Crowned Switzerland's best app shortly before celebrating its 20th anniversary, White Risk started out as a CD-ROM for avalanche prevention and is today an award-winning planning tool with over 100,000 users. Almost discontinued in 2016, the platform is now a digital pioneer in the field of alpine safety.
Anyone checking out the latest avalanche bulletin will find themselves on
White Risk. This is where the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) shares information about snow and avalanches. Even though more and more people are venturing off-piste, the 20-year average of 22 people dying in avalanches in Switzerland each year remains constant. This is a success story for the White Risk avalanche prevention platform, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this winter.
In 1998, geographer Stephan Harvey was an avalanche warning officer at the SLF, while also running avalanche courses as a mountain guide. At that time, avalanche awareness consisted of pictures and text. Tours were drawn in pencil on paper maps and slope angles were measured from contour lines using a special scale. Harvey's interest in imparting knowledge made him the ideal candidate when the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (Suva) wanted to make a video about the five avalanche danger levels. A close collaboration between the SLF and Suva began, with the shared goal of promoting accident prevention.
500 orders per day
Shortly after this, freerider and student Daniel Landolt sent his master's thesis to Suva – he was designing and developing an interactive educational CD about avalanches. Harvey thought it was a brilliant idea, but felt that content was not quite right. He decided to contribute his own expertise, with Suva providing promotional and financial support for the further development of the project. Harvey took on the role of project manager and is still the brains behind White Risk today. The first digital learning tool for avalanche accident prevention was developed in 2006 and met with a very positive response. In the first week after the launch, the SLF received around 500 orders per day. Just three years later, White Risk was available as an app, and today it has 100,000 registered users.
Guides users to good decisions
White Risk focuses on imparting knowledge through digital learning content, promoting risk awareness and preventing accidents by good preparation. This prevention mindset is one shared by both the SLF and Suva: helping people to take personal responsibility and make informed decisions before things get critical. In 2013, White Risk launched on the web. The updated version provided slope angle maps and a tour planning tool, all synchronised with the app. Nothing like this had been done before. What the platform does not provide are ready-made tour descriptions. Anyone heading out on a ski tour must plan the route themselves and familiarise themselves with the terrain. Why? "The tool guides you towards good decisions, but it doesn't make them for you," explains Harvey.
New app architecture
Despite its popularity, by 2016 White Risk was on the brink of collapse: the technologies used were outdated, the original external developer had left, and within a few years the website would no longer be functional. A small team of software developers stepped in to save the day: using a large amount of outdated code for the three platforms (iOS, Android and web), they gradually built a new, robust software architecture that works reliably even when users are out and about with no network coverage. The personnel costs for running White Risk are now largely covered by revenue from the subscription system. The subscription provides access to additional learning content, map layers and features such as automatic crux detection. In autumn 2025, White Risk won the Best of Swiss Apps award for its many innovative features and intuitive usability – fittingly coinciding with its 20th anniversary.
About White Risk
The SLF's White Risk platform brings together everything you need for ski touring: the current avalanche bulletin, learning modules for avalanche awareness, a planning tool for preparation and a navigation device for on the go. Published by the SLF and Suva, White Risk combines research and prevention in a single platform. It includes maps from all over the world, useful webcams, ski slopes, huts and the difficulty levels of bike trails. Slope angles are available from Austria to Spain, and in France the local avalanche bulletin is also featured. As well as Switzerland, there are now also avalanche terrain map layers (CAT and ATH) for Austria and France, showing potential avalanche starting and runout zones. While White Risk provides important information about avalanche conditions, tourers can also use the app to provide feedback from the terrain. Real-time observations of avalanches or cracks are sent directly to the avalanche warning service and make a vital contribution to avalanche forecasting.