Freeski
2026 FWT champions crowned on the Bec des Rosses
The YETI Xtreme Verbier closed the season on 28 March, with 29 riders dropping into the steepest venue on tour to decide the titles.
28 Mar 2026 · 4 min
Strategic Framing
The Season Ahead
You have built something the numbers say is genuinely world class. This proposal is about giving it a home that lives in a rider's pocket every day of the season, and getting that home built in time for the first snowfall.
What you have already proven
5,216
Paying members, built course by course
52
Countries, an international community already forming
74.2%
NPS, rated world class by any benchmark
47%
Course completion, three times the industry average
Those completion and satisfaction figures are rare in online education. They tell us the product does its job beautifully. The opportunity now sits in how often members get to feel part of it. A course is opened once. An app is opened before every single ride.
The founding ambition, in your own words
"The ambition is not to create better skiers. The ambition is to create better mountain users."Founder discussion · Dominique Perret & Ariel Arazi
That sentence has guided every recommendation in this document. Better mountain users need more than a certificate. They need a community that recognises them, tools they reach for daily, and a standard that partners and resorts learn to look for. The app is where all three of those live.
The shift WeMo makes possible
Today · the course
Teaches once, brilliantly.
- A course completed in a single season moment
- A digital certificate delivered by email
- Community waiting for a place to gather
- Partner benefits scattered across newsletters
Next · WeMo
A daily companion for the season.
- Certified buddy finding, unlocked only by completing the course
- Certification as a living status carried in a rider's pocket
- One home for member benefits, rewards and partner offers
- The community feed that makes membership visible and social
Certification stays at the centre. Completing the course is the key that unlocks the community and every partner benefit inside it, which keeps the standard meaningful and keeps education as the front door.
Why the timing matters
1
Season opening per year. Late October to early November is the moment the community comes back to life.
3
Months of app development needed to reach a launchable MVP
16
Weeks from a Tier 2 decision to the launch party
The window
Landing WeMo in members' hands for opening weekend means the very first chairlift of the 26/27 season starts inside the app. Miss the opening and the next natural launch moment is a full year away. That is the single reason this proposal carries urgency, and it is why the Tier 2 decision needs to land by mid July.
The Name & The Mark
WeMo
The app carries the first two beats of the name you already own. Two syllables, easy to say in every language the community speaks, and instantly recognisable as WeMountain's.
WeMo
Logo Concept to be further developed · White on WeMountain blue
A W above, its mirror below, held inside one frame. Read one way it is the W of We. Read the other it is the M of Mountain, a peak and its reflection. The mark works at app icon size, on a lift pass, on the back of a jacket, and it needs no wordmark to be recognised. Always white on blue in its primary use.
The core message
We Move
We Motivate
We Model
We Mountain
We Move
We Motivate
We Model
We Mountain
Four real words, one rhythm. We Move is the riding itself, every sport the platform serves. We Motivate is the community pulling each other towards the standard. We Model is the responsible rider that others copy, the behaviour the Safety Angels have carried from the start. We Mountain turns the brand name into a verb the community can own. Set in Big Shoulders semi bold, the typeface already living in the website prototype, so brand and product speak with one voice from day one.
What the brand packs deliver
Two packs, one system
A WeMountain master pack covering logo usage, the blue, typography, photography direction and tone, plus a WeMo app pack covering the icon, in-app type scale, component colours and motion principles. Everything a developer, a printer or a partner needs to reproduce the brand without asking.
Working Prototype
How It Could Look
Rather than describing the direction, we built it. Below is a live, clickable preview of the WeMountain site. Switch between Snow and Dirt at the top, open the menu, and click through certificates, events, news and the member login. Everything you see follows the brand system in this proposal.
wemountain.com · design preview by Studio Akarii
WeMountain
Respect the
terrain.
Know
yourself.
Bike
Backcountry riding fundamentals
E-bike
Assisted terrain, same rules
Ski
Backcountry and touring lines
Snowboard
Freeride and split lines
Why WeMountain
WEMOUNTAIN. The passport to true freedom.
90%
Education saves lives
Nine in ten avalanches are triggered by the victim or someone in their party. The biggest safety upgrade is what you know before you go.
80%
Preventing before reacting
You should never need your rescue gear. Four fifths of our training is about reading the mountain and avoiding the avalanche entirely.
100+
Backed by your peers
Over one hundred experts and Freeride World Tour champions support our courses and advocate for more education in the mountains.
Nº1
Fun, simple and practical
The first certifying e-learning you can complete from home, then validate on real terrain with certified instructors and guides.
Events
Terrain days & meets.
14 Nov
6 places left
Backcountry terrain day
28 Nov
10 places left
Offpiste terrain day
12 Dec
Free for WEMbers
Season opener rescue refresh
17 Jan
4 places left
Splitboard touring clinic
21 Feb
Open to all
FWT Verbier watch party
My certs
Your living certification.
In progress · E-Learning
Offpiste
0%
Next module: Human factors
Certified · E-Learning + Terrain
Backcountry
Valid until 30 Nov 2026 · Refresh opens 1 Oct
Coming soon
New terrain, same method: learn at home, validate on the mountain.
Coming soon
E-Bike
Summer 2026
Coming soon
Mountain Bike
Summer 2026
Coming soon
Splitboard
Winter 2026/27
Certifications stay alive season to season. A short annual refresh keeps your knowledge current and your certificate valid, so the badge always means something on the mountain.
News
From the mountain.
Freeski
The tour returns to Alaska with the Haines Pro
After nearly a decade away, the FWT Finals brought riders back to Alaska's deep, wild backcountry before the Verbier showdown.
13 Mar 2026 · 3 min
Freeski
Val Thorens back on tour, on a brand-new face
Pointe de Thorens hosted the tour's French stop: a 460-metre plunge from 3,200m through ridgelines, couloirs and open faces.
26 Jan 2026 · 3 min
Mountaineering
Skimo makes its Olympic debut in Bormio
Ski mountaineering arrived at Milano Cortina 2026 through heavy snowfall, crowning its first Olympic sprint champions at Stelvio.
19 Feb 2026 · 5 min
Mountaineering
Skimo bids for a bigger return in 2030
French Alps organisers have proposed keeping the sport for 2030 and adding individual races, with the IOC set to vote this summer.
Jun 2026 · 4 min
Community
A certified WEMber saves riders in Verbier
Victor was first on scene after a slide at Col de Creblet. Two transceiver searches, two lives. His training did the rest.
Read · 4 minMembers
Welcome back, WEMber.
Ride with more freedom, fun and safety.
Your courses, your certifications and your terrain days, all in one place.
Interactive design preview. The Snow and Dirt toggle switches the hero film between terrains, mirroring the multi-sport vision. Best experienced on a phone as well as desktop, since the app-first community will live there.
The Engagement
Scope & Tiers
Nine workstreams take WeMountain from where it stands today to a launched app at the opening of the season. Tier 1 gets you raise ready. Tier 2 gets you launched.
The nine workstreams
01
Interview with Dominique
A filmed conversation with Dominique, captured properly once and used everywhere. His story carries the brand: the friends lost, the shift from rescue to education, the standard he is building. The footage feeds the brand pack, the investor deck, the PR pitch and the launch content, and the discovery conversation inside it sharpens every decision that follows.
Filmed founder story
Discovery session
Cut-downs for PR & social
02
Proposal, Tiers 1 & 2
This document. Two clear routes, one shared destination, so the decision in front of you is simple: raise first, or build now and launch with the season.
03
Brand packs
The WeMountain master brand pack and the WeMo app pack. Logo suite including WeMo logo finalised across all sizes and surfaces, the blue defined for screen and print, Big Shoulders set up as the display voice, photography and film direction, tone of voice alignment with the document you already have, and usage rules any partner can follow.
WeMountain master pack
WeMo app pack
Logo suite & icon
Type & colour system
04
Business modelling with competitive analysis
The competitive landscape work is already substantially complete, covering Slopes, Strava, onX Backcountry, White Risk, the gear-brand academies and the PADI benchmark. We build it into a financial model investors can interrogate: membership tiers, the certification-gated community, partner revenue, and the path from 5,216 members to the numbers that bring insurers to the table.
Financial model
Competitive positioning
Membership economics
05
Investor deck update
The existing deck restructured around the app pivot, the WeMo brand, the season's data and the funding conversation already underway. The story stays yours. We give it the visual authority and the narrative spine to match the ambition inside it.
Restructured narrative
Full visual redesign
App & website mockups inside
06
Prototype of app & website
The website direction you can already click through in the Preview tab, extended into a full interactive prototype of both the site and the WeMo app: community feed, certified buddy finder, certification wallet, member benefits. Investors touch the product before a line of production code is written.
Clickable app prototype
Website prototype
Core user journeys
07
App development
3 months to MVP
The build itself. Three months from kick-off to a launchable MVP: membership and certification wallet, the community layer, buddy finding gated by certification, partner benefits, and the connection into the existing course platform. Development starts from CHF 45,000 for the MVP, with a phase two extension to roughly CHF 80,000 across six months as early member feedback sets the priorities. Week one includes the technical audit of the LearnDash backend that settles the course porting question, detailed under Open Decisions.
iOS & Android MVP
LearnDash audit, week one
App store submission
08
Marketing, pre-launch
Sized to how big you want the launch to be, which is a conversation rather than a line item today. The building blocks are ready either way: the founder film, the Safety Angels, the FWT relationship, and a press story this season has sadly made more urgent than ever. Scope and budget confirmed together once the launch ambition is set.
Scale TBD together
Campaign assets
Community warm-up
09
Launch party
A ski resort at the opening of the season. Members, Safety Angels, partners and press in one room, the app going live on their phones that night, and DJ Ariel on the decks. The community the strategy has been describing all year, finally standing in the same place.
Resort venue
DJ Ariel
Press & partner invitations
The PR pitch
A story the press is already looking for
This season's avalanche toll across Europe nearly doubled year on year. Regulators in Italy and France are moving. Into that moment steps the Best Freeride Skier of the Century, launching an app that makes certification social, visible and cool. The pitch package includes the press release, a tiered media list, angle sheets per outlet, and cut-downs from the Dominique film ready for broadcast and social. Snow media first, then mainstream press on the safety and regulation angle, then tech press on the app itself.
Two tiers, one destination
Tier 1
Raise Ready
Everything needed to walk into investor rooms with total confidence and raise the budget to build. The brand, the deck, the model, and visuals of the app and website that make the vision impossible to misunderstand.
- Interview with Dominique
- Brand packs, WeMountain & WeMo
- Business modelling with competitive analysis
- Investor deck update
- Website & app visuals and mockups
Design deliverables only. The raise funds the build.
Tier 2
Build & Launch
Everything in Tier 1, plus the full interactive prototype, the three month MVP build, pre-launch marketing and the launch party. WeMo live in members' hands for the opening of the 26/27 season.
- Everything in Tier 1
- Interactive prototype, app & website
- App development, 3 month MVP, extendable to 6 months
- Pre-launch marketing, scale TBD
- PR pitch & press kit
- Launch party, ski resort, DJ Ariel
Time sensitive. Development must start by early August to launch late October or early November.
Project Investment
Investment
All figures in Swiss francs, exclusive of VAT. Tier 1 is fully priced. App development starts from CHF 45,000 for the three month MVP, extending to roughly CHF 80,000 across six months as early feedback shapes phase two. Marketing is sized once the launch ambition is set.
Why ranges
Ranges reflect decisions not yet made
The lower figure in each range assumes the leanest complete version of that deliverable. The upper figure reflects the fully considered version with more rounds and more depth. Where each lands is settled in the first conversations after this proposal is agreed, and every range narrows quickly from there.
Tier 1 · Raise Ready
| Workstream | Range (CHF, ex. VAT) |
|---|---|
|
Interview with Dominique & discovery
Filmed founder conversation, edit, cut-downs for deck, PR and social, plus the discovery session that anchors the whole engagement.
|
3,000 – 5,000 |
|
Brand packs, WeMountain & WeMo
Logo suite finalised, app icon, colour and type system, photography and film direction, usage guidelines across both packs.
|
8,000 – 12,000 |
|
Business modelling with competitive analysis
Financial model built on the completed landscape research. Membership economics, certification-gated community, partner revenue, path to insurer scale.
|
5,000 – 8,000 |
|
Investor deck update
Narrative restructure around the app pivot plus full visual redesign in the new brand system.
|
4,000 – 6,000 |
|
Website & app visuals and mockups
High-fidelity screens of the site and the WeMo app for the deck and investor conversations. The Preview tab shows where this begins.
|
6,000 – 9,000 |
Tier 1 total · CHF ex. VAT
26,000 – 40,000
Tier 2 · Build & Launch, in addition to Tier 1
| Workstream | Range (CHF, ex. VAT) |
|---|---|
|
Interactive prototype, app & website
Full clickable prototype of the WeMo app and site across the core journeys, tested with real members before the build locks in.
|
9,000 – 14,000 |
|
App development, phase one · 3 month MVP
The launch build. Certification wallet, community feed, certified buddy finder, member benefits and the connection into the existing course platform. From CHF 45,000, confirmed precisely after the week-one LearnDash audit settles the course porting scope.
|
from 45,000 |
|
App development, phase two · months 4 to 6
The features earned by early feedback. Once the first season's members have shaped the priorities, the build extends to roughly CHF 80,000 total across the six months. Which features make phase two is a decision the community effectively makes for us.
|
to 80,000 total |
|
Course porting, Rise / LearnDash
Settled by the week-one technical audit. Detail under Open Decisions.
|
TBD after audit |
|
Site content, ski & mountain bike
Create in house or license a library. A decision we make together at kick-off, detailed under Open Decisions.
|
Decision pending |
|
Pre-launch marketing
Sized to the launch ambition. Quiet member-first launch, regional push, or full campaign with the Safety Angels and FWT channels behind it.
|
TBD by launch scale |
|
PR pitch & press kit
Press release, tiered media list, angle sheets per outlet, founder film cut-downs prepared for broadcast and social.
|
3,000 – 5,000 |
|
Launch party production
Production, invitations, run of show and on-the-night management. Venue, travel and talent booked at cost alongside.
|
8,000 – 15,000 + costs |
Tier 2 carries no single headline total on purpose. Course porting, content and marketing are decisions we take together in the first fortnight, and putting numbers on them before those conversations would be guesswork dressed as certainty. Development is the exception: CHF 45,000 minimum gets WeMo launched, and the six month figure is a choice the first season of feedback earns.
After launch
Ongoing support, agreed post-launch
The app compounds with active iteration: seasonal content drops, feature releases, community moderation tooling and campaign design. A monthly retainer shaped around the first season's learnings is the natural next conversation once WeMo is live.
Working Back From The Snow
Timeline
Every date below is derived from one fixed point: the opening of the 26/27 season in late October or early November. The mountain sets the deadline. We work backwards from it.
Phase by phase
Phase 01
Decision & Founder Interview
Week of 13 July
Tier decision confirmed, the filmed interview with Dominique captured, and discovery complete. If Tier 2 is the route, the development partner is engaged this same week so nothing waits.
Phase 02
Brand, Model & Deck
Mid July – Early August
Brand packs, business model and investor deck delivered, with website and app mockups inside. Tier 1 completes here. Fundraising conversations can begin while the build runs, rather than before it.
Phase 03
Prototype Sign-off & Build Kick-off
Early August
Interactive prototype signed off and development begins, no later than the first week of August. The LearnDash and Rise technical audit runs in week one, and the confirmed development figure plus the course porting plan follow within days of it.
Phase 04
Build, Marketing & PR
August – October
Three months of development to MVP. From September the pre-launch marketing warms the community, the PR pitch lands with snow media first, and the app goes through store review with time in hand.
Phase 05
Launch
Late October – Early November
WeMo live in the stores. Members, Safety Angels, partners and press together at a ski resort for the opening of the season, DJ Ariel on the decks, and the first certified buddy matches happening in the room.
16
Weeks from decision to launch
3
Months of app development
1
Opening weekend. It only comes once a year.
What keeps this on time
The season opens once
Development must start by early August to reach a stable, store-approved MVP for late October. Every week the Tier 2 decision slips is a week taken from testing, not from planning. A mid July decision keeps a full three month build plus store review comfortably inside the window.
The audit comes first
The course porting question is the single biggest unknown in the build, so it is deliberately the very first task. One week inside the LearnDash backend turns the unknown into a plan and a price, before any architecture decisions depend on it.
Structured feedback windows
Each phase gate carries a feedback window of three to five business days, tighter than we would normally run because the calendar demands it. Who reviews, in what format, and what counts as sign-off is agreed at kick-off and held to throughout.
Decisions We Take Together
Open Decisions
Four questions sit deliberately open in this proposal. Each one deserves a proper conversation rather than an assumption, and each has a clear path to an answer in the first fortnight.
01 · App Features & The MVP
What ships in three months, and what earns its place after
The strategy work has produced a long and genuinely strong feature list. The three month window means choosing, and the choice is the most important product decision in this proposal. Our proposed MVP is the smallest version of WeMo that still feels complete on opening weekend: the certification wallet so every member carries their status, the certified buddy finder as the flagship no competitor can copy, the community feed that makes membership visible, member benefits and partner offers in one place, and the connection into the existing course platform.
Everything else is phase two, funded by the extension to CHF 80,000 and prioritised by what the first season's members actually ask for. The candidates are already well defined in your own documents: the MHF daily check-in as a pre-ride ritual, weather and snow alerts, the help function for nearby WEMbers, progression badges and milestones, local chapters and ambassador tools, and Garmin or Strava integration. Holding these back is a strength rather than a compromise. It gives the community a voice in the roadmap and gives the second release a reason to make noise.
The MVP cut above is our recommendation to react to, and we lock it together at kick-off before a line of code is written.
02 · Course Porting
Bringing the courses into WeMo
The course content was built in Articulate Rise and then migrated into LearnDash, which runs on WordPress at w3mountain.com. The working route into the content is direct access to the LearnDash backend, the original Rise export files, or both together. Dom has been clear that he does not want the content rebuilt as a flat document version, and we agree completely. The interactivity is a large part of what makes the completion rate three times the industry average, and flattening it would throw that away.
What we cannot honestly say today is whether porting is a fortnight of work or considerably more, because that depends entirely on how the LearnDash installation is structured and what the Rise exports contain. So rather than guess, the very first task of the build phase is a one week technical audit inside the backend. The audit produces the porting plan, the porting price, and the final development quote all at once.
What we need from your side: backend access to the LearnDash installation, and the original Rise export files if they are to hand.
03 · Site Content
Content for skiing and mountain biking: create or buy
The new site and app need a living layer of content across both skiing and mountain biking. Two honest routes exist. Creating it in house builds on assets you already own: the Dominique film, the Safety Angels, the FWT relationship and community footage. It is more distinctive and it compounds, but it takes longer. Licensing a library is faster and fills every gap on day one, at the price of owning less of what people see.
Our instinct is a blend. License enough to launch full, create the hero pieces that only WeMountain could make, and let member contribution take over from there, exactly as the community strategy describes. The budget follows the blend we choose together at kick-off.
04 · Marketing Scale
How big should the launch be?
The honest answer to the marketing line is that it depends on the answer to this question, which belongs to you. A quiet member-first launch costs little and lets the product prove itself before the noise. A regional push puts the Safety Angels and the FWT channels to work across the Alps. A full campaign meets the press moment this season has created head on. Each is a legitimate choice with a different budget, and we will bring a costed recommendation for each scale to the kick-off conversation so the decision is made with numbers in front of it.
Where this all points
Everything in this proposal serves the vision you set out from the beginning: an international standard for mountain participation, carried by a community rather than owned by a name. The course proved the education works. WeMo is how it becomes something riders carry with them, every day the mountain is open. We would love to build it with you.