I’ve been using action cameras for skiing and snowboarding for years, and they’ve caused me almost as much frustration as they have good footage.
Dead batteries, frozen screens, broken mounts, clips pointed at the sky, clips pointed at my knees. I’ve lost cameras altogether.
But through all that, GoPro has consistently been the brand I trust most. DJI and Insta360 make some seriously good cameras now, but for skiing and snowboarding, GoPro is still comfortably my first choice.
So if you’re buying one for the mountain, these are the models I’d actually be looking at.
Quick Picks
Best Overall: GoPro HERO13 Black
The one I’d buy if I wanted a single camera for skiing and snowboarding.
Best 360 Camera: GoPro MAX2
Best if you want invisible-pole shots, reframing and more creative footage.
Best Value: GoPro HERO12 Black
Still a very good camera, and usually the one I’d look at if the HERO13 feels too expensive.
Best Cheap Option: AKASO EK7000
Much rougher around the edges, but usable if you just want basic footage without risking an expensive camera.
Best GoPros for Skiing & Snowboarding
I’ve been using action cameras on snow for well over a decade, both as a ski and snowboard instructor and as someone who’s always been ridiculously picky about gear. I even filmed my entire first snowboard video part on a GoPro years ago.
I’ve used DJI and Insta360 cameras too, but GoPro is still the system I know best. I’ve owned a stupid number of them over the years. As you can probably tell from the photo, I’m still a bit of a gear hoarder when it comes to cameras.
Anyway, onto the cameras. The HERO13 is the one I’d start with.
1. GoPro HERO13 Black Best Overall
- I’ve used almost every GoPro since the HERO5
- Faster, smoother and noticeably less annoying to use in the cold
- If I was buying one for skiing or snowboarding now, I’d get the HERO13
- I’ve used GoPros since the HERO5
- New model is faster and better behaved in the cold
- The one I’d buy now
I’ve used almost every GoPro since the HERO5 and, at this point, I’m not expecting each new one to completely change the game. The HERO13 isn’t some huge leap either.
It’s just a really well-refined GoPro.
That sounds slightly underwhelming, but I genuinely mean it as a compliment. The older ones could be brilliant cameras and still randomly piss you off. I’ve stood on the side of runs jabbing at a screen with cold fingers while whoever I was supposed to be filming disappeared down the mountain. I’ve pressed record, ridden an entire line and discovered the footage is completely out of focus.
I’ve had far less of that with the HERO13.
It starts quickly, the screen behaves itself and everything feels a bit quicker and more reliable. None of those things make for a particularly epic GoPro advert, but they make a huuuge difference when you’re actually skiing or snowboarding with one.
The footage is really good too. Stabilisation has been good on GoPros for years, but the HERO13 is particularly good when you’re following someone through rough snow or trying to film while riding yourself. I don’t spend much time thinking about settings once I’m on the mountain. I normally want to turn it on, point it vaguely in the right direction and get on with riding.
It copes well with the horrible mix of light you get in the mountains too. Bright snow, dark trees, flat light, suddenly popping back into sunshine. You can still make terrible footage with it (I manage that regularly) but the camera gives you a pretty good starting point.
Battery life is also way better than the GoPros I used years ago. I still carry a spare battery because cold weather absolutely hammers small batteries, and I wouldn’t head out for a full day expecting one to last forever. But it’s nowhere near the headache it used to be.
There are loads of smaller upgrades on the HERO13, but I don’t think you need me to list them all here.
The main reason I’d buy it is simple… it’s the best normal GoPro I’ve used for skiing and snowboarding, and the older models are often priced close enough that saving a relatively small amount doesn’t really make sense.
If you find a HERO12 properly cheap, great. Otherwise, I’d get the HERO13.
2. GoPro MAX2 Best 360 Camera
- Best if you want proper 360 footage rather than normal POV clips
- You can reframe the shot afterwards, so you don’t have to nail the angle first time
- We’ll be testing it properly in Hokkaido this January with the invisible pole
- Best for 360 footage
- Reframe the shot afterwards
- Proper snow test coming in Hokkaido
I’ve had the original GoPro MAX for years and ours looks like it’s been through a minor war at this point.
It’s been on poles, dragged around ski trips, stuffed into pockets with other gear and generally treated with very little respect (sorry little guy). Which is probably a fair test for anything you’re going to take skiing or snowboarding.
What I like about a 360 camera is that you can be lazy with it.
With a normal GoPro, if the camera is pointing at your boots, congratulations, you’ve got ten minutes of excellent boot footage. With the MAX, you just record everything and sort the framing out afterwards.
That’s particularly useful when you’re filming someone else. You can ski, concentrate on not taking them out, and worry about where the camera was pointing later.
The invisible-pole stuff is also genuinely brilliant when it works. It gives you those follow-cam angles that would otherwise need another person skiing behind you, and for powder footage it can look ridiculous in the best possible way.
There are downsides.
You’re giving yourself more work afterwards because the footage normally needs reframing before it’s useful. The lenses are exposed too, which has always made me slightly nervous chucking the MAX around compared with a normal HERO.
And if you mostly want helmet footage, chest-mount clips or simple point-and-shoot video, I wouldn’t bother. Get the HERO13.
The MAX2 is the one I’d buy now, though. The original MAX still works perfectly well, but when the newer one is sitting around the same sort of price it again makes no sense to save almost nothing and buy the old camera.
We’ll be taking the MAX2 to Hokkaido in January and using it properly with the invisible pole in powder, so I’ll update this once it’s had the same abuse as our old MAX.
Insta360 is probably the obvious alternative if you’re shopping for a 360 camera, and DJI is worth a look too. They both make seriously good stuff.
I still majorly prefer GoPro for snow, though. Partly because I know the system inside out at this point, but also because I like how straightforward the cameras are to use when I’m actually riding. I’m not interested in spending half the day fiddling with a camera while everyone else is getting laps in.
GoPro HERO13 vs GoPro MAX2
Before moving on, it’s worth stopping here for a second because I think these are the two GoPros most people should actually be choosing between for skiing or snowboarding.
They suit quite different kinds of filming though.
The HERO13 makes more sense for most people. It shoots 5.3K60, has GoPro’s usual HyperSmooth stabilization and the newer magnetic latch, but the bigger difference is simply how you use it. Point it where you want the shot, press record and that’s basically it.
The MAX2 is much more interesting if you actually want what 360 gives you. It records true 8K 360 footage, captures everything around the camera and lets you choose the angle afterwards. It also does the invisible-pole thing properly, which is probably the biggest reason I’d want one for snow. That opens up follow shots and weird third-person angles that you just aren’t getting from a HERO13 without someone else filming you.
The other big MAX2 upgrade, especially for skiing and snowboarding, is the replaceable lenses. 360 lenses stick out and they’re horribly exposed. Smack one into a tree, drop it onto ice or chuck it into a bag with something stupid and damaging the lens has always been the bit that makes me nervous. On the MAX2 you can twist a damaged lens off and replace it rather than writing off the whole camera.
The downside is that MAX2 footage asks more of you afterwards. You’ve got all that freedom because the camera recorded everything, but somebody still has to decide what the finished shot actually is. If you hate editing, that can become a pain pretty quickly.
There’s also a difference in how I’d actually use them on snow. The HERO13 makes more sense on a helmet, chest mount or short grip. It’s the one I’d take if I wanted to film a whole day without thinking too much about the camera.
The MAX2 is the one I’d take because I had a specific shot in mind. Follow-cam, invisible pole, a big powder turn from slightly behind, or one run where I want to mess around with the framing afterwards.
The MAX2 can also shoot normal single-lens footage at 4K60, so it’s not completely useless as a conventional action cam. I just wouldn’t buy it primarily for that. If normal POV footage is 90% of what you shoot, the HERO13 is the better tool.
Which One Should You Buy?
For most people, the HERO13 is the better choice. It does everything you normally want from an action camera, the footage is great, and you don’t have to come home and reframe half your clips before they’re useful.
The MAX2 is more specialised, but that’s also why it’s more interesting. If you’re buying one because you want invisible-pole shots, weird follow-cam angles or 360 footage you can mess around with later, it gives you things the HERO13 simply can’t.
3. GoPro HERO12 Black Best Value GoPro
- Still a seriously good ski and snowboard camera
- Very close to the HERO13 for normal filming
- Worth it if you find one properly cheaper
- Still a seriously good camera
- Very close to the HERO13
- Worth it if it’s properly cheaper
My HERO12 technically still belongs to me.
I say technically because I lost it in Whistler, so there’s every chance it spent last winter buried under a few metres of snow and eventually thawed out somewhere last summer. If anyone found a slightly battered GoPro on the mountain, enjoy.
It was a good excuse to buy the HERO13, at least.
The annoying thing is that the HERO12 is still a really good camera. For normal ski and snowboard footage, there isn’t some enormous gap between it and the 13. You still get 5.3K60, excellent stabilization and footage that’s more than good enough for pretty much anything I’m doing.
The HERO13 mostly improves the bits around that. The battery is bigger and lasts longer, the magnetic latch is genuinely useful when you’re swapping mounts, GPS came back, Wi-Fi transfers are faster and you get the newer HB-Series lenses if you care about playing with different fields of view or filters.
None of that suddenly makes the HERO12 crap. It just means the price matters.
If the HERO12 is properly cheaper, I’d have no problem buying one. If you’re saving twenty or thirty quid, I wouldn’t bother. At that point I’d just get the HERO13 and have the newer battery, mounting system and all the other little refinements.
4. AKASO EK7000 Best Cheap Option
- Ridiculously cheap compared with a GoPro
- Good enough when you just need something that records
- I bought one after losing my HERO12 and it genuinely saved the trip
- Ridiculously cheap
- Good enough in a pinch
- Mine saved a ski trip after I lost my HERO12
Okay, this obviously isn’t a GoPro.
I’m giving it honorary membership because it bailed me out after I lost the aforementioned HERO12 while I was away. I needed something cheap, immediately, and ended up buying the EK7000.
For the money, it’s honestly pretty impressive.
The footage is nowhere near as polished as a HERO12 or HERO13, the stabilization is basic and low light is fairly rough. But it records, it survives snow, and if you’re buying your first action camera or just want something you won’t cry about losing, it does the job.
That’s really where this makes sense. I wouldn’t buy it instead of a GoPro if I cared about getting the best footage. I would buy it if I had a tiny budget, needed a backup camera, or had already sacrificed one expensive camera to the mountain that week.
AKASO does make newer/more expensive cameras above the EK7000, but once the price starts climbing I think the whole argument gets weaker. The whole point of this one is that it’s cheap.
What About the Other GoPros?
I still use some older GoPros. My HERO7 gets dragged out now and then because I already own it and I don’t care quite as much if it gets smashed, soaked or disappears into a snowbank.
That doesn’t mean I think you should go and buy one now.
The pricing on old GoPros can be completely stupid. I’ve seen models that are several generations old sitting around the same price as a HERO12. At that point you’re paying nearly new-camera money for older batteries, older stabilization and older hardware.
The HERO10 and HERO11 are the same story for me. Still perfectly usable if you already have one. Much harder to recommend if a HERO12 or HERO13 is only a little more.
The newer Lit HERO models are more interesting, but I still wouldn’t choose one specifically for skiing or snowboarding over a Black model. They do make more sense if you care about keeping things tiny and simple. But overall quality is lower (hence the price).
The new Mission cameras aren’t ideal for skiing or snowboarding. If you’re trying to shoot something more cinematic, fair enough. For normal ski and snowboard use, I’d still rather have a HERO13 or MAX2. They’re better bang for your buck too.
What About DJI and Insta360?
GoPro isn’t the only serious option anymore.
DJI’s Osmo Action 6 camera is very good, especially if battery life and low-light performance matter to you. Insta360 has also gone hard on 360 footage and all the weird angles that come with it.
I’ve used both and I still prefer GoPro for skiing and snowboarding. Part of that is probably because I know the system inside out by now, but I also like that I can chuck one in a pocket, mount it quickly and get on with riding without thinking about it too much.
If I was buying outside GoPro, DJI is the one I’d look at first for a normal action camera. For 360 footage, the Insta360 X5 is the obvious rival to the MAX2.
Which GoPro Mounts Work Best for Skiing & Snowboarding?
For skiing, chest mounts work really well because you get your hands, poles and a bit more of the skiing in shot. Helmet mounts are simpler and probably the easiest option, although they can make everything look flatter and slower than it felt. They can look a bit daft too, but nobody really cares anymore.
A pole mount is useful as well. GoPro sells it as a bike mount, but it’s also designed to clamp onto ski poles, which makes sense when you’re already skiing with poles anyway. Just clamp it properly. Really properly.
For snowboarding, I’d skip the chest mount. Unless you ride with awful form and square your whole body down the hill, your torso is turned across the slope. You end up filming sideways for half the run. Helmet mounts again work much better for POV.
If you want to show more of the board, yourself or whoever you’re riding with, I’d use the GoPro carbon pole.
With the MAX2, it gets much more interesting because the same pole can disappear from the shot entirely. The regular 40-inch one is long enough for proper invisible-pole shots without being ridiculous to carry around all day. The 9ft version is more for those full fake-drone angles.
Maybe I’m a sucker, but I still prefer the official GoPro mounts. Some of the cheap Amazon stuff is fine. Some of it is cheap plastic crap. Saving a few bucks on the thing stopping a $400 camera disappearing into powder has never made much sense to me.
My GoPro Settings for Skiing & Snowboarding
I don’t use one fixed setup all winter, but for normal riding I usually start at 60fps. It gives you enough room to slow clips down later without turning everything into slow-mo.
I’ll use the higher-resolution modes if I know I’ll want to crop or reframe. Otherwise, 4K is plenty most of the time.
I also don’t crank stabilization just because the option exists. GoPros are already very good at smoothing things out, and too much can make riding footage feel weirdly dead.
Snow can mess with exposure pretty easily, especially moving between trees and bright open slopes, so I’ll check a clip now and then rather than trusting Auto all day.
And clean the lens. Seriously. A tiny smear or water droplet has ruined more footage for me than any bad setting.
Final Thoughts
The HERO13 is the one I’d recommend to most skiers and snowboarders. It does everything I actually want from a normal action camera, and with older GoPros often still priced surprisingly close to it, I don’t see much reason to save a small amount and buy old tech.
The MAX2 is a different decision. If you want 360 footage, invisible-pole shots and the freedom to sort the framing out afterwards, get that instead. If you don’t care about any of that, you probably don’t need it.
The HERO12 is still excellent if you find one properly discounted. I just wouldn’t bother if the saving is marginal.
And the AKASO is there for anyone who just wants a cheap action camera that works. Mine was bought out of desperation after losing the HERO12 and, for what it cost, it did a surprisingly decent job.
For most people, the decision is really between the HERO13 and MAX2. Work out whether you actually want 360 footage. That pretty much answers it.
