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Mountain Hub hopes it can prevent burials with better data.
Mountain Hub hopes it can prevent burials with better data. (Photo: Aurora Photos/Menno Boermans)

The Tech Startup That Wants to End Avalanche Deaths

Utah-based Mountain Hub is out to crowdsource backcountry safety

Published: 
Mountain Hub hopes it can prevent burials with better data.
(Photo: Aurora Photos/Menno Boermans)

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In February 2011, Brint Markle and three friends were skiing the uncontrolled back side of Mont Fort in Verbier, Switzerland. It was a great day for poor decisions: the powder deep, the sky blue, the stoke high. 鈥淚 think our skiing experience was above our education,鈥 Markle says today.

One of the skiers took an aggressive line. The slope ripped out. Markle watched, helpless, as the avalanche swept his buddy 750 feet down the mountain, siphoned him through a cliff band, and spat him out at the bottom, partially buried but unharmed. The group later heard that, shortly before the incident, another slide had occurred on a similar slope just a ridge or two away. 鈥淚 just remember thinking, Gosh, had we known a bit more, we wouldn鈥檛 have been out there,鈥 Markle says.

That dodgy experience drove Markle to cofound Mountain Hub (formerly ), a startup in Park City whose avalanche tools鈥攊ncluding the company鈥檚 website, app, and probe鈥攁re designed to help people instantly share safety information, along with route descriptions, alerts, trip reports, pictures, and topo maps. In doing so, the company is creating the kind of backcountry buzz not heard since the rollout of Dynafit bindings.聽

The philosophy behind Mountain Hub is simple: if people have more information at their fingertips, and can share it instantly, they鈥檒l be better equipped to avoid 颅avalanches and other hazards. Today we grab the info we need to play outside from a buckshot of e-sources鈥擥aia for maps, AllTrails for hiking suggestions, Strava to time those outings and claim bragging rights. Mountain Hub wants its platform to be the one tool to rule them all鈥攚ith our help.聽

Say you wanted to go skiing this weekend in the North Cascades. First you鈥檇 log into Mountain Hub鈥檚 website to check the latest conditions of the bergschrund below the summit and any beta on the bear problem at high camp. Next you鈥檇 digitally plan your route and download the topos to your phone. Then you鈥檙e out the door. You can post updates to Mountain Hub during your trip鈥攊n fact, the company is banking on crowd participation. If you see a sketchy cornice above a skin track, you can snap a GPS-tagged 颅photo and upload it to the app for others to see. (When you鈥檙e out of range, the data is stored for later.) Thus a mountaineer or mountain biker becomes both contributor and consumer, adding to the hive mind鈥檚 knowledge even while benefitting from what others post.

Thomas Laakso (third from left) doing field work in Utah.
Thomas Laakso (third from left) doing field work in Utah. (Garrett Harmsen)

The project raises an intriguing question: Can we crowdsource safety?聽

Mountain Hub is a two-product company. Its first to make a splash, appearing in 2013, was a piece of hardware鈥攁 long collapsible probe that, when thrust deep into the snowpack, gives thousands of readings per second about the snow鈥檚 layers. The readings appear on a screen atop the probe and can help users interpret the snowpack鈥檚 stability. Data on the device鈥檚 effectiveness is still forthcoming, but many are impressed with Mountain Hub鈥檚 potential to advance snow science. 鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly excited about this,鈥 says Jordy Hendrikx, director of the Snow and Avalanche Laboratory at Montana State University.

This fall the company unveils the ingenious Scope ($499), which shrinks improved snowpack technology into the handle of a ski pole and sends the data to a user鈥檚 cellphone. Aimed at ski guides and backcountry skiers with advanced avalanche training, the Scope is 鈥渘ot a magic wand,鈥 emphasizes brand president Thomas Laakso, nor does it give a 鈥渞ed light/green light鈥 on whether to ski a slope. Rather, it鈥檚 designed to be used聽incrementally during a ski day for quick peeks beneath the surface, sending info back into Mountain Hub鈥檚 network to create a broader look at conditions.

鈥淲hen it comes down to the safety of our community, there鈥檚 a culture of contribution,鈥 says Laakso.聽

The philosophy behind Mountain Hub is simple: if people have more information at their fingertips, and can share it instantly, they鈥檒l be better equipped to avoid聽avalanches and other hazards.

That鈥檚 the vision, anyway. Mountain Hub has a relatively modest 12,000 or so users to date, almost exclusively pros, patrols in 颅places like Jackson Hole and Breckenridge, and search-and-rescue groups. Users contrib颅uted 35,000 data points last winter. The company makes its money through a mix of subscriptions ($5 a month for individuals, more for organizations) and other means, such as probe sales. But Mountain Hub will only 颅really succeed if lots of people buy into the idea, log in (often), and post many observations. It鈥檚 fully reliant on the community.

Not everyone is sure that more info means more safety. 鈥淚 think the idea of collecting data from the field and sharing it is great,鈥 says Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. But the problem generally isn鈥檛 that people don鈥檛 have information, he says. It鈥檚 that people don鈥檛 understand it or don鈥檛 listen.聽

鈥淚f we provide people with a lot more raw data, does that increase their safety?鈥 Greene says. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 an open question.鈥

Lead Photo: Aurora Photos/Menno Boermans

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