Strava global heatmap

This Strava feature made the news today for giving away a couple of "secret" foreign military bases, but I was more interested in the data on winter sports.

Strava published a map with every single trip logged into the site for the entire world. Crucially, it has a winter sports filter. This includes downhill, backcountry, xc, snowshoeing, and anybody else who mistakenly logged a trip as a winter activity. I suspect roller skiing is also included, since the only winter activity that shows up strongly in Seattle proper is around the Greenlake Bike path.

The link I posted should default to the Snoqualmie Pass area. Note the distinct path of the Patrol Race route from Summit West to Meany Lodge along with usage patterns in the Alpental Valley. Multiple variations on Silver Peak emerge, too.

If you are intent on keeping your secret stash private, it may be a wise idea to change your Strava privacy settings or not use the app at all for BC trips. Even if your activity is only visible to friends, I believe that does not keep your depersonalized data from being shown on the heatmap.

Anybody notice anything interesting in PNW backcountry routes? Lots of data to go over. Strava offered some general observations in this blog post .

At Mt. Rainier the map shows a huge amount of traffic out of Paradise, but also some significant activity on the Finger and even a few (up)tracks on Liberty Ridge. If folks are violating the permanent closure areas at Crystal, they're not logging it on the app.

If you've ever been curious whether there's a consensus exit from the Adams SW chutes: there isn't .

In the Wasatch , it's hard to tell where the resorts end and the backcountry begins. The south side of Mt. Superior, a backcountry route across from Snowbird/Alta, looks nearly as heavily-used as some of the in-bounds runs. Either they're getting out way more than us, or they're heavier Strava users (or both?).

Thanks for posting this! I will cross reference it with an Near moss and accident database I am working on.

Maybe this isn't accurate, but I find it interesting that trip reports seem to be way down, yet folks still wanna get out there in the cyberworld just where they have been.  Enlightening,even if it is only a sub-sect of folks who have this technology.  Only one party shows going out to the Unicorn saddle in the Tatoosh.  But the Fryingpan descent is way more visited than I'd expect with mid-winter access.
Three users crossed Joe Lake out of Snoqualmie. Same party...and each person wanted their own record? Shows the approach track to Alaska Mtn but not the descent. This is kinda fun.

Interesting stuff. My computer is too slow, or connection too poor to run it smoothly, unfortunately.
John