Where to Ski And Snowboard - Squaw launches Google Glass app

Squaw launches Google Glass app

3rd October 2014, by Abi Butcher

Squaw Valley has become the first ski resort to launch an app for Google Glass

Squaw Valley is launching the ski industry’s first app for Google Glass — the hands-free device that allows users to access the internet.

Google Glass is essentially a hands-free computer with an optical mounted display that allows users to access the internet or apps using voice commands or take photos by winking.

Squaw Valley, one of the ski resorts set around Lake Tahoe in California, has worked with Lumiplan, a tech company based in the French Alps to produce an app that will allow Google Glass wearers to view which of its pistes and 30 lifts are open and closed, without ever having to check a signage board or take their phone out of their pocket.

Google Glass is not as far fetched nor futuristic as you might think. Surgeons in the UK have become the first in the world to use the technology in the operating theatre, and earlier this week, Edinburgh Airport launched a trial in which staff can access immediate information to help passengers.

Google launched this video last year to show users what it’s like to use Google Glass

The Squaw Valley Google Glass app will be available prior to the 2014-15 winter season through the Google Glass app store — but first you have to buy the device which went on sale in May this year for $1,500 (about £939). Google has partnered with the Italian eyewear company Luxottica, owners of the Ray-Ban, Oakley, and other brands, to offer additional frame designs on which to mount the device.

Squaw Valley says “additional capabilities are planned for the app in the future.”