Ski terrain
Another Garbage Skiing Tool
Point it at a line. It tells you how steep that line is, which way it faces and how far down it goes. That's the whole product. The name was the honest option.
Everybody standing at the top of something has the same two questions, and both of them are about the ground: how steep is it, and which way is it facing. Most people answer by squinting. Squinting is famously well calibrated between about thirty and forty degrees, which is exactly the range where being wrong costs the most.
AnGST reads the terrain and gives you the numbers. It is not clever, it does not have opinions, and it will not tell you whether to drop in.
What it tells you
- Slope angle along the line you've drawn, not averaged across the whole face.
- Aspect — which way it faces, because sun and wind care and so should you.
- Elevation and vertical, so "it's not that long" can be checked against a number.
- The fall line, which is rarely where you think it is once the light goes flat.
What it absolutely does not do
- It is not an avalanche forecast. It has never seen the snowpack. It does not know what fell last night or what's buried under it.
- It is not a guide. Terrain data is one input. Your forecast centre, your training and your partners are the rest.
- It is not a substitute for looking at the slope with your own eyes, from somewhere safe.
Who it's for
- Backcountry skiers and splitboarders planning a tour at the kitchen table the night before.
- Ski patrol and instructors who need a number to point at rather than an adjective.
- Anyone who has confidently called a slope "maybe thirty-five" and been off by twelve degrees.
Common questions
Is AnGST an avalanche forecast?
No, and nothing on this page should be read as one. AnGST describes the shape of the ground — how steep it is and which way it faces. It knows nothing about the snowpack, the weather, the layers or the day. Get the forecast from your regional avalanche centre, get training, and carry the gear.
How steep is too steep?
Slab avalanches release most often on slopes somewhere around thirty to forty-five degrees, which is also the range most people want to ski, which is the entire problem in one sentence. The number is context, not permission — the same angle is a different proposition on different days.
Why does aspect matter?
Which way a slope faces determines how much sun it takes and how the wind loads it, and both of those shape what the snow does. It's the same reason aspect drives fire behaviour in summer — same terrain, same physics, different season.
Why is it called Another Garbage Skiing Tool?
Because it is another one, and naming it optimistically wouldn't have made it better. It does one thing. If that one thing is what you needed, excellent.
Same terrain, other season
Model the risk first: FUELBREAK
Slope and aspect drive what snow does in February and what fire does in August. FUELBREAK runs the summer half of that — spread and exposure at parcel scale, off the same terrain.
See what FUELBREAK does