What Mountainwatch does

Mountainwatch is a privately held Australian snow-sports digital media company founded in 2009 and headquartered in Brookvale, New South Wales, employing an estimated 11-50 people. It operates a direct-to-consumer content platform serving skiers and snowboarders, providing free 7-day snow forecasts, real-time snow reports, and live snow-cam feeds across 100+ ski resorts spanning five markets: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, North America (USA and Canada), and Europe. The core offering is supported by editorial and multimedia content, including the "Grasshopper" weekly forecast newsletter and seasonal outlooks, the Pow Pow Podcast (distributed via Spotify and SoundCloud), video snow reports, and detailed resort guides with trail maps and directories.

The underlying technology is a domain-specialized snow forecasting and conditions platform built on a WordPress-based web stack, aggregating a live webcam network across 100+ resort locations and generating structured per-resort pages (forecast, cams, reports, trail maps, travel options). There is no evidence of a mobile app, public API, or AI/ML capability; the platform's differentiation rests on breadth of resort coverage, editorial depth, and a resident meteorologist rather than proprietary modeling technology.

The business monetizes an otherwise-free audience through three streams: advertising, sponsored content, and brand partnerships (managed alongside product by Quentin Nolan); a travel-booking subsidiary, Mountainwatch Travel (mountainwatch.travel), selling transaction-based ski holiday packages to New Zealand, Japan, USA, and Canada with publicly disclosed prices ranging from ~AUD $675 for budget accommodation to AUD $13,000+ for luxury properties; and an online gear shop (store.mountainwatch.com) selling ski/snowboard equipment and apparel. Go-to-market is content-driven and top-of-funnel (blog, newsletters, podcast, YouTube, organic social, athlete sponsorships), funneling audience toward bottom-of-funnel travel bookings and guided tours such as the Jackson Hole trip led by skier Coen Bennie-Faull.

Name

Mountainwatch

Legal name

Mountainwatch

Website

https://mountainwatch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mountainwatch is an Australian snow-sports digital media platform offering free snow forecasts, reports, and live cams across 100+ ski resorts in five countries, monetizing skiers and snowboarders via advertising, ski-travel bookings, and a gear shop.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Snow Sports Digital Media & Travel

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520), Travel Agencies (561510)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Winter Adventure & Mountain Resorts (Ski, Snowboard, Snow Activities) (THAAAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Guided Backcountry & Off-Piste Services (Ski Touring, Splitboarding, Heli/Cat Skiing) (THAAAJAD), Winter Adventure Experiences (Ski Touring, Snowshoeing, Dog Sledding) (THAJABAH)

Keywords

• Snow forecasting services
• Ski resort guides
• Winter sports media
• Ski travel packages
• Snow sports content

Headquarters

HQ city

Avalon

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Travel Packages and Tours: Mountainwatch Travel subsidiary sells ski holiday packages to resorts in New Zealand, Japan, USA, and Canada. Packages include accommodation, lift tickets, and sometimes flights. The company also organizes guided ski tours to destinations like Jackson Hole.
2. Advertising and Sponsorship: The platform generates revenue through advertising sales, sponsored content, and brand partnerships. The website features gear reviews, athlete sponsorships, and promotional content from snow sports brands.
3. Gear Shop: Online retail store (store.mountainwatch.com) selling ski and snowboard gear, apparel, and accessories

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Mountainwatch operates a digital snow sports media platform delivering free snow forecasts, live snow reports, real-time webcam feeds, and resort guides for over 100 ski resorts across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, North America, and Europe. It monetizes this audience through a travel booking subsidiary (Mountainwatch Travel) selling ski holiday packages and guided tours, an online gear retail shop, advertising, and brand sponsorships. Editorial products including the Grasshopper weekly forecast newsletter, Pow Pow Podcast, and video snow reports support audience engagement.

Product overview

Mountainwatch operates a unified content platform centered on snow sports journalism and resort information services. The core product suite consists of snow forecasting, snow reports, and live snow cam feeds covering over 100 ski resorts across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. Supporting this core is Mountainwatch Travel, a travel booking service for ski holiday packages, and complementary content products including the Grasshopper weekly forecast newsletter, Pow Pow Podcast, and video snow reports. The platform also provides resort guides with trail maps and travel information. All products serve the snow sports community with free weather, conditions, and vision content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mountainwatch Travel: Snow holiday booking and travel packages service for ski destinations in New Zealand, Japan, North America and Europe.

Products and services

• Snow Forecasts Weather and snow forecasting service providing detailed 7-day predictions for over 100 ski resorts across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe, including temperature, precipitation, and snow accumulation data.
• Snow Reports Current snow condition reports providing real-time updates on snow depth, snow quality, resort status, and operating terrain for ski resorts worldwide.
• Snow Cams Live webcam feeds from 100+ ski resort locations worldwide, providing visual real-time monitoring of snow conditions and mountain views through embedded video streaming.
• Resort Guides Comprehensive resort profiles featuring trail maps, resort directories, accommodation options, and travel information for ski destinations globally.
• Mountainwatch Travel Travel booking service selling ski holiday packages to New Zealand, Japan, North America, and Europe including accommodation, lift tickets, and group tours, plus Mountainwatch-branded guided ski tours (e.g., Jackson Hole).
• Grasshopper Newsletter Weekly forecast email newsletter providing snow predictions and seasonal outlooks authored by the site's resident meteorologist 'The Grasshopper'.
• Pow Pow Podcast Podcast content available on Spotify and SoundCloud featuring snow sports discussion and audio content for the Mountainwatch community.
• Video Snow Reports Video-based snow reports and forecasts including Australian Video Snow Reports and resort-specific video content featuring powder days, weather updates, and ski travel content.
• Mountainwatch Gear Shop Online retail store selling ski and snowboard gear, apparel, and accessories to snow sports consumers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ resorts covered globally
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hakuba.comminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCross-promotional partnership with Hakuba.com, a ski resort website for the Hakuba region in Japan. Mountainwatch includes Hakuba.com in its partner section and links to Hakuba.com from its resort coverage pages.

Scale indicators2 records

Direct peers

• Ski Solutions: Ski Solutions is a UK-based ski tour operator specializing in tailored ski holidays to Europe, North America and Japan. It directly competes with Mountainwatch Travel in the packaged ski holiday category, particularly for Australia- and UK-based travelers.
• OnTheSnow: OnTheSnow is a leading snow report and ski resort review platform with live webcams, snow conditions and editorial content. It competes directly with Mountainwatch across snow reporting, resort reviews and ski trip planning for a global audience.
• SkiResort.info: SkiResort.info is one of the world's largest ski resort directories with snow reports, webcams, trail maps and user reviews, especially strong in Europe. It directly mirrors Mountainwatch's combination of snow reporting, webcams and resort guides.
• Ski.com: Ski.com (formerly Liftopia) is a major online ski vacation booking platform selling lift tickets, accommodation and packages to global resorts. It directly competes with Mountainwatch Travel's package-booking and lift ticket businesses.
• SnoCountry: SnoCountry provides snow reports, ski resort directories and skier community features for North American resorts with growing international coverage. It is a direct competitor to Mountainwatch in the snow reports and resort information vertical.
• Snow-Forecast.com: Snow-Forecast.com provides detailed snow forecasts, reports and resort information for ski areas worldwide. It is the closest direct competitor to Mountainwatch in the snow forecasting/resort information category, with overlapping geographic coverage and similar target audience of snow sports enthusiasts.

Broad incumbents

• Alterra Mountain Company: Alterra Mountain Company operates the Ikon Pass and a portfolio of major ski destinations across North America, with its own snow reporting, content and direct booking platforms. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same snow sports audience.
• Vail Resorts: Vail Resorts operates major North American ski destinations through the Epic Pass and has aggressive direct-to-consumer booking and snow-reporting apps. As a broad incumbent, it competes with Mountainwatch both for audience attention and travel bookings in its covered US resorts.

Others

• Surfline: Surfline operates a subscription-based surf forecasting and live cam platform with editorial content and a gear shop - a comparable business model in an adjacent action-sports vertical. Useful as a business-model analogue rather than a direct competitor.

Regional players

• New Zealand Ski (nzski.com): New Zealand Ski operates The Remarkables and Coronet Peak resorts with direct booking of lift passes, lessons and accommodation. It is a regional competitor to Mountainwatch Travel in the NZ ski package market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Mountainwatch1
• Facebookfacebook.com/snowreports
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mountain-watch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mountainwatch