New year, new list! We at stakecam.com have ranked the top 12 ski / snowboard resort snow stake webcams of the 2019/20 season. From the artistic to the analytical, snow stake cams are a great way for resorts to both advertise and inform the public of mountain conditions. They cause visitors to feel FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) whether in line at Starbucks or a cubicle in Manhattan, for a split second they’re up on the slopes. This translates to more visits on powder days.
This year’s list was the most challenging for us to sort yet. It sees a new resort, a returning one, and one perennial regular jumping nine spots because of upgrades. Can you guess who?
You may have noticed the list came out later this year. I’ve decided to change things up since I’m back in school for my master’s in data science. The list will come out late in December or early January while I have a break from classes. I like this time frame better than October when we’ve released in previous years. With a fall release time I’ve missed a few new stakes which forced me to wait till the following season to incorporate them.
The ground rules (no change): A stake cam is a webcam pointed at a measuring stick (a.k.a. a graded stake) atop a platform that holds the snow as it accumulates - you'll get the idea, we have pictures. From this webcam, anyone can tune in to the feed and see what the current measure of snow is. A resort member usually removes the snow at a designated time each day, typically early morning, but that’s changing as resorts adapt to new ways of reporting accumulation - text, email, apps, etc.
Here's the criteria we use to rank the finalists (in no particular order):
Design - what's it look like? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it make me want to go skiing / snowboarding?
Accuracy - how's the placement? Does it report abnormally high or low results? Is it maintained and cleaned off every morning? Is it sheltered from wind and drifting?
Availability - will it show up in a Google search? Is it easy for skiers / snowboarders to find?
Technology - Does it take advantage of time-lapse? Is the feed good? High definition? Real-time imagery? Can I go back in the video history?
Night and Day - How does it look in the daytime? How does it look at night? Is it well lit? Is there an internal lighting or back-lit grading system?
#12 Arapahoe Basin, CO (▼3 Spots)
Refreshing simple design and great coniferous backdrop with skiers / boarders viewable throughout.
We’re starting our list out bucking some of our own rules. What A-basin's stake system lacks in metadata it makes up for in simplicity of design. Additionally, within the last few years they switched to TimeCam.tv feed which allows for historical scrolling so you can see the latest storm without waking up at 5am before the snow is cleared.
A-basin’s stake is simply their “flaming A” logo. There aren't even any gradations, which begs the viewer to peruse the site longer (it’s 18” at the peak BTW). No gradations poses an interesting question: “Is a precision measurement even necessary?” All we care about is skiing / boarding powder, who cares exactly how much there is?
We love the rustic wooden design with different staining and sharp edges for snow to pile up on. The stake’s location also makes our list because of the evergreen backdrop along with proximity to actual skiers that can be seen shushing by. Trees act like natural snow stakes because the branches tend to trap the snow accumulation shortly after a storm. They naturally clear themselves fairly quickly from the wind and sun.
#11 Brundage, ID (▼4 Spots)
Brundage’s design incorporates a darker background for contrasting powder totals.
A common theme you’ll see through the first half of our list are last year’s stakes dropping a few spots from last season. This is due to some major stake upgrades from other resorts giving an idea of the intensifying competition and growing importance placed in stake cam feeds as a marketing tool.
Brundage is the only stake on our list with a “box” design instead of a platform.
We like the dark faux wood finish which contrast’s powder well. Aside from helping humans see the snow totals, it also helps our AI texting platform discern changes in accumulation making the algorithm more accurate.
Additionally, the snowbox structure protects the stake from drifting, it has clear branding, metadata is located in the upper corner, and a subtle yet informative state outline with a snowflake depicting the resort’s location. Completing the metaphor, as the box fills with snow it covers the state and snowflake. Deep. (pun intended).
#10 Winter Park, CO (▼ 5 Spots)
Winter Park scored high marks for their stake's design and functionality.
Trees in the background, bright red gradations, and a platform for the snow to pile up make Winter Park's system both accurate and easy to read.
Along with metadata, hi-def, and scrollable timeline controls, this system is more than just a beautiful design. One thing we particularly like is that they clear the stake of snow in the afternoon each day and it’s clearly stated below the cam in the description. Winter Park is helping usher in a new way to report snow totals now that we live in a real-time, digital world which is not dependent on the radio or TV for reporting new powder. This mentality is why we created our texting platform.
Helping them lock in our number ten spot is their feed. They have a live uplink to YouTube® for watching, streaming, or sharing to visitors’ social network. One of the criteria we look for is implemented technology. Everyone knows YouTube and it’s seamless integration with other applications is advantageous.
#9 Snowbird, ID (▲3 Spots)
Snowbird's stake is their logo with gradations down the middle. Great piece of marketing.
Who can forget Snowbird’s “Too Advanced - One Star” ad campaign from a few years ago. It won awards and is a standard for ironic marketing. Since stake cams are basically real-time micro ad-campaigns, we’d be remiss if Snowbird wasn’t in our top twelve.
They earn high marks for strong branding continuity in their design. The whole cam is simply a graded (measure-marked) logo similar to A-basin. Using the resort logo hits at the heart of why snow stake cam feeds exist - the more a visitor checks the feed, they begin to associate the logo with powder, creating anticipation. Whether in line at Starbucks or in a cubicle in Manhattan, these feeds help generate excitement (which translates to visits) for the resort they represent.
Upgrades for this year: they put the gradations over a blue backing which improves the contrast to the snow, making it easier to see. They’ve switched to HDrelay which fixes any question surrounding real-time data. Additionally we like that it’s more elevated with a platform fixing the drifting due to the fins of the logo. These upgrades helped it jump three spots to number nine.
#8 Tamarack, ID (▼5 Spots)
Tamarack's new redesigns, added therm, plus upgrade to HDRelay feed keep it firmly in the middle of the pack on our list.
Number eight is a relatively new stake and has gone through several iterations already in its first two years.
Tamarack made our list in previous years mostly on design. The honey-tinted wood grain compliments the structure well while providing good contrast to powder. The logo provides a nice pop of color on the white snow background.
The first stake iterations were a box design like Brundage. From an accuracy standpoint, protected locations typically perform better than exposed stakes because they protect from drifting. Methods for accomplishing this vary from box design, a snow fence, or placement in a forest clearing. Open platform designs usually utilize one of the last two because ski resorts typically have an abundance of both trees and fencing. Seriously, there are actually meteorological papers published on this concept!
Tamarack’s stake is visible at night, gets cleared regularly, incorporates a reliable feed, and benefits from added therms (both digital and analog). Add this year’s upgrade to HDRelay technology and its spot at number eight is justified.
#7 Telluride, CO (▼ 3 Spots)
With it's tin roof backing, centrally placed logo, and red contrasts, Telluride's stake cam is almost the perfect combo of form AND function.
Telluride's stake cam ranks perennially high on our list. They’ve kept the same design and feed throughout. The bright red pickaxes at the top are Telluride’s logo and provide fantastic contrast against the backing whether snowing or not.
Throw in the gradation of the rustic tin roof material framed in modern iron with straight clean edges and the design alone would probably make our list. Its even got a fun name - Prospect Pow Cam.
To top it all off, it's nestled in the forest backdrop like a birdhouse. If the red pickaxes and numbers were back-lit this would probably rank higher on our list. It does have a bright flood light on at night so the colors really pop no matter when you tune in to check snowfall.
#6 Powder Mountain, UT (Unch)
PowMow replaced their stake at the beginning of the 2016/17 season with this cool blue glowing design.
PowMow has a new design this year getting away from the back-lit gradations and moving to a two-stake design with a bigger logo. Since they use our SnowCAP system, we have been following them closely for a while and their stake cam system is solid. In fact, they're one of the few resorts that keep their feed going all year long so you can even tune in during the summer months.
Since this is the first year with the two stake system, we kept them at the same spot as last year. Two stakes are a little more difficult for resorts to manage since they have to send someone to the location to clear more often to maintain accuracy but the information the visitors get is worth it in our opinion.
FULL DISCLOSURE: PowMow is a customer of ours using our artificial intelligence, SnowCAP, to notify skiers/boarders. They were weighted the same as each of the others and in the end the pros and cons landed them in our number six spot.
#5 Copper Mountain, CO (▼ 4 Spots)
Dropping a few spots this year is Copper Mountain; one of the first (if not THE first) in the business to use a snow stake cam. In last year’s list, Copper was number one with their new design.
This is the first place on our list this year to have an internal lighting system, or what we call back-lit gradations. We like this trend in stake cams because it really emphasizes the snow depth and makes it easy to read in all conditions. Copper continues pioneering technology with one of the best stake cams in the business:
Copper is one of the first resorts to start streaming snow stake cam feeds.
internal lighting system
simple design
logo front and center
good location
reliable feed
real-time data counters
It looks like they’ve changed the location to incorporate trees in the background which would normally bump them higher on the list if there weren’t so many upgrades from other resorts ahead of them this year.
#4 Steamboat, CO (Returning)
Two-stake design with a storm stake and clear labeling for when the daily stake is cleaned.
They’re ba-a-a-aaack! Returning from two years ago is Steamboat to grab our number four spot. This is the first resort to drop from the list and return.
What we like most about this redesign are the dark blue coloring and the two stakes. They provide great contrast when it dumps while keeping a consistent color palette with their brand. I’m partial to two-stake designs because of how much information they present. If done correctly they can maintain a clean look without interfering with the appearance.
We also love the name - Champagne Powder Snow Cam. We’re seeing more and more fun powder cam names to help resorts further separate brand identity from each other.
Steamboat’s cam platform has everything we look for to place high on the list - a logo front and center, snowy trees in the background, and it looks great at night with a full color video feed. Aside from those big powdery conifers in the background, our favorite part of the stake might be the easy-to-understand signage for each pole. Even first-time viewers can discern when the stakes are cleared from a quick glance.
#3 - Loveland, CO (▼1 Spot)
The blue glow of Loveland's cam provides excellent contrast and readability in low light conditions. Snow doesn't fall in the sunshine.
If you're sitting down to design a stake cam for your resort, Loveland's is a great starting point. Have you ever tuned in to to their stake cam feed at night?! That cool blue glow is hard to beat, especially when it’s getting dumped on.
To score high on our list you need a great design; everything else falls into place. To get skiers / snowboarders to take a snow day, the cam feed better look great in the dark. It goes without saying that when snow falls, it's rarely sunny.
Loveland's cam looks beautiful in both day and night. The next two edging out Loveland also look great in low-light conditions - one brand new to the list and one re-design from and “old-timer” jumping nine full spots because of their upgrades.
#2 - Eldora, CO (New)
Newly developed stake cam, Eldora has a near-perfect location to a city center - Denver.
Our number two spot is our newest addition on the list! Eldora is the closest resort to Denver and an ideal location for a stake cam. This snow stake cam has a lot going for it.
First off, we like that it’s measurements are back-lit. I’ve talked about the importance of this in previous spots (see Copper and Loveland) so I won’t belabor the point.
Secondly, it’s location to a city-center (Denver) make it arguably more functional than any other stake cam. If you’re going to get visitors to call in to work for a snow day, it must also be close to where they live. Eldora is just 50 miles from Denver, slightly closer than Loveland. Resort towns like Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge aren’t relying on their stake cam feeds to change many minds. Most people in those towns during the winter months are already there to get out on the mountains. Contrast that with Denver where people have many more choices. These local visitors rely on what they see from the stake cam feed.
Thirdly, the design has great contrast and a modern look with that stylized, translucent tree holding the gradations it looks great whether it’s sunny, nighttime, or whiteout conditions. Well done Eldora!
#1 Aspen, CO (▲ 9 Spots)
A complete two stake re-design, back-lit gradations, and clear labeling make Aspen our top spot this year.
This year’s number one sees one of the biggest ski resorts upgrade significantly with a total stake redesign and their position on this list has upgraded significantly because of it. Last year Aspen came in at #10 and jumped a full nine spots this year. Here’s why…
First of all, they upgraded more than one cam to keep the brand consistent - both Aspen Mountain AND Snowmass. The additions include a new, beautiful internal lighting system so the gradations and platform labels glow bright white, they put them in great locations, each has an analog clock to ensure real-time viewing and superb video quality along with a clear feed allowing the viewer to even watch the second hand tick away all while maintaining a shot of the action behind the stake. Some resorts still only take still pictures every few minutes which is fine but nothing is like real-time, high quality video. The user feels like they’re on the mountain for a few seconds whether they’re in line at Starbucks or an office cubicle in Manhattan.
The shot at the Aspen Mountain location expertly captures a view of the logo on the lifts while they’re moving. One of the most powerful marketing draws of a stake cam is generating FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), a well documented sales tactic. If I can SEE the visitors having a blast on the slope I want to be there in the powder too.
Congratulations Aspen! ■
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