Privacy Policy — WhereToSkiNext.com

The short version

WhereToSkiNext.com doesn't sell your data and doesn't require an account. If you sign up for the newsletter, your email goes to Beehiiv (our email platform). If you use the AI assistant or filters, anonymous usage events are logged to help improve the site. Your precise location (the coordinates used to calculate drive times) is never stored on our servers. A coarse label like "Boston, MA" is saved with anonymous analytics if you use location features, and your full settings are encoded into a share link only if you create one. We use Google Analytics for aggregate traffic data. That's the whole picture.

What we collect and why

Data	How it's used	Where it's stored
Email address (if you subscribe)	Used to send the weekly newsletter. Only collected if you voluntarily sign up via the newsletter form.	Beehiiv (our email platform). You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email.
Location (ZIP, city, or GPS)	Converted to coordinates to calculate drive times and rank nearby mountains. Your precise coordinates are not logged on our servers. A coarse label (city/region) may be stored with anonymous analytics, as noted in the next column. GPS requires your explicit browser permission.	Your browser only. Saved to `localStorage` if you check "Remember this location" — you can clear it any time. A coarse origin label (e.g. "Boston, MA") is included in anonymous analytics events if you use location-based features.
Filter preferences	Your saved settings restore on your next visit for convenience. Separately, when you change a filter we log that change as an anonymous usage event (see the row below) to understand which filters people use.	Your saved settings live in your browser's `localStorage` only. The anonymous record of a filter change (the filter type and value, tied to a random session ID) is stored in our analytics database (Supabase), with no name or email attached.
Weather & snowfall data	Cached to avoid redundant API calls and speed up the app.	Your browser's `sessionStorage` only. Expires when you close the tab.
Anonymous usage events	We log filter changes, resort recommendation clicks, AI assistant queries, and crowd feedback (whether a mountain we recommended turned out quiet or crowded on your ski day) to understand how the site is used and to improve our crowd predictions. Events are tied to a random session ID, not to your identity. Crowd feedback is optional: if you dismiss the prompt, nothing is sent.	Our analytics database (Supabase). Events include the action type, your selected filters (pass, trip distance, priority, ski day), the resort IDs and names involved, a coarse origin label if location is set, the text of AI assistant queries, and crowd feedback (the mountain, the ski day, what we predicted, and your quiet/about right/packed answer). All of this is public mountain data or your own filter choices. No name, email, IP address, precise coordinates, or account data is linked to these events, which are tied only to a random session ID.
Page analytics	Aggregate traffic data — page views, feature usage, traffic sources.	Google Analytics / GTM servers. See Google's privacy policy below.

We do not collect your name, payment information, or any account credentials. There are no accounts. Email is only collected if you choose to subscribe to the newsletter.

Third-party services the app contacts

When you use WhereToSkiNext.com, your browser makes requests to the following external services. We do not control their privacy practices and link to their policies where available.

Service	Purpose	Data sent
Open-Meteo open-meteo.com	Live weather forecasts for each resort	Latitude & longitude of ski resort locations (not your location)
Open-Meteo Archive open-meteo.com	Historical snowfall data for the past 7 days	Latitude & longitude of ski resort locations (not your location)
Project OSRM project-osrm.org	Calculates real road drive times from your location to resorts	Your coordinates and resort coordinates, used only to compute routing. No account or identity data is sent.
Zippopotam.us zippopotam.us	Converts US ZIP codes to coordinates	The ZIP code you type in
OpenStreetMap Nominatim nominatim.org	Converts city/address searches to coordinates	The location text you type in
Beehiiv beehiiv.com/privacy	Newsletter delivery platform	Your email address, submitted when you sign up for the newsletter. Beehiiv handles storage, delivery, and unsubscribe management.
Supabase supabase.com/privacy	Analytics event logging	Anonymous usage events: filter changes, recommendation clicks, AI assistant queries, crowd feedback, and a coarse origin label if location is set. Events are linked to a random session ID only, no name or email.
Google Analytics & GTM policies.google.com	Aggregate usage analytics — page views, feature usage, traffic sources	Standard analytics data: pages visited, browser/device type, approximate region, referrer. No personally identifiable information is intentionally sent.
Google Fonts developers.google.com	Loads the Inter and Newsreader typefaces used on the site	Your IP address and browser info are sent to Google's servers when the font files load.

Note on location data and OSRM: When you enter a ZIP code or city, your coordinates are sent to OSRM to calculate drive times. These requests go from your browser directly to OSRM's public routing server. We do not proxy, log, or store those requests on our end.

Cookies and browser storage

WhereToSkiNext.com itself does not set cookies. Google Analytics sets its own cookies (_ga, _gid, etc.) to distinguish unique visitors and sessions.

WhereToSkiNext.com stores the following data in your browser:

Key	Type	What it stores
`ski-saved-origin`	localStorage	Your saved location (only if you checked "Remember this location")
`ski-planner-weights`	localStorage	Your snow, size, value, and crowd priority settings
`ski-pass-pref`	localStorage	Your selected pass preference (Epic, Ikon, etc.)
`ski-ski-days`	localStorage	Your typical ski days per season setting
`ski-wx-cache-v2`	sessionStorage	Cached weather forecast data for the current session
`ski-hist-cache`	sessionStorage	Cached historical snowfall data for the current session
`wtsn_feedback_v1`	localStorage	Mountains we recommended to you and your crowd feedback, so we can ask "how packed was it?" on a later visit. Anonymous, stored only in your browser.

You can clear all of this at any time by clearing your browser's site data for wheretoskinext.com, or by resetting filters in the app.

When you click the "Share" button or share a resort report URL, your current filter settings — including your approximate coordinates and location label — are encoded into the URL. Anyone with that link will be able to see those settings. If you'd prefer not to share your location, clear the location field before copying a share link.

Children's privacy

WhereToSkiNext.com is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect any information from children. Because we don't collect personal information from any user, there is nothing to delete — but if you have concerns, contact us at the address below.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to how we handle data, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We won't start collecting personal data without updating this policy first.

June 2026: Added the crowd feedback prompt, which asks on a later visit whether a mountain we recommended turned out quiet or crowded. It is anonymous, optional, and tied only to a random session ID.