Pick your mountain
Open Cardio Command on your Apple Watch. The first screen is the mountain list. Tap the one you want to climb. Mountains you haven't unlocked yet are grayed out — finish the previous peak to open the next.
How to Play
Everything you need to read the mountain.
From picking your first peak to decoding every number on the Watch face — plus every workout program explained, so you can match the science to your goal.
Getting started
Four taps to the summit.
Navigation is a straight line: mountain → program → duration → climb. No settings to dig through before every session.
Choose a program
Each mountain offers all compatible workout programs. If a program isn't available for your selected duration, it shows a lock icon with a one-line reason. Storm Shelter has its own entry point — look for it at the bottom of the mountain screen.
Set your duration
Main game sessions come in 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of workout — and every session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top, so the picker shows the real total (a 20-minute workout runs 23 minutes with the warm-up). Not every program works at every length — Tabata is 20 or 30 min only; Zone 2 needs 45 or 60. Storm Shelter is 5, 10, or 15 minutes and skips the warm-up — it's already a wind-down. Pick your duration and tap Start.
Reading the Watch display
What every number and line is telling you.
The Active Climb screen is dense by design — it has to work on a 38mm watch while you're breathing hard. Here's the translation.
Phase header · top of screen
Where you are in the workout.
The top two lines carry both clocks and your current phase. Line one is the phase name ("Summit Push," "Between the Peaks," "High Camp") with the time left in the whole climb on the right. Line two is a progress bar for the current phase with that phase's own countdown beside it.
- Phase name describes the terrain — and what your body should be doing
- Top right: time remaining in the entire climb, deliberately dimmer than the phase clock below it
- Progress bar fills left to right as the phase runs down
- Second row, right: seconds left in this phase — the brighter of the two, because it's the one you're pacing against
- At 15 seconds left you'll get a haptic warning — the zone is about to shift
The two clocks read as different scopes on purpose: the dim one is the whole climb, the bright one is the interval in front of you.
Heart rate display · middle of screen
Your current BPM, live.
Your heart rate is read by the Watch's optical sensor and updated approximately every 5 seconds — the same ~5-second cadence that drives all game state. The number is always your most recent actual reading, not an estimate.
- Updates every ~5 seconds via HealthKit's live workout query
- During a Whiteout event this number is hidden — navigate by feel
- The last reading stays displayed if the Watch temporarily loses a sample
Zone bar · the most important graphic
The green band is your altitude.
The zone bar is a horizontal strip that represents your full heart rate range. A green band marks the current target zone. A small climber figure sits at your exact current HR position — inside the green band means you're scoring.
- Green band — the current target HR zone (your altitude)
- Climber — your exact heart rate, positioned on the bar
- Climber inside the green = in zone, scoring points and building streak
- Climber left of green = HR too low, push harder
- Climber right of green = HR too high, back off
- Band narrows as you climb harder mountains or hit tighter phases
- During dynamic events the band may shift, widen, or shrink temporarily
Score row · bottom of screen
Points, multiplier, and the flame.
The bottom row is score on the left, then your active difficulty multiplier, then the streak flame. The clock used to live here and moved up to the phase header — the row was too crowded and the score kept truncating.
- ⭐ (yellow) or ★ (cyan in Storm Shelter) + score on the left
- The mountain's difficulty multiplier — ×1.5 on Whitney, up to ×5 on Everest
- The streak flame, once you've held the band 15 seconds
- Base score: 10 points per second in zone
- Streak multiplier: 15s in zone = 1.5×, 30s = 2×, 60s+ = 3×
- Center bonus: within 3 bpm of the zone midpoint adds +20%
- Difficulty multiplier: ×1 on Grouse up to ×5 on Everest, applied last
- Your % in zone is the headline stat on the Summit Card — fairer across durations
Scoring & streaks
What you're actually being scored on.
Ten points a second while you're inside the band, and nothing at all while you're outside it. Everything else is a multiplier on top of those ten points.
Precision — the PERFECT bonus
Inside the band scores. Within 3 bpm of dead centre scores 20% more, and the label under your heart rate switches from IN ZONE to PERFECT so you know you've found it. This is the difference between finishing a program and perfecting it.
Streak — how long you hold
An unbroken run inside the band multiplies your rate: ×1.5 at fifteen seconds, ×2 at thirty, ×3 from a minute onward. Leave the band and the streak resets to zero — which is what makes the last thirty seconds of an interval interesting.
Difficulty — where you're climbing
The mountain multiplies everything: ×1 on Grouse, ×1.5 on Whitney, ×2 on Kilimanjaro, ×3 on K2, ×5 on Everest. Identical precision is worth five times more up there, which is the whole reason to go.
They compound, they don't replace each other
A dead-centre minute-long streak on Everest is 10 × 3 × 1.2 × 5 — thirty times what the same second earns from a standing start on Grouse. Surviving a dynamic event adds its own bonus on top of that.
The flame — seven tiers
A flame beside your score tracks the current streak. The score multiplier stops climbing after a minute, but the flame doesn't — it escalates in colour through seven tiers while the target band behind it brightens and thickens in step, so a good climb visibly heats up.
15 sec
×1.5
30 sec
×2
1 min
×3
5 min
5 MIN
10 min
10 MIN
20 min
20 MIN
30 min+
WHITE-HOT
At five, ten, twenty and thirty minutes the flame stops being a glyph and expands to announce the milestone — with a sound, if you have audio on.
Audio
The climb talks to you.
You should not have to raise your arm to know how you're doing. Cardio Command has a spoken-and-tonal cue vocabulary for the moments that matter, and it plays over whatever else you're listening to.
What it tells you
- You've entered the target band — start scoring
- You've drifted out, and which direction
- A zone change is coming in fifteen seconds — prepare to shift
- The zone just changed
- You hit dead centre
- A streak milestone at five, ten, twenty and thirty minutes
- A dynamic event started, and which one
- You reached the summit
How much of it you want
One setting, three positions — and it's independent of the music setting, so the two never fight.
- Full — the complete vocabulary above
- Minimal — only the moments you'd want to react to: zone entry, exit, and the change warning
- Silent — no audio at all. Haptics still fire, so the game is entirely playable in a quiet room
Cues route wherever your Watch audio already goes — the built-in speaker or Bluetooth headphones. There's nothing to pair or configure.
Trail Audio — what plays underneath
A second, separate setting for the music bed. Whatever you pick, the cues above duck it briefly and let it back up — the same way turn-by-turn navigation does.
Cues Only
Nothing underneath. Tones and haptics against silence — the default, and the option that leaves your ears alone if you're outdoors and want to hear traffic.
My Music
Keep listening to whatever you already had playing — Music, a podcast, anything. Cardio Command doesn't take it over; it ducks under its own cues and comes back. A Now Playing page sits one swipe from the game screen for skips and volume, so you never have to leave the climb.
Trail Radio
Original instrumental beds written for this, in three packs matched to the shape of what you're running:
Ridgeline · piano & strings
Whiteout · pads & atmosphere
Scree · synths & beats
Ridgeline suits Summit Expedition and Tempo; Whiteout suits Zone 2 and Valley Trek; Scree suits Tabata, 30/30 and 10-20-30. There are no transport controls by design — Trail Radio is scenery, not a playlist to manage mid-interval.
All audio, including Trail Radio, is in the free tier.
Haptic feedback
The Watch talks to your wrist.
You don't have to watch the screen every second. The Taptic Engine signals the key moments.
Entering zone
Gentle double-tap when your HR moves inside the green band. Keep going — you're scoring.
15 seconds to zone change
Three rising taps when the current phase is about to end. Prepare to shift effort up or down.
Leaving zone
A single sharp tap when your HR exits the band. One alert, then silence — constant nagging would ruin the run and drain the battery.
Warm-up & interval coaching
Start gentle. Then hit every interval.
Two things the watch now does for you: it eases you in, and — on the interval programs — it calls out exactly what to do second by second.
A gentle warm-up, every time
Every session (except Storm Shelter) opens with a 3-minute warm-up whose target rises from your resting heart rate up to the first zone. You're never told "too low" and never pushed to sprint from a standstill — just ease up as the target climbs. It's added on top of your workout, so a 20-minute session is 23 minutes door to door.
Interval cues on Tabata, 10-20-30 & 30/30
Inside a Lightning Ridge, Rhythm Route, or Twin Peaks block, the screen switches to a big action word — BURST/REST, EASY/MODERATE/ALL-OUT, or ON/OFF — with a seconds countdown, dots for which round you're on, and a haptic at every switch. Now you actually run the intervals instead of just holding the zone.
Dynamic events
The mountain fights back.
Random events fire during your climb — each lasting 30 seconds — 45 for Rockfall. They keep sessions from feeling scripted and separate a good climber from a great one.
Rockfall
The target zone narrows by 5 bpm for 45 seconds. The margin for error shrinks — thread the needle or lose your streak.
Altitude Sickness
The zone drops 10 bpm unexpectedly. Your climber staggers. Pull back your effort quickly or you'll overshoot the new target.
Tailwind
Good news: the zone widens 5 bpm for 30 seconds and your score multiplier jumps. Breathe into it.
Whiteout
Your HR number disappears for 30 seconds. Navigate entirely by effort and haptics. This is the standout mechanic — it forces you to feel your exertion rather than read it. Surviving in-zone earns the Whiteout Survivor badge.
Rope Assist
A grace period: the zone holds completely steady for 30 seconds regardless of what the script says. Recover without penalty.
Workout programs
All eleven programs, explained.
The same guide that's built into the iPhone app: the science behind each protocol, the shape of the session drawn as a heart-rate ridgeline, and the zones it targets. Every one is a real interval-training protocol from sports-science research.
Progressive Ascent
Steadily climbing effort — the best place to start.
Summit Expedition
Classic progressive ascent
Best for — Balanced all-round cardio
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
The best place to start. Zones climb steadily from an easy base through aerobic work to a hard summit push, then descend to recover — the shape of a well-structured cardio workout.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Base CampZone 13 min
- Forest TrailZone 26 min
- High CampZone 38 min
- Summit PushZone 47 min
- Recovery RidgeZone 22 min
- DescentZone 14 min
20 min30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
HIIT & Intervals
Hard efforts broken up by recovery. Big fitness gains.
The Four Peaks
Norwegian 4×4 · VO₂ max
Best for — Maximum VO₂ max improvement
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
The most-studied HIIT protocol for VO₂ max. Four 4-minute efforts at Zone 4, each followed by 3 minutes of active recovery. Research shows large VO₂ max gains — even in cardiac-rehab patients.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Base Camp PrepZone 13 min
- Peak 1Zone 44 min
- RecoveryZone 23 min
- Peak 2Zone 44 min
- RecoveryZone 23 min
- Peak 3Zone 44 min
- RecoveryZone 23 min
- Peak 4Zone 44 min
- DescentZone 12 min
30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Lightning Ridge
Tabata · 20s on / 10s off
Best for — Max intensity, minimum time
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
Dr. Izumi Tabata, 1996. Each 4-minute block is eight rounds of 20 seconds all-out / 10 seconds rest. Supramaximal intensity that taxes aerobic and anaerobic systems at once — huge calorie burn in little time. The Watch cues every burst and rest.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Pre-Storm CalmZone 13 min
- Storm Block 1Zone 54 min
- ShelterZone 12 min
- Storm Block 2Zone 54 min
- ShelterZone 12 min
- Storm Block 3Zone 54 min
- ShelterZone 12 min
- Storm Block 4Zone 54 min
- Storm PassesZone 15 min
20 min30 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
The Rhythm Route
10-20-30 · Rhythmic blocks
Best for — Speed across all effort levels
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
Jens Bangsbo, University of Copenhagen. Repeating minute cycles of 30s easy / 20s moderate / 10s maximal, grouped into 5-minute ridges. Improved 5K times by ~38 seconds on average — and testers found it genuinely fun. The Watch gives a 7-second cue before each sprint.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Finding the RhythmZone 22 min
- Ridge 1Zone 35 min
- Valley RestZone 12 min
- Ridge 2Zone 35 min
- Valley RestZone 12 min
- Ridge 3Zone 35 min
- Valley RestZone 12 min
- Ridge 4Zone 35 min
- Trail OutZone 12 min
20 min30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
The Great Pyramid
Pyramid · Ascending effort
Best for — Speed and endurance together
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
Ascending-descending intervals. Efforts climb from short-and-hard up to the long peak, then step back down through shortening pushes. Builds speed and endurance together — a staple in competitive running and cycling.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Base CampZone 12 min
- First FootholdZone 41 min
- RecoverZone 21 min
- Second FootholdZone 42 min
- RecoverZone 21 min
- Upper RidgeZone 43 min
- RecoverZone 22 min
- Summit ApproachZone 54 min
- RecoverZone 22 min
- Descent BeginsZone 43 min
- RecoverZone 21 min
- Lower DescentZone 42 min
- RecoverZone 21 min
- Final FootholdZone 31 min
- Base Camp ReturnZone 14 min
20 min30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Twin Peaks
30/30 · Explosive intervals
Best for — Time near VO₂ max
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
30 seconds at Zone 5 / 30 seconds active recovery, clustered into two long blocks. Recovery is too short for your heart rate to fully drop, so you bank real time near VO₂ max. Hard, efficient, repeatable. The Watch cues each ON and OFF.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Before the PeaksZone 13 min
- First Twin PeakZone 58 min
- Between the PeaksZone 14 min
- Second Twin PeakZone 58 min
- Both Peaks ClimbedZone 17 min
20 min30 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Threshold & Tempo
Sustained hard efforts that raise your ceiling.
The Long Ridge
Tempo · Lactate threshold
Best for — Sustain hard paces longer
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
Sustained effort near lactate threshold — the pace your body can just barely clear lactate at. Two long Zone 4 blocks with a short active-recovery shoulder between them. Tightest zone tolerance of any program; extends how long you can hold a hard pace.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Approach TrailZone 25 min
- The Long RidgeZone 49 min
- Ridge ShoulderZone 24 min
- Back on the RidgeZone 48 min
- Trail HomeZone 14 min
30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Aerobic Base
Long, easy work that builds your aerobic engine.
Valley Trek
Zone 2 · Aerobic base
Best for — Aerobic base & longevity
Zone profile45-min session · 48 min total
Long, easy, sustained effort at Zone 2. Builds mitochondrial density and fat-burning base over weeks — championed by endurance athletes and longevity researchers. The real challenge is staying easy when you want to push. No dynamic events; scenery clears as you hold the zone.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Valley EntranceZone 15 min
- Valley TrekZone 236 min
- Valley ExitZone 14 min
45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Variable & Recovery
Unpredictable surges or a guided wind-down.
Wild Peaks
Fartlek · Random surges
Best for — Unpredictable, playful effort
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
Swedish for “speed play.” Unstructured surges at unpredictable intensities and lengths — generated fresh each run, so you never know what's coming. The chart below is just one example; the Summit Card reveals the shape you actually climbed.
🔀 Every run is generated fresh — this is one example shape.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Wild StartZone 14 min
- SurgeZone 32 min
- EaseZone 22 min
- SurgeZone 41 min
- EaseZone 22 min
- SurgeZone 33 min
- EaseZone 11 min
- SurgeZone 51 min
- EaseZone 22 min
- SurgeZone 42 min
- EaseZone 23 min
- SurgeZone 32 min
- Speed Play CompleteZone 14 min
20 min30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Rescue Mission
HIIT with active recovery
Best for — Varied HIIT with a story
Zone profile30-min session · 33 min total
A trapped climber needs help. High-intensity ascents alternate with controlled active-recovery descents — HIIT with a purpose. Zone jumps arrive with an advance warning so you can prepare for the next surge. Unlocks on Mount Whitney.
Phase breakdown
- Warm-UpWarm-up · Zone 13 min
- Base CampZone 13 min
- First AscentZone 45 min
- Controlled DescentZone 23 min
- Storm IncomingZone 44 min
- Brief ShelterZone 22 min
- Final PushZone 45 min
- Safe GroundZone 24 min
- Return to BaseZone 14 min
20 min30 min45 min60 min
Each session adds a gentle 3-minute warm-up on top of the length shown.
Storm Shelter
Guided descent to calm
Best for — Recovery & stress relief
Zone profile~12 min example
A guided wind-down. Instead of a fixed target, Storm Shelter reads your current heart rate at the start and walks it down, zone by zone, to calm — so every session is different. No warm-up and no events; ideal after a workout or for stress relief. The example below starts from Zone 4. Available on every mountain.
Phase breakdown
- Breaking ThroughZone 43 min
- Easing DownZone 33 min
- Finding CalmZone 23 min
- Safe HavenZone 13 min
5 min10 min15 min
iPhone companion app
The full picture, on the bigger screen.
Every climb syncs automatically from your Watch. The iPhone app has four tabs — here's what each one does.
History
Every climb, newest first. Each row shows the mountain, program, date, score, and % in zone. Tap any climb for the full Summit Card at high resolution, a detailed HR elevation chart, and the badges you earned that session.
Achievements
Every badge in one place, each tinted by the hardest mountain you earned it on and grouped by track. Earned badges show the date you unlocked them; unearned ones show a progress ring, so you know exactly how close you are.
Stats
Lifetime tiles: total elevation gained, mountains summited, best % in zone, total time on mountain, current streak, and total climbs. A 14-day streak calendar and per-mountain personal records round it out.
Share
Pick any climb, get the full Summit Card preview, and share via the standard sheet — Messages, Photos, AirDrop — or export a pre-cropped 1080×1920 card built for Instagram Stories. The Watch renders the card immediately post-climb; the iPhone re-renders at 3× resolution for sharing.
Summit Card
Every climb has a signature.
Generated automatically the moment a session ends. Your heart rate over the whole climb is drawn as a continuous mountain skyline, coloured by the zone you were in — and behind it, as a dashed outline, the corridor the program actually asked you to hold. The gap between the two is your climb. No two cards look alike.
Badge system
Thirty-five things worth doing.
Five tracks — Summit, Precision, Event, Dedication, and Collector. Each badge has one specific unlock condition and none are participation trophies. In the iPhone app every earned badge is ringed in the colour of the hardest mountain you earned it on, and the rare ones glow.
Summit Track
Climbs completed.
🏔️
First Steps
Complete your first climb.
🥉
Triple Summit
Complete 3 climbs.
🗺️
Range Master
Summit all 5 mountains.
🏆
Everest Conquered
Complete Everest on any program.
Precision Track
How well you held the zone.
🎯
On Track
80%+ time in zone on any climb.
⚡️
Dead Center
5 minutes within 3 bpm of zone center.
🪨
Unshakeable
90%+ time in zone on Expert difficulty.
🔥
Streak Climber
60-second continuous in-zone streak.
🥇
Iron Everest
90%+ in zone on Everest with zero exits.
Event Track
Surviving dynamic events.
🌫️
Whiteout Survivor
Survive a full Whiteout without leaving zone.
⛈️
Storm Chaser
Trigger 10 total dynamic events (lifetime).
🧘
Calm Descent
Complete any Storm Shelter session.
🫁
Iron Lungs
Finish a climb with zero zone exits.
Dedication Track
Going the distance.
⏳
The Long Haul
Finish a 60-minute session.
🌩️
Storm Veteran
Storm Shelter at all three lengths — 5, 10 & 15 min.
📅
Week on the Mountain
Climb 7 days in a row.
📈
Altitude
100 km of lifetime elevation gained.
✅
Program Master
Complete all nine interval programs.
How they look
Ringed by the hardest peak you earned it on.
In the iPhone app every earned badge is ringed in the colour of the toughest mountain you've earned it on — electric blue for Grouse through red for Everest — so the grid doubles as a map of how far up you've actually been. Rare badges glow; the rarest get a second ring.
Unearned badges keep a progress arc instead, so you can always see which one you're closest to.
Collector Track
Rare and unusual finds — scarcity, identity, and loyalty rather than volume.
🌅
Sunrise Summit
Climb before 6 am, five times.
🌙
Night Climber
Climb after 10 pm, five times.
🎲
Triple Threat
Survive three or more dynamic events in one climb.
❄️
Whiteout Ace
Survive a Whiteout and finish 90%+ in zone, same climb.
🐸
Leap Day Climber
Climb on February 29. Once every four years.
🎉
New Year's Ascent
Climb on January 1.
☀️
Longest Day
Climb on the summer solstice.
Plus a loyalty pair for each of the five mountains — Local at ten climbs, Legend at a hundred:
🏕️
Grouse Local / Legend
10 / 100 climbs on Grouse Mountain.
🏕️
Whitney Local / Legend
10 / 100 climbs on Mount Whitney.
🏕️
Kilimanjaro Local / Legend
10 / 100 climbs on Kilimanjaro.
🏕️
K2 Local / Legend
10 / 100 climbs on K2.
🏕️
Everest Local / Legend
10 / 100 climbs on Everest.
Heart rate zones
The five zones, and what they mean.
Onboarding sets your zones from your age together with your heart-rate history in Apple Health, taking whichever gives the higher max — or you can enter a max heart rate manually if you know yours. Either way, these are the five targets the game uses. Reading Apple's own computed zones directly arrives with watchOS 27.
| Zone | % of Max HR | In-game phase | How it feels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | 50–60% | Warmup, cooldown | Easy conversation pace |
| Zone 2 | 60–70% | Forest Trail, active recovery | Could hold a sentence |
| Zone 3 | 70–80% | High Camp, aerobic work | Breathing hard, short phrases only |
| Zone 4 | 80–90% | Summit Push, HIIT intervals | Can't talk much |
| Zone 5 | 90–100% | Tabata sprints, Twin Peaks bursts | All-out, unsustainable |
The program decides which zones you're asked to hold — never the mountain. Run Lightning Ridge on Grouse Mountain and you'll be in Zone 5; run Valley Trek on Everest and you'll spend the session in Zone 2. What the mountain changes is how much margin you get: how wide the target band is, how much warning you get before it moves, and how much the climb is worth.