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Skiers & Snowboarders

MountainGuide is a marketplace that connects skiers and snowboarders of all levels with local ski experts who create customized ski itineraries to help you maximize your enjoyment on the mountain.
Skiers can search for MountainGuide experts in our current network of resorts (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, & Copper Mountain) and book a 30-minute call with one of them before or during your ski trip. Your expert will call you at the scheduled time and after your call they will email you a customized itinerary within 1-hour that will contain a day’s worth of suggested runs and which lifts to take based on your specific interests and goals to help you discover the best parts of the mountain. The cost of a 30-minute call and itinerary is $100.
MountainGuide helps skiers and snowboarders of all levels tap into the wealth of mountain knowledge local ski experts have acquired from having lived in town for years and skiing or boarding on the mountain almost every day. Local experts know where the best powder stashes are, which runs are skiing the best based on current snow conditions, and which parts of the mountain to avoid on low visibility days. So whether you’re looking to find the best powder, bumps, trees, steep terrain, or just want a fun day of the best groomers, our local experts will give you a customized itinerary that will take the guesswork out of your ski day and help you stay focused on enjoying your time on the mountain.
Skiers and snowboarders can book a 30-minute call with a MountainGuide expert and receive a customized itinerary with a day’s worth of recommended runs and lifts for just $100. When you consider that a 1-day lift ticket costs more than $200 and a private ski instructor for a day costs more than $1,000, we think our $100 price is a bargain for the value we deliver.
MountainGuide experts are locals who live to ski or snowboard and work their tails off to support their love of the sport and to make ends meet living in an incredibly expensive resort town. They are also very passionate about providing a high-quality service through MountainGuide to help skiers and boarders maximize their enjoyment on the mountain. Customer reviews are a very important part of the MountainGuide experience so if you enjoy your call and the itinerary your expert sends you please submit a review to help other skiers find the best expert for them. We will email you an invitation to submit a review 1-day after you receive your itinerary.
During your call your local expert will ask you some questions about when you’ll be skiing, what type of skier you are, how well you know the mountain, and what types of runs and terrain you’d like to explore. Based on your feedback as well as the current snow conditions, your expert will put a customized ski itinerary together for you that will help you discover the best parts of the mountain and take the guesswork out of your ski day. Your expert can also provide recommendations about where to eat on and off the mountain, the best spots for après-ski, happy hour, nightlife, and even where to get the best deals on ski rentals. MountainGuide experts have a wealth of knowledge about things on and off the mountain so feel free to ask questions.
The short answer is not all the time. The long answer is that the main purpose of the call is for your expert to learn when you’ll be skiing, what type of skier or snowboarder you are, what your skill level is, how well you know the mountain, and what types of runs and terrain you’d like to explore. Using this information along with current snow conditions, your MountainGuide expert will put together the perfect itinerary for you to help you discover the best parts of the mountain. Some calls will last the full 30-minutes if a skier has lots of questions and/or wants to be involved in the itinerary planning process. Other times a skier and expert will be able to exchange the required information on their call in as little as 10 minutes. You’re paying for a 30-minute call so you should feel free to use it all if like. But if your call takes less than 30-minutes rest assured you will still get a great customized itinerary based on your unique goals.
MountainGuide itineraries contain a fully customized days’ worth of suggested runs, lifts, and notes based on your skill level, favorite terrain, mountain familiarity, current snow conditions, and any other unique goals or objectives you have. There’s also an Additional Notes section at the bottom of the itinerary where your MountainGuide expert can include information about things like après-ski or happy hour suggestions, restaurant recommendations, lodging or parking advice, or the best places for rental equipment. MountainGuide experts have a wealth of information to help you make the most of your trip on and off the mountain so feel free to ask any questions you have. Sample MountainGuide itinerary pictured below.Itineraries can also be viewed on mobile devices. Please review our FAQ about how to save your itinerary locally on your phone so you can view it on the mountain even without cell service.
You will receive your MountainGuide itinerary within 1-hour of your 30-minute call time block or you’ll receive a full refund. When your expert sends your itinerary you will receive an email with a link you can click on to open and view your itinerary on your phone or computer.
You will receive your itinerary within 1-hour of your call via email with a downloadable .pdf attachment as well as a link you can use to view your itinerary online using your desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile device. We highly recommend downloading your .pdf itinerary locally to your phone so you can view it on the mountain even without cell service. We have outlined how to do this below via Apple’s “Files” (or iCloud) and Dropbox. We also recommend printing a hard copy of your itinerary as a backup, just in case. How to download your .pdf itinerary for offline viewing on your iPhone via Apple’s “Files” (or iCloud). Similar steps can be taken to download your itinerary locally to Android devices.1. Open your .pdf itinerary attachment and tap the share icon in the upper right.2. Tap “Save to Files”.3. You can choose to save your itinerary to “iCloud Drive” or “On My iPhone”. In this example we have chosen “On My iPhone”. Next tap “Save” in the upper right corner.4. Open the “Files” app on your iPhone. You should be able to open your itinerary on your iPhone even without cell service.

Tip: try turning off your iPhone’s Wi-Fi and Cellular Data (in Settings) and verify you’re still able to open and view your itinerary. If so, you should be good to go on the slopes!How to download your .pdf itinerary for offline viewing on your phone via Dropbox. Similar steps can be taken with other cloud services like Google Drive or OneDrive.1. Open your .pdf itinerary attachment and tap the share icon in the upper right.2. Tap “Save to Dropbox” and then select the Dropbox folder where you’d like to save your itinerary.3. Open Dropbox and tap on the 3 dots to the right of your .pdf itinerary.4. Tap “Make Available Offline”.5. The green downward arrow icon indicates you should be able to open and view your itinerary even without cell service.

Tip: try turning off your phone’s Wi-Fi and Cellular Data (in Settings) and verify you’re still able to open and view your itinerary. If so, you should be good to go on the slopes!
Skiers and snowboarders can direct message MountainGuide experts through the website after a booking is confirmed. Our experts will try their best to get back to you promptly.
Unfortunately, No. MountainGuide bookings include one call at the scheduled time and that’s it. MountainGuide experts are very busy, sometimes fielding multiple calls per day with skiers and sometimes also working multiple jobs. Please refrain from trying to call your MountainGuide expert after your scheduled call takes place.
For privacy and security purposes, MountainGuide experts may choose to block their number when calling skiers. If you see a blocked or private number on your caller ID at the scheduled call time, you should take the call because it’s likely your expert calling. If you don’t answer your phone at the scheduled call time we will not be able to offer you a refund.
If you don’t answer your phone at the scheduled start time, MountainGuide experts will try to reach you again but your 30-minute booking time window will not reset so please try to answer your phone on time. If you’re unable to pick-up after a few call attempts you will not receive a refund. MountainGuide will also send you an email 1-hour before your scheduled call time as a reminder.
Per the MountainGuide Terms of Service, MountainGuide.io and MountainGuide experts are not liable to you or any third party if you get injured on the mountain for any reason. MountainGuide itineraries contain a list of suggested runs based on the conversation you have with your MountainGuide expert. But it is your sole responsibility to ski within your limits on the mountain to protect your own safety and by using this site you agree to use your MountainGuide itinerary at your own risk.
Unfortunately, no. Most ski resorts strictly prohibit any type of private guiding or instructing on the mountain other than through the resort’s own instructors and ski school. Resorts like Vail make millions through private instructors who cost $1,000 per day, and if they catch anyone doing “black market” guiding or instructing on the mountain they can fine those people, and potentially confiscate their ski passes and even ban repeat offenders from the mountain entirely. Resorts and their employees closely monitor for any prohibited ski guiding or instructing on the mountain and they are good at policing against it so it’s never worth trying. MountainGuide strictly prohibits any of our experts from providing any kind of private guiding or instructing on the mountain while using our platform so please do not inquire about such prohibited activities.
MountainGuide is currently available at the top 40 ski resorts listed below. Please note each resort will only appear in the search results list if there is at least one MountainGuide expert available at each resort.
  • Afton Alps, MN
  • Alta, UT
  • Aspen, CO
  • Beaver Creek, CO
  • Big Sky, MT
  • Breckenridge, CO
  • Brighton, UT
  • Canyons Resort, UT
  • Copper Mountain, CO
  • Crested Butte, CO
  • Crystal Mountain, WA
  • Deer Valley, UT
  • Heavenly, CA
  • Jackson Hole, WY
  • Keystone, CO
  • Killington, VT
  • Kirkwood, CA
  • Mammoth Mountain, CA
  • Mount Bachelor, OR
  • Northstar, CA
  • Okemo, VT
  • Park City, UT
  • Purgatory, CO
  • Snowbird, UT
  • Snowmass, CO
  • Snow Summit, CA
  • Squaw Valley, CA
  • Steamboat, CO
  • Stevens Pass, WA
  • Stowe, VT
  • Stratton Mountain, VT
  • Sugarbush, VT
  • Sugarloaf, ME
  • Sun Valley, ID
  • Taos, NM
  • Telluride, CO
  • The Summit, WA
  • Vail, CO
  • Whitefish, MT
  • Winter Park, CO
You can browse local experts without creating an account. To book a call with a MountainGuide expert you will be prompted to create a user account. All user accounts require email verification.
1. Click “Sign up” at the top right. 2. Enter your email and create a secure password. 3. Check your email to verify your email address and you’re good to go!
To delete your MountainGuide user account, please email us at: support@mountainguide.io
If you cancel a booking more than 24-hours before the scheduled start time we’ll issue a full refund. If you cancel a booking less than 24-hours before the scheduled start time we won’t be able to provide any refund.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to email us at support@mountainguide.io or you can use the Contact form at the bottom of the site.

MountainGuide Experts

It’s 100% free to sign-up as a MountainGuide expert.
1. Click “Become a MountainGuide expert” at the top right. 2. Read the Expert Agreement to make sure you are qualified to become a MountainGuide expert. 3. Set-up your listing profile and calendar availability so skiers know when they can book a call with you. 4. Make sure you’ve added your bank account info in the Payments section under Account Settings so we can pay you after each booking. 5. That’s it! MountainGuide reserves the right to change the expert sign-up process and/or the requirements to become a MountainGuide expert at any time.
You can sign-up as a MountainGuide expert at the top 40 ski resorts listed below. We are actively looking for MountainGuide expert team leads at all of our resorts to help with our marketing efforts. Additional compensation available for team leads. Interested experts should contact us at support@mountainguide.io.
  • Afton Alps, MN
  • Alta, UT
  • Aspen, CO
  • Beaver Creek, CO
  • Big Sky, MT
  • Breckenridge, CO
  • Brighton, UT
  • Canyons Resort, UT
  • Copper Mountain, CO
  • Crested Butte, CO
  • Crystal Mountain, WA
  • Deer Valley, UT
  • Heavenly, CA
  • Jackson Hole, WY
  • Keystone, CO
  • Killington, VT
  • Kirkwood, CA
  • Mammoth Mountain, CA
  • Mount Bachelor, OR
  • Northstar, CA
  • Okemo, VT
  • Park City, UT
  • Purgatory, CO
  • Snowbird, UT
  • Snowmass, CO
  • Snow Summit, CA
  • Squaw Valley, CA
  • Steamboat, CO
  • Stevens Pass, WA
  • Stowe, VT
  • Stratton Mountain, VT
  • Sugarbush, VT
  • Sugarloaf, ME
  • Sun Valley, ID
  • Taos, NM
  • Telluride, CO
  • The Summit, WA
  • Vail, CO
  • Whitefish, MT
  • Winter Park, CO
We have no problem with resort employees signing up as MountainGuide experts. However, before signing-up, it is your sole responsibility to verify whether your participation in the MountainGuide marketplace will in any way violate your current employment agreement. MountainGuide bears no financial or legal liability for your independent decision in this matter.
MountainGuide expert listings can be set-up in as little as 10 minutes. However, we recommend investing a little additional time into crafting your profile to highlight your unique background, personality, mountain knowledge, and skill set. Skiers will more comfortably and confidently book calls with you if they are able to glean a clear picture of who you are and what you bring to the table when viewing your listing on MountainGuide.
MountainGuide experts earn $30 per booking. It takes less than 1-hour to complete a call and send an itinerary form, so you will make at least $30 per hour.
MountainGuide experts receive payment via electronic funds transfer directly into their checking account within 2 days after a booking is successfully completed. This is currently the only payout option available for experts but we may offer additional options in the future.
MountainGuide uses Stripe as our payment portal. Stripe’s platform is extremely secure and they handle online payments for many of the world’s largest eCommerce sites. When you enter your bank account during the sign-up process, you are actually submitting that information directly to Stripe, and per their security policies MountainGuide never has access to your bank account, even when we send your payments after each completed booking. So you should rest assured that your bank account will remain safe, secure, and encrypted at all times.
MountainGuide experts can easily set-up and customize their schedule of availability within their MountainGuide listing so they only receive bookings with skiers when they are available. For example, one expert might set-up their schedule of availability to receive bookings every day of the week from 7am to 11am. And another expert might set-up their availability to receive bookings on Mon – Wed from 8am to 1pm, on Thurs – Fri from 3pm to 7pm, and no availability on Sat – Sun. The main point is that you’re able to set-up your availability to match your schedule and it can be updated at any time. After you sign-up we’ll send you an email detailing the calendar functionality and customization options. Also, please remember that it is your responsibility to keep your schedule of availability updated within your MountainGuide listing. Experts who cancel multiple bookings after they are confirmed because they didn’t keep their availability updated may be removed from the MountainGuide marketplace.
The Availability section is where you set-up your schedule of availability so you only receive bookings when you are free.The weekday section is where you customize your availability for each day of the week. You can add multiple time slots of availability (shown for Wednesdays and Saturdays below) or no availability (shown for Mondays and Thursdays below). Your schedule in the weekday section repeats each week until you update it, which you can do at any time.You can also use Availability Exceptions to override your weekly schedule by adding Available or Not Available time slots for any single day or date range you choose.You can also temporarily remove your listing from appearing in the search results at any time. To do this go to “Your listing” page and click “Close listing” under the 3 dots in the upper right corner. Your listing will be closed until you click “Open listing” on the same page.
MountainGuide itineraries contain a fully customized days’ worth of suggested runs, lifts, and notes based on your client’s skill level, favorite terrain, mountain familiarity, current snow conditions, and any other unique goals or objectives they have. There’s also an Additional Notes section at the bottom of the itinerary where you can include information about things like après-ski or happy hour suggestions, restaurant recommendations, lodging or parking advice, or the best place to get rental equipment. Sample MountainGuide itinerary pictured below.
MountainGuide experts will receive a confirmation email when a skier books a call with you. That email will contain a link you can click on to open the itinerary form on your computer before you call the skier. Once you’ve filled out the itinerary form with a day’s worth of runs, lifts, and notes click the “Send itinerary” button at the bottom of the form to email it to the skier.
In order for a MountainGuide booking to be considered complete, and in order for you to get paid, you need to email the itinerary to the skier within 1-hour of the 30-minute call time window. For example, if you have a call with a skier from 7:00am – 7:30am you must send the itinerary to them by no later than 8:30am in order to complete the booking and receive your payout. If you do not send the itinerary within 1-hour, the booking will be cancelled and you will not receive your payment.
The short answer is no. The long answer is that the main purpose of the call is for you to learn about the skier and their specific goals and objectives. Experts will ask skiers questions to assess their skill level, familiarity with the mountain, and the types of runs and terrain they want to explore. Based on their answers, any other questions raised by the skier, as well as the current snow conditions, experts should then have enough information to create a great, customized itinerary for the skier. Sometimes skiers may have lots of questions and may want to work with an expert as they start to formulate their plan for an itinerary. Calls like that may last the full 30-minutes. In other cases, it may only take 10 minutes for a skier and an expert to exchange the information they need to build an itinerary. A successful MountainGuide expert will be able to read the personality and needs of each skier and adapt to their individual goals and objectives on a call by call basis.
You should only sign-up as a MountainGuide expert for both skiing and snowboarding if you’re truly an expert skier and snowboarder and also know how to expertly navigate your mountain on both skis and a board.
Currently, you can only sign-up as a MountainGuide expert at one resort but that may change in the future.
You can close (or hide) your MountainGuide expert listing at any time by clicking the 3 dots in the upper right corner of your listing, which you can access by clicking on your initials or profile picture in the upper right corner. When you select “Close listing”, your listing will no longer appear in the search results on MountainGuide. This does not delete your listing; it only hides it until you select “Open listing” on the same page. If you’d like to permanently delete your account and listing please email us at: support@mountainguide.io.
Currently, the 5-star expert rating is calculated only from customer reviews. However, MountainGuide reserves the right to change the rating system at any time. MountainGuide also reserves the right to remove experts from the marketplace who do not maintain a certain minimum customer rating.
If you need to cancel a booking after it’s confirmed, email us immediately at: support@mountainguide.io. We understand scheduling conflicts arise from time to time, but MountainGuide experts who cancel multiple bookings after they are confirmed may be removed from the marketplace.
If you miss or forget about a scheduled call with a skier for any reason, email us immediately at support@mountainguide.io so we can resolve the situation with the skier. MountainGuide will send you an email 1-hour before the scheduled start time for every booking as a reminder. MountainGuide experts who miss or forget about multiple bookings may be removed from the marketplace.
Profile pictures:

The ideal image ratio is 1:1. For example, 600 x 600 pixels or 1100 x 1100 pixels. The file format should be .jpg, .png, or .gif.

If the uploaded image ratio is not squared, for example 680 x 440, the larger part will be cropped around the center so the end result in this example would be 440 x 440 pixels.

Listing pictures:

The ideal image ratio is 3:2. For example, 660 x 440 pixels or 1500 x 1000 pixels. The file format should be .jpg, .png, or .gif.

If the uploaded image ratio is within 20% of the 3:2 ratio, for example 680 x 440, it will be cropped to the target ratio of 660 x 440 pixels to avoid gray bars on the sides.

If the uploaded image is not even close to the target ratio (i.e. more than 20% would be cropped), for example 1200 x 440, no cropping will happen at all.

Online tools to resize and crop images:

You can use free online photo editors (i.e. GIMP, Pixlr X, Fotor) to resize or crop your photos to make your expert listing look sharp and stand out.
MountainGuide

Maximize your enjoyment on the mountain with customized ski itineraries by local experts.

© MountainGuide 2020

© MountainGuide 2020
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