Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      August 30, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Activate Snow Mode with Gaia Winter

      October 26, 2022

      Adventures

      Take a Trip to Baja California with Nat…

      September 13, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

  • Home
Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      August 30, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Activate Snow Mode with Gaia Winter

      October 26, 2022

      Adventures

      Take a Trip to Baja California with Nat…

      September 13, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

  • Home

Activate Snow Mode with Gaia Winter

by Abby Levene October 26, 2022
by Abby Levene October 26, 2022

The world’s best backcountry navigation app is now available in winter mode! Ride the lifts, tour the backcountry, and explore nordic, fat bike, and snowshoe trails with confidence thanks to the all-new Gaia Winter topographic map.

Our in-house cartographers designed this new base map specifically for your favorite winter activities. A stronger emphasis on terrain, tree cover, and contours make it easy to navigate in an endless world of white. A special “winter” color palette pairs perfectly with our suite of winter maps, including Avalanche Forecast, Slope Angle, Snow Depth, Snow Stations (Daily), and 24, 48, and 72-hour Snow Forecast maps. Plus, see every run at the ski resort, along with nordic, snowshoe, fat bike, and uphill trails.

Just like our original Gaia Topo, Gaia Winter comes with industry-leading download efficiency. A tiny file size and lightning-quick download speeds let you save your entire state so you can always have a map on hand, even when you lose cell service. Whether you’re riding the lifts, sliding into the side country, or touring untouched terrain, bring Gaia Winter along with you so that you can always find your location — and your way back.

Get All the Ski Resort Maps in One Place

You always have the ski resort map in your pocket with Gaia Winter. If you get lost on the trails, just pull up the map to see exactly where you are. Zoom in to any ski resort to see all the ski trails, represented by thick, partially transparent lines.

Runs are color-coded by the corresponding difficulty level: green for easiest, blue for intermediate, and black for difficult. The most difficult and “extreme” terrain (double black diamonds) is shaded in orange. You’ll also see the names of the trails.

Whether you’re trying to avoid getting stuck on the cat tracks or want to stay off the bumps, use Gaia Winter to pick your best line down the hill. Chairlifts are easy to spot in red. We’ve added the chairlift names to make it even easier to place yourself on the map.

When you’re ready for lunch, consult Gaia Winter to find a lodge nearby. Easily spot major hotels, highlighted on the map in blue. Check out the best après ski options in town, as well as gas stations and grocery stores, all highlighted in orange. Record your tracks in the app so you can relive the day’s adventures. Pro tip: check out your tracks in 3D mode on gaiagps.com!

Explore Nordic, Snowshoe, and Fat Bike Trails

In addition to downhill ski resorts, Gaia Winter shows other trails designed for snow travel. Nordic trails are represented as thinner solid lines. They’re also color-coded by the corresponding difficulty level. Zoom in or click on a trail to see its name.

Dotted trails with highlighting denote snowshoe, fat bike, and uphill trails. Click on a trail to get more details, including distance and elevation gain.

Designed for the Demands of Winter

Gaia Winter immediately sets a seasonal tone with a winter-themed color scheme. The blue-grey palette also makes Gaia Winter easy to distinguish from the greens and browns of our classic base map, Gaia Topo.

At a zoomed-out level, the landscape appears pale blue, with mountainous and forested areas in shades of pale mint green. Once you zoom in, tree shading appears in a pale mint green, while exposed surfaces look white. Rivers and bodies of water appear ice blue.

Tour the backcountry with confidence thanks to a stronger emphasis on terrain, tree cover, and contour lines. The mountains pop out of the map, helping you scout the best uphill and ski lines. See exactly where treeline ends so you can find powdery bowls and untracked glades. Hiking, mountain bike, and other three-season trails are deemphasized to make it even easier to see ski, snowshoe, and fat bike trails.

Streamlined Integration with Winter Maps

Gaia Winter showing Jackson Hole overlayed with the Slope Angle map.

This less-diverse color palette also serves a functional purpose. Gaia Winter is expertly styled to pair perfectly with our suite of winter maps. Whether you’re accessing the side country from the resort or going out for an all-day backcountry tour, layer the Slope Angle map over Gaia Winter to find low-angle terrain. Pair the Avalanche Forecast maps over Gaia Winter to clearly see which zones are green, signifying the lowest rating for avalanche risk.

And of course, don’t forget to check out our snowfall map layers, including Snow Stations (Daily), to get 24-hour snowfall reports for remote mountain areas in the western US and British Columbia. View water density readings to see if the snow is light like Wasatch powder or heavy like Sierra cement. Get more information on snow conditions in the Lower 48 and find areas holding the deepest snow with the Snow Depth layer. Plus, check the snow forecast straight from NOAA with 24-, 48-, and 72-hour Snowfall Forecast overlays.

Navigate at Night with Dark Mode

Gaia Winter in dark mode on an iPhone.

Just like Gaia Topo, Gaia Winter also comes in Dark Mode. Save your eyes and your battery life by switching to Dark mode at night. Dark Mode inverts the traditional color scheme, giving you a gorgeous aesthetic that produces less ambient light. The map appears dark grey, while trails and icons pop in fluorescent colors.

For an even better viewing experience, enable the Dark Mode responsive Gaia Topo map and your eyes will thank you. To turn on this feature, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Appearance. Then, tap “Dark” to set the display to Dark Mode. Gaia GPS will automatically adjust its own display settings to match. To ensure that your screen settings are always suited to your environment, tap “Automatic” under “Display & Brightness” to sync up Dark Mode with sunset and sunrise. You can also set it to adjust according to a schedule of your own choosing.

Gaia Winter is Available with a Premium Membership

Gaia Winter is available on the web and in the Gaia GPS app with a Gaia GPS Premium membership. To access this map, visit the layers menu and search for “Gaia Winter.” Or from the layers menu, select “Topo Maps.” Scroll down and tap “Gaia Winter.” Tap the “Add Layer” button. Learn how to add and manage overlays here.

A Premium Membership also gives you access to Gaia GPS’s entire map catalog, including a suite of avalanche safety maps. These include Slope Angle, Avalanche Forecast, recent satellite imagery, Snow Stations (Daily), Snow Depth, and snow forecast maps. Read up on how to use maps to help avoid avalanche danger.

Plus, with Premium, you can layer maps together. For example, you can place the Slope Angle map on top of Gaia Winter to find the best low-angle terrain. And you can download your maps (including Gaia Winter) for use without cell service, as well as print maps so you always have a backup.

backcountry skiingGaia GPSGaia Winterski mapswinter
6
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Abby Levene

Abby Levene is a writer, editor, and podcast producer for Gaia GPS. She's also a professional endurance athlete based in Boulder, Colorado. In her free time you can find her sweating in the mountains by foot, bike, and skis, or at home painting or curled up with a book.

previous post
The Art of Layering
next post
Walking off the War on the Appalachian Trail

You may also like

How to Plan a Backcountry Ski Tour with...

January 26, 2023

Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

January 25, 2023

New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

January 11, 2023

How to Get Started Overlanding

January 9, 2023

Our Favorite New Maps and Features

December 23, 2022

2022 Mapped: Gaia GPS Year in Review

December 22, 2022

Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle...

December 14, 2022

How to Use Maps to Help Avoid Avalanches

December 14, 2022

How to Find a Christmas Tree Using Gaia...

December 1, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

December 1, 2022

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Popular Posts

  • 1

    How to Read Topographic Maps

    July 1, 2021
  • 2

    How to Download an Entire State Map with Gaia Topo

    August 19, 2021
  • 3

    How to Save Phone Battery Life in the Backcountry

    March 25, 2021
  • 4

    Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in National Forests

    March 9, 2022
  • 5

    Unlock Adventure with Gaia GPS on Outside+

    September 30, 2021

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • Gaia GPS Offroad Podcast
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2022 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top