This article is not avalanche training. If you ski off-piste, take an avalanche course and carry (and practice with) transceiver, shovel and probe. What follows is only how to read the public bulletin — the single most ignored free document in skiing.
The danger level (1–5). Low, Moderate, Considerable, High, Extreme — a European and North American standard. The non-obvious part: the scale isn’t linear. Most avalanche fatalities happen at level 3, Considerable, partly because level 3 days look inviting and partly because people read “3 of 5” as “fine.”
Critical aspects. Bulletins name the compass directions where the problem lives — “NW through NE above 2,400 m” is a different mountain than “all aspects.” Aspect is the direction a slope faces.
Elevation bands. The same storm builds different snowpacks at 1,800 m and 2,800 m. The bulletin tells you where the danger starts.
The problem type. Wind slab, persistent weak layer, wet snow — each implies different terrain choices and different timing.
A summary of a bulletin is a liability pretending to be a service. Alpy shows the official bulletin for your resort’s region — from SLF in Switzerland and avalanche.org in the US — with the full five-step scale, the stated aspects and elevations, and the issuing service named. Where no official bulletin covers a region, the app says exactly that instead of inventing reassurance. An honest “no bulletin here” is information too: it means you are the forecaster today, and you should probably ski the pistes.
Alpy shows official bulletins free, alongside live summit weather. About the app.