SkiTour+ is a full-screen data field for ski touring, backcountry skiing, splitboarding, winter hiking and mountaineering. One screen shows everything you need while skinning uphill, in big digits you can read on the move and in bright sun.
VERTICAL SPEED THAT DOES NOT JUMP AROUND
The largest digits at the top show how many metres per hour you climb. An arrow and a colour show the direction: green up, blue down. The number is computed over the last half-minute, so it stays calm through an uneven stride and you can actually pace yourself by it.
WHAT IT SHOWS
- Vertical speed, heart rate in your HR zone colour, total ascent (D+) and descent (D-), altitude, speed, distance, timer, elapsed time (keeps running during pauses), time of day, calories and the average ascent rate of the whole tour.
- Summit: enter the summit altitude and the field shows the metres left to climb with a progress bar.
- Waypoint: enter coordinates and see the distance plus an arrow to the target. When the arrow points up, you are on course.
- GPS coordinates: right on the screen when you call mountain rescue.
- The top row always shows the time, battery and GPS signal strength.
MAKE IT YOURS
8 positions on the screen, 15 metrics to choose from. Show 8 fields, or 6 larger ones. The background follows the activity profile, or pick black, or white that stays readable in the sun. Units follow the watch, or force metric or statute. Everything is set in the Connect IQ app on your phone, in 19 languages.
In a half-screen or smaller layout it shows only what matters most.
EASY ON THE BATTERY
The black background lights up very few pixels on an AMOLED display. Nothing runs in the background, no phone, signal, account or subscription needed, and no data leaves your watch.
WATCHES
- 48 Garmin watches with a round AMOLED display: fēnix 9 and fēnix 9 Pro, fēnix 8, fēnix 8 Pro and fēnix E, epix (Gen 2) and epix Pro, Forerunner 70, 165, 170, 265, 265S, 570, 965 and 970, Venu 2, 2S, 3 and 4, vívoactive 5 and 6, Instinct 3 AMOLED and Instinct Crossover AMOLED, Descent Mk3 and Descent G2, MARQ (Gen 2), D2 Mach 1, D2 Mach 2 and D2 Air X10, Approach S50 and S70.
- Permissions: user profile (heart rate zones for the HR colours) and location (GPS for the coordinates and the waypoint).
- SkiTour+ is free and ad-free.
SkiTour+ PRO
PRO does everything the free version does, and it also shows the slope angle of the terrain along your planned route, in colour bands, so you can see how the terrain changes as you go. Free for the first 14 days, then a one-time 2.99 USD.
| Free | PRO | |
|---|---|---|
| All metrics: heart rate in zones, D+ and D-, vertical speed, summit, waypoint and more | ✓ | ✓ |
| 8-field or 6-big layout, day and night colours | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slope angle in colour bands from a route code | – | ✓ |
| Steeper slope ahead (if you switch it on) and an off-route indicator | – | ✓ |
| Route summary before the start | – | ✓ |
| Track grade from barometer and GPS | – | ✓ |
| Switches to a descent layout on its own | – | ✓ |
| Small field with a colour scale | – | ✓ |
| Slope charts in Garmin Connect | – | ✓ |
| Price | Free | 14 days free, then a one-time 2.99 USD |
Using SkiTour+ PRO? Slope angle in colour bands, the route code, the descent layout and payment have their own guide.
1What SkiTour+ does
SkiTour+ is a full-screen data field for ski touring, backcountry skiing, hiking and mountaineering — built for modern AMOLED watches and fully configurable.
One screen holds vertical speed, heart rate colored by zone, total ascent and descent, altitude, speed, distance, calories, elapsed time, the average ascent rate for the tour, a countdown to your summit with a progress bar, distance and direction to a waypoint, and your GPS position. You decide what goes where — 8 positions, 15 metrics to choose from.
Everything works fully offline, no phone needed and no internet permission — nothing ever leaves the watch.
2Installation
- Open the Connect IQ Store on your phone, search for „SkiTour+“ and install it to your watch.
- On the phone, open the activity the field belongs to (e.g. Ski Touring or Hike) → Activity Settings → Data Screens → add a screen with a 1-field layout and pick SkiTour+ from the Connect IQ fields list.
- SkiTour+ is designed as one field across the whole screen — with that layout it shows all 8 positions at once; it also fits a smaller layout (2 or 4 fields), just with fewer of them visible (see Half and small field).
Supported on 48 round AMOLED watches: fenix 9 and 9 Pro (43/47/51 mm), fenix 8 (43/47 mm, 8 Pro 47 mm, fenix E), epix 2 and epix Pro (42/47/51 mm), Venu 2/2S/2 Plus/3/3S/4, vivoactive 5/6, Forerunner 70/165/165 Music/170/170 Music/265/265S/570 (42/47 mm)/965/970, MARQ 2 and 2 Aviator, Descent Mk3 (43/51 mm) and Descent G2, Instinct 3 AMOLED (45/50 mm) and Instinct Crossover AMOLED, D2 Air X10, D2 Mach 1, D2 Mach 2 and Mach 2 Pro, Approach S50 and S70 (42/47 mm).
3Screen layout
In the default arrangement (fully reconfigurable in settings), the full-screen field looks like this:
No field carries a label row — the unit is small gray text right after the value (782 m, 9.4 km/h). D+/D- are identified by a ▲ green and ▼ blue triangle, heart rate by its zone color. A fixed status row up top shows the time of day in the center, battery on the left, and GPS signal strength (four bars) on the right.
4Metrics
15 metrics are available for the 8 positions (the main field on top, three cell pairs, and the bottom field). GPS position and Waypoint are wider two-part values, so they are only offered for the main field, the top row or the bottom field — not for the narrower middle cells.
- Vertical speed — the key metric while skinning uphill; it is smoothed over a 30-second window so it doesn’t jump around, with an up/down arrow and a green/blue color for climbing/descending. Right after starting or after a reset (a pause, a fresh start), it needs a few seconds of data before it settles — until then it shows „–„.
- Heart rate — colored by your heart rate zone (gray below zone 1, then blue, green, orange, red for zone 5).
- Total ascent (D+) and total descent (D-) — marked with a green, resp. blue triangle.
- Altitude, speed, distance, calories — standard activity values.
- Timer — the activity time (pauses with the activity).
- Elapsed time — unlike the timer, keeps running through pauses.
- Average ascent rate — the average climbing speed for the whole tour so far (total ascent divided by elapsed time).
- Summit — remaining climb — enter your summit’s altitude in settings and the field shows how much climb is left, with a small progress bar under the value.
- Waypoint — distance + bearing — enter coordinates (latitude and longitude) in settings and the field shows the distance plus a direction arrow that rotates to point at the waypoint relative to your direction of travel (up = on course); standing still with no heading, it points relative to north instead.
- GPS position — coordinates readable at a glance, handy for telling someone where you are.
Vertical speed, GPS position and waypoint all show „–“ when the watch doesn’t have the data it needs (no GPS fix for 10 seconds, or too little history yet for vertical speed).
5Settings
On the phone: Connect IQ app → My devices → SkiTour+ → Settings (or via Garmin Connect on the web). The settings follow your phone’s language; SkiTour+ speaks 19 of them.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Main field (top, largest) | any of the 15 metrics |
| First / second row — left / right | any metric except GPS position |
| Third row — left / right (8-field mode only) | any metric except GPS position |
| Bottom field | any of the 15 metrics |
| Units | Match watch setting / Metric (m, km) / Statute (ft, mi) |
| Background | Auto (match activity profile) / Black (night, saves AMOLED) / White (daylight) |
| Screen density | 8 fields / 6 large fields (hides the third row, the rest grow larger) |
| Summit altitude | meters, 0 = off |
| Waypoint latitude / longitude | decimal degrees (DD.dddd), 0 = off |
Tip: after entering a summit altitude or waypoint coordinates, don’t forget to assign the Summit or Waypoint metric to a position too — setting a target doesn’t change your screen layout by itself.
6Half and small field
On a data screen with fewer fields, SkiTour+ automatically adapts its layout: as a half field (a 2-3 field screen layout) it shows the main value plus a pair of cells below it (or above it, depending on where the field sits on the screen); as a small field, just the main value.
Which metrics appear in the smaller layouts is controlled by the same settings as the full-screen mode — SkiTour+ simply picks the most important positions (main field + first row).
7Day and night palette
By default (Auto), SkiTour+ uses the same background as the current activity profile — usually black, since a black pixel on an AMOLED screen is simply off and saves battery. If the activity profile or the watch switches to a light theme (a bright data screen in sunlight), the field automatically switches to a daylight palette with darker accent colors to keep good contrast on white.
You can also force the background to Black or White any time in the app settings.
8Tips & FAQ
Why does vertical speed show „–“ for a moment?
After starting an activity, after a pause, or after a sudden altitude jump (an altimeter recalibration), the field needs a few seconds of data to compute and smooth a value. That’s on purpose — no number beats a jumpy, wrong one.
Why do GPS position or waypoint show „–„?
The watch lost its GPS fix (dense forest, a canyon, indoors). After 10 seconds without a signal the field stops presenting the last known position as current — for a coordinate or a waypoint bearing that could otherwise be misleading. Values come back on their own once the fix returns.
I entered a summit altitude / waypoint coordinates, but the field doesn’t show them anywhere.
Entering a target in settings doesn’t change the layout by itself — you still need to assign the Summit or Waypoint metric to one of the 8 positions (see Settings).
Why is the background black by default?
On an AMOLED screen a black pixel is simply off, so a black background saves the most battery — that’s why it’s the default. You can switch it to white any time (see Day and night palette).
Missing a metric or a feature?
Use „Contact Developer“ on the app’s store page.
0.3.2 2026-09-24
- Now on 15 more watches, 48 in total: fēnix 9 and fēnix 9 Pro, Forerunner 70 and 265S, Venu 2S, D2 Mach 2 and Mach 2 Pro, Descent G2, Instinct Crossover AMOLED and Approach S50 and S70.
- Settings now come in 19 languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian were added.
- Fixed: in the 6-field layout on the Forerunner 570 the left digits no longer slip under the bezel.
0.3.1 2026-09-17
- Settings in the Connect IQ app are now also available in German.
0.3 2026-07-14
- First public release of SkiTour+, a full-screen data field for ski touring, backcountry skiing, hiking and mountaineering, built for AMOLED watches.
- Vertical speed as the headline number — smoothed so it doesn’t flicker — with a direction arrow and climb/descend colors.
- Total ascent (D+), total descent (D-), altitude, speed, distance, calories and heart rate colored by your training zones.
- Timer, elapsed time (keeps running through pauses) and the average ascent rate for the whole tour.
- Summit target: set a summit altitude and see the remaining climb with a progress bar.
- Waypoint: distance to saved coordinates plus a direction arrow relative to where you’re heading, and a GPS position field for emergencies.
- 8 configurable positions with 15 metrics to pick from; half-screen and small layouts show the most useful ones automatically.
- Background (Auto/Black/White) and screen density (8 fields or 6 larger ones) settings; 33 supported AMOLED watches.
SkiTour+ PRO guide
How to make a route code, what exactly the watch shows, and how the trial and payment work.
1Getting started
- Install SkiTour+ PRO from the Connect IQ app on your phone. It is a separate app: the free version can stay on the watch, but settings are not shared between them.
- On the phone, open the activity the field belongs to (for example Ski Touring), Activity Settings, Data Screens, add a screen with a 1-field layout and pick SkiTour+ PRO from the Connect IQ fields list.
- At home, open the route code generator, load your planned route (GPX) and copy the code.
- In the Connect IQ app open SkiTour+ PRO, Settings, paste the code into Route code 1 and save. Put Terrain slope (route code) into one of the fields.
2Route code from the generator
The generator downloads a public elevation model and computes the terrain slope along the whole route. Everything runs in your browser; the GPX file is not sent anywhere. Load a route from Garmin Connect, Mapy.com or Locus, or pick one of the popular ski tours in the catalogue.
Before copying, check the route name (the watch shows up to 24 characters) and the summit altitude. The elevation model runs a little low on sharp summits, so you can correct it from a map.
- A longer route gets a code in two or three parts. Paste each into the field with the same number: Route code 1, 2 and 3. Three parts cover roughly 60 km.
- Below the code there is a QR code. Scan it with your phone and a page with a Copy button opens, so you don’t have to send the code from your computer.
- Settings can take a few minutes to reach the watch. The watch must be connected to the phone.
3Slope angle on the watch
Terrain slope (route code) shows the terrain slope at the point of the route where you are, in the colour of its band. The small label „slope“ tells it apart from track grade.
- below 30°Moderate terrain.
- 30–35°Steeper terrain.
- 35–40°Steep slope.
- above 40°Very steep terrain.
The watch tracks your position along the route, loops back to the start included. When you get more than 60 m from the route, the number is replaced by a broken-route icon with an orange dot and an OFF ROUTE pill lights up at the top for 30 s. Once you are back, the slope returns.
4Steeper slope ahead
You decide whether the field tells you about steeper terrain ahead. In Show a steeper slope ahead, pick the angle that matters to you: 30°+, 35°+ or 40°+. It is Off until you choose. About 200 m before the route gets steeper than that, a pill in the colour of that band shows at the top, for example „40°+ IN 150 M“. The distance counts down as you get closer.
5Route summary before the start
Until you start the timer, the field shows a route summary: name, length, summit, a colour strip of the slope along the whole route and the distance to the start, or „On the route“. If the code is damaged or incomplete, you see „Route code is invalid“ while still at the car park. Once the timer runs, the summary gives way to your normal metrics.
6Track grade
Track grade shows how steeply you are climbing or descending right now. It is computed from the barometer and GPS over the last few dozen metres, so it needs no route code. Grade unit picks degrees or percent. The number turns blue when you descend.
Track grade is not slope angle. Zig-zagging up a 35° slope you can easily walk a 15° skin track. That is why the colours follow only the terrain slope from the route code.
7Descent
After about 20 s of fast descent the field switches to a descent layout on its own: speed, max speed, altitude, D-, D+, heart rate, terrain slope and time. A DESCENT pill shows at the top. Once you climb again for half a minute, your own layout returns.
- Turn the automatic switch off with Switch to descent layout automatically.
- To switch by hand, enable LAP switches climb/descent. The LAP button then switches the layout and records a lap as usual.
8Small field and summit
- On a data screen with three or more fields SkiTour+ gets only a small slot. Small field shows picks what goes there. Terrain slope comes with a colour scale in the small field.
- Summit – remaining climb takes the summit altitude straight from the route code. A Summit altitude you set by hand wins.
9Charts in Garmin Connect
PRO writes track grade, terrain slope and vertical speed into the activity record. After the tour you see them as charts in Garmin Connect, and the summary shows the steepest slope you were on.
10Trial and payment
PRO is fully free for the first 14 days. After that, before you start an activity and only while the timer is stopped, the field shows a 6-digit code and the address kzl.io/code. Enter the code there and pay once, 2.99 USD. Payment is handled by KiezelPay.
- The watch checks the licence through the phone, usually within a few minutes. „PRO unlocked“ lights up for a moment and from then on no phone is needed.
- Without payment all free-version metrics keep running. Only the PRO metrics lock (they show a padlock), so nothing disappears in the middle of a tour.
- The licence belongs to the watch. If you uninstall the field and install it again, it stays paid.
11How the slope is computed
Unlike an inclinometer, the field does not measure the slope where you stand: it reads it from an elevation model with about 30 m resolution, so short steep steps, gullies and cornices do not show. Next to lakes or buildings the value can be off.
12FAQ
Do I need the free version as well?
No. PRO does everything the free version does. You can keep both on the watch; they are two separate apps.
Terrain slope shows only a dash.
The watch has no valid route code. Check that the whole code is pasted, each part in the right field, and give the settings a few minutes to reach the watch. Until the watch has GPS, the field shows the off-route icon.
I am taking a different route than the one in the code.
Off the route the field shows an icon instead of the number. Track grade and all other metrics keep working.
