Alterra Mountain Company Brings Weather To The Slopes With Unique AerisWeather Integration

While weather stations can capture conditions at a single location at a particular point in time, Alterra Mountain Company destinations required additional information streams, such as weather icons from AerisWeather's API to go along with presented conditions. Their search for a complete weather partner took them to AerisWeather, a global Data as a Service (DaaS) provider. AerisWeather offered Alterra Mountain Company a unique value proposition via PWSweather - a  platform for weather station owners to manage, monitor and archive local weather data.  By sending their mountaintop data to PWSweather, Alterra Mountain Company destinations would be able to achieve a unique one-stop weather solution for each of their mountain resorts.

Alterra Mountain Company headquarters and resort personnel worked in conjunction with Western Weather Group and other hardware partners to specify, install and calibrate each of the weather stations.  From there, stations went through an integration process with PWSweather resulting in each station’s data being transmitted up to every five minutes via the cloud and run through a series of ongoing quality control checks.  With the installation and integration work complete, each of the station’s data streams were incorporated into the AerisWeather API and became available to power a host of resort-specific applications. 

Finally, Alterra Mountain Company software engineers went to work, integrating the AerisWeather API with resort-focused web and mobile applications such as the Ikon Pass app featuring snow reports and weather conditions.  With the well-documented API, the engineers were able to request and receive all current conditions needed for each destination with a minimal number of API calls. Supplemental information, like weather icons, are also accessed via the AerisWeather API's forecast endpoint.

Today, Alterra Mountain Company’s destinations provide an all-encompassing look at conditions both before and during guests’ stays. Via on-site, online, and mobile screens, users can stay up to date on conditions at any of their 15 iconic year-round destinations. This allows for improved trip planning so guests can take advantage of optimal weather and fresh powder. Thanks in part to this level of added awareness and transparency, Alterra Mountain Company destinations and Ikon Pass maintain a position as guest-favorite in the winter and outdoor recreation category.

As of the date of this publication, 12 Alterra Mountain Company resort destinations have implemented AerisWeather with Sugarbush Resort, Mammoth Mountain and Big Bear Mountain Resort scheduled for implementation soon.