Alpine Excellence admits SnowRabbit: Tech seal for the mountain sports instructor platform from Celerina

Celerina, 12 October 2026. Alpine Excellence admits SnowRabbit as a member and awards the platform its Tech seal. On SnowRabbit, guests book independent, verified mountain sports instructors directly, for a private lesson on the piste, a freeride day or a ski tour. The platform launches in December 2026 for the 2026/27 winter season, starting in the Engadin. It is run by Mountain Hare GmbH, based in Celerina.

”One hour would have been enough”

SnowRabbit was founded by Robin Heer and Melanie Meier. Melanie Meier leads communication as Chief Communication.

Robin Heer Co-founder
Melanie Meier Co-founder, Chief Communication

Both answered by voice message. Their answers are shortened for print.

How did SnowRabbit start?: Robin Heer
It was more of a phase than a moment. We spent a month in Japan and went skiing in Niseko. Everything there ran through one company: ski schools, rentals, hotels, restaurants. You booked it all on one site instead of five. I liked that a lot.

Robin Heer and Melanie Meier at night in Osaka's Shinsekai district during their trip through Japan, the illuminated Tsutenkaku tower behind them.

Was anything missing?: Robin Heer
Yes. We could already ski, so booking an instructor for a whole day was out of the question. What we needed was one hour with someone who quickly shows you where to go, where to eat and where it is good. That did not exist.
And the idea stayed with you.: Robin Heer
I grew up in a ski resort. After the trip I looked at how others do it. The idea kept going round in my head for a while.
What did you hear back in Switzerland?: Melanie Meier
We talked to friends and acquaintances who teach or used to teach at a ski or snowboard school. You have hardly any say in whom you teach and when. The split of the money is not transparent, and you cannot set what you earn.
What should SnowRabbit change about that?: Melanie Meier
Control and autonomy should sit with the instructors. They decide what and how they teach, and above all whom.

What the instructor decides on SnowRabbit

On SnowRabbit, instructors set their own price and keep 80 percent of their fee. The platform keeps 20 percent. Guests pay the lesson price plus a 5 percent service fee, shown as its own line. Payment runs through Stripe, TWINT included. Guests can book private lessons and group dates in alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle, telemark, cross-country skiing (classic and skating), freeride, ski touring, splitboarding, snowshoeing, sledging and ice skating.

Off-piste terrain comes with a fixed rule. Every professional on SnowRabbit holds the permit under the Swiss Risk Activities Act (RiskG). Anyone guiding guests off-piste for pay needs it.

Robin Heer with snowboard and backpack in untracked terrain, snow-covered slopes and rock ridges behind.

Why the Tech seal

Guests search SnowRabbit in 15 teaching languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Swedish, Japanese, Hebrew and Ukrainian. They can type the way they talk. The free-text search understands Swiss German, typos and place names in several languages. Type “läupene Engadin” and you get cross-country skiing.

Intermediaries get their own access at partner.snowrabbit.ch. Hotel concierges, travel agencies, family offices and chalet managers find instructors there by their guest’s language and occasion. They book for the guest at the SnowRabbit price and charge the guest whatever they see fit. SnowRabbit pays no commission. A demo with fictional profiles is already online.

What guests and instructors get to see also counted towards the Tech seal: the price, the instructor’s share, the platform’s share and the service fee are all shown openly.

Above the fog

SnowRabbit starts where the company is at home.

You are from Celerina. What do you see in the Engadin every winter that you cannot see from Zurich?: Robin Heer
A steel-blue sky, the sun on your face, wonderful snow and everything you can do with it in winter.
And what do you not see there?: Robin Heer
Fog. Except when you breathe out into the cold, clear mountain air.
What is winter like in Zurich?: Melanie Meier
From late November to late February, people in Zurich talk about five-o'clock weather. You never know whether it is already five in the evening or some other time of day, because it is always dark, gloomy, cold, wet and foggy.
Where does the fog end?: Melanie Meier
I notice it every time I go to the mountains at the weekend in winter. As soon as you have changed trains in Chur or Landquart and climb, you break through the fog and there is blue sky.

SnowRabbit at a glance

Platform for booking independent, verified mountain sports instructors directly
Founded by Robin Heer and Melanie Meier
Mountain Hare GmbH, Celerina, UID CHE-368.511.887
Launch in December 2026, for the 2026/27 winter season, starting in the Engadin
80 percent of the fee for the instructor, 5 percent service fee for the guest
www.snowrabbit.ch

About the seal

Alpine Excellence is a business association. The editorial team nominates members and admits them against documented criteria. There are no membership fees, no paid placements and no advertising. Membership can be neither applied for nor bought.

The seal is valid for one calendar year. The association reassesses its members every year, and a member can lose its seal. With it, the association records what was verified at the time of assessment. The seal is not a recommendation for any individual booking.

The SnowRabbit profile with the verified details is in the member register.

About the author

Dimitri Surber is CEO of Alchemy Zürich and writes for Alpine Excellence as a guest author. Alchemy Zürich builds the SnowRabbit platform. Dimitri Surber holds a stake in SnowRabbit through Ikigai2 GmbH. This connection is disclosed on the transparency page.