Move a Strava route from activity history into a real mountain plan.

The short answer

On Strava's website, open an activity and choose Export GPX from the three-dot menu, or open a public route and download its GPX. Share that file to Traverse on iPhone or upload it to the web Atlas. Strava's bulk account archive is a separate backup and may contain original FIT files rather than GPX.

Export one Strava activity or route

1. Open the activity on Strava's website and select the three-dot menu.
2. Choose Export GPX. For a public route, open the route and use the download arrow, then choose GPX.
3. On iPhone, open the downloaded file and choose Import to Traverse. On desktop, upload it to Atlas.
4. Review the imported activity or route, then turn it into a Traverse trip plan if needed.

Understand Strava's account export

1. Open Strava Settings → My Account → Download your account and request an archive.
2. When the archive arrives, inspect the formats before assuming every file is GPX. Strava recommends exporting original activity files, which are often FIT.
3. For GPX-only migration, export the individual activities or routes that contain the lines you want to plan.
4. Upload multiple GPX files together in Traverse web and organise them by season, objective or route.

What moves across

• GPS route geometry — Yes: Strava's GPX export contains coordinates and timestamps when GPS data exists.
• Heart rate and cadence — Limited: Strava may include accessory data, but Traverse's route-planning model focuses on the geographic file.
• Non-GPS activities — No: Strava warns that activities without GPS can produce an empty or unreadable GPX.
• Whole account archive — Not directly: The bulk archive is a backup package, not a guaranteed collection of GPX files.
• Social comments and kudos — No: Recreate the useful planning context in Traverse notes and trip plans.

Separate recording from planning

Strava's strength is the activity record and social layer. Traverse is the place to ask whether a route makes sense against 3D terrain, slope, weather, snow, glacier context and offline constraints.

Choose the right export

Use GPX for a route you want to plan. Keep original FIT files separately if you need a complete fitness-data backup; do not describe the Strava account archive as a GPX export.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Strava: exporting data and bulk export
• Strava: downloading a public route GPX