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Find better snow.
And stay safe.

Avalanche risk live on your Lock Screen, any slope in 3D, and every resort you love, hour by hour.

Get the app See how it works

Free · iPhone & Apple Watch · Android coming soon →

Avalanche danger scale

Almost half of all avalanche deaths
happen at level 3 of 5.

  1. 1Low
  2. 2Moderate
  3. 3Considerable
  4. 4High
  5. 5Very high

Level 3 · Considerable · looks harmless

Do you know the level
where you're standing?

Protect Mode · scroll to climb

Today's avalanche report,
for your region and height.

Start Protect and First Chair follows your GPS: your height and the way your slope faces. Here: level 3 below 2,400 m, so slopes are critical from 34°.

40° on this east-facing leg.
Steeper than today's 34°.

Your Lock Screen turns red the moment you're on it, measured against the critical angle for today's danger level. Wind slab sits on east-facing slopes above 1,600 m: that's you. Persistent weak layers only start at 2,000 m.

Your call.
Back 200 m, then the line to the left.

First Chair doesn't choose your line. It tells you what you're standing on. Turn around, drop 30 m, and the line to the left stays under 34° all the way to Sommerbergalm. The direct line, dashed, stays red.

Above 2,400 m it's level 4.
Now critical from 29°.

Same mountain, new limit. The 31° on this north-west leg would only be amber below the line. Up here it's red.

Four problems in the report.
One at a time, on the mountain.

Each one sits on certain aspects and heights, hatched on the mountain one by one. Wind slab is on east-facing slopes; you're on a west face. Wet snow counts from 12:00, as the sun warms the west faces. All of it on your Lock Screen, without opening the app.

Coming soon

Your day, slope by slope.
Valley to summit, six hours.

Green where you were fine, amber where it got close, red where it was steeper than the day allowed. Your whole tour, looked back on, slope by slope.

What about the slope ahead? Aim at it

On your Lock Screen, live

3ConsiderableProtect
18°critical at 34°
1526m · E7:35

Persistent weak layers · New snow · Wind slab · Wet snow

Zillertal Alps Northeast

Real terrain at the Hintertux Glacier, from the Gletscherbus valley station to the Gefrorene-Wand-Spitzen, with a sample avalanche report. In the app, every value comes from today's official report.

Protect Mode · before you go up

Six checks before the first turn.
So nothing's missing where the signal is.

Up there, coverage comes and goes. So Protect Mode doesn't start until everything it needs is already on your phone: the terrain, today's avalanche report, the forecast. If a check fails, it tells you why and doesn't start.

  1. Understand & acceptEvery time you turn it on: Protect Mode gives you information, it doesn't protect you. The decisions stay yours.
  2. Your locationA GPS fix, precise location and “Always” access, so it keeps following you with the phone in your pocket and the app closed.
  3. Lock Screen Live ActivityYour slope, its critical angle and today's danger level stay on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, without unlocking.
  4. Your resortThe resort you're at, or the one you pick for today, saved as a favorite.
  5. Offline terrain dataElevation, avalanche zones and map tiles for that resort, on the phone. Not downloaded yet? It downloads them right there, before it starts.
  6. Avalanche report & weatherToday's report, refreshed if it's older than six hours, and the forecast, both saved on the phone. No connection? It offers the last saved report and says how old it is.

Once it's on, slope, aspect and altitude come from the downloaded terrain and your GPS. Neither needs a signal.

Screen recording: First Chair runs its six Protect Mode checks for Hintertuxer Gletscher, then shows "Protect Mode is on".

3D terrain · from where you stand

Point your phone at the slope.
The map turns with you.

In Compass mode the map follows the way your phone points. Turn toward the slope you want to know about, put it in the aiming box and shoot. First Chair measures it from your position.

3D terrain · anywhere on the map

Or drag the map to any slope.
Shoot. See it in 3D.

Across the valley, the next couloir, tomorrow's tour: drag the map, put the slope in the aiming box and shoot. First Chair builds the terrain in 3D and reads it for you.

  • Steepness and aspect for every point
  • Avalanche terrain hatched in red, with today's problems
  • Works offline once the area is downloaded
Satellite map of the Hintertux glacier with the orange aiming box on the Gefrorene-Wand-Spitzen and the avalanche card below
The shot in 3D with the Steepness layer The shot in 3D with the Avalanche layer The shot in 3D with the Snow Quality layer
Drag the mapRead it in 3D Swipe for the layers · hold to read any point

Steep? Risky?
Good snow?

Swipe the lens. The same mountain answers a different question each time.

Map with the Steepness lens: slopes coloured from green to red by angle

Steepness

How steep is it?

Slope colours from flat to 45° and beyond.

Map with the Avalanche lens: avalanche terrain marked in red over the ski area

Avalanche

Is it avalanche terrain?

30° and steeper, weighted by today's bulletin.

Map with the Sun exposure lens: sunny and shaded slopes in warm and cool tones

Sun exposure

When does the sun hit it?

Day average or hour by hour, for corn and slush timing.

Map with the Snow quality lens: slopes scored by how good the snow is likely to be

Snow quality

Where is the good snow?

A score from new snow, wind, sun and the bulletin.

Plus cliffs, wind drift,
snowfall and live radar.

How to read each lens →

Resort pages

Your resort,
hour by hour.

Every resort you love on one page: mountain weather from valley to peak, live webcams, the avalanche bulletin and a snow score, with an alert when new snow lands.

  • Mountain weather by elevation, hour by hour
  • Live webcams and weather stations on the 3D map
  • New-snow alerts for your favorites

Open a live example: Hintertuxer Gletscher →

Resort page for the Hintertuxer Gletscher: current weather and the mountain in 3D
Webcam list for Hintertux with a live view from the glacier
The download screen for the Hintertuxer Gletscher, from 3% to All set!

Works offline.
Even where the signal stops.

Download your resort before you go. Elevation, satellite, basemap, runs, lifts and terrain layers stay on your iPhone, so the map, shots and slope angles work on the ridge without a bar of signal.

Available offline.

Elevation, basemap, overlays & terrain layers downloaded. The resort page tells you when everything is there.

Favorites also show up in the Favorite Resorts widget. Download on Wi-Fi before the trip: a resort is tens to a few hundred MB.

How downloading works →

Notifications

The news comes to you.
Powder and the new report.

Powder alerts for your resorts

Every evening First Chair checks tomorrow's snowfall forecast for your favorite resorts. When one beats your threshold (10, 20 or 30 cm), you get one notification that lists them all.

The new avalanche report

The report for Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino comes out around 5 pm and is updated in the morning. First Chair tells you as soon as it's out, with the day's highest danger level, on the weekdays you pick.

Both are switched on in Settings and work without opening the app.

One more layer

Not a replacement for
training or your judgment.

  1. first chairThe bulletin, read for your slope
  2. the avalanche bulletinYour region, today
  3. your training & your eyesAvalanche course · what you see

Not a guarantee · not a replacement

Data from

Our data partners

Avalanche reports

Weather

Elevation models

Maps & imagery

Public, official and open data. The app lists every source with its license under Settings → Data & Licenses.

Android is coming.

First Chair is iPhone-only today. Leave your email and we'll send exactly one message when the Android build is ready.

first chair.

know more
before you ride.

Avalanche course · beacon · shovel · probe

Get the app

Free · iPhone & Apple Watch · Android coming soon →

Oversized Hoodie
Embroidered on the left chest

Merch

First Chair Wear.
Gear from the people behind the app.

Designed by the First Chair team, sold through our Etsy shop.

Oversized HoodieBlack · recycled blend · unisex

Offer

Every order above €100 gets a First Chair Ambassador lifetime voucher.

Ambassador means lifetime First Chair Pro access and a spot in the beta program. The voucher comes with your order.

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