, gyroscope, altimeter, accelerometer, magnetometer, and thermometer. The collected data is processed by a tiny built-in computer with dual-core CPU, shown on a high-resolution display. Furthermore, the device has in it Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabling you to pair it with your smartphone so that you can receive and read SMS messages in midair (if that’s what you want).

A remote with really big buttons is strapped on your lower arm and communicates with the Snow2 via Low Energy Bluetooth. Cameras and music players can also be paired up and controlled through this ski gadget. Moreover, the GPS is able to provide maps and even enable you to track down friends and see on the map where they are.

The gadget has its own app and online community where you can upload your statistics. It can be purchased for $399 from the Recon website.

A series of apps are available which you might find helpful. Here are a few: Trace Snow for iOS devices (free), Snocru for iOS and Android (free), Runtastic for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows phones.

What gadgets and apps do you use when skiing/snowboarding?