Avalanche
Industry News
The Canadian Avalanche Center has just released a press release denouncing the use of “smart phone apps” as avalanche beacon.
3 European smart phone apps are offering service as avalanche beacons now and they have been found to NOT WORK. When you are running out of air underneath an avalanche, you won’t feel that great about having saved $300 bucks by using a smart phone app instead of a real, certified avalanche beacon.
A smart phone app will never replace your avalanche beacon. There are so many reasons that an app cannot replace an avalanche beacon: they don’t work properly, battery life, robustness, reliability and interference. Please get an proper avalanche beacon and learn how to use it.
Please read the Canadian Avalanche Center’s press release:
Canadian Avalanche Centre Warns Backcountry Users About New Smartphone Apps
Apps marketed as transceivers give users false sense of protection
Oct 24, 2013, Revelstoke, BC: Smartphone avalanche search applications that are marketed as avalanche rescue systems are not recommended, says the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC). Three European-made apps are presenting themselves as economical alternatives to avalanche transceivers, the electronic device used by backcountry users to find buried companions in case of an avalanche.
After close examination, the CAC has found a number of issues with the technology. Two of the main issues are compatibility and frequency range. All avalanche transceivers conform to an international standard of 457 kHz. Regardless of the brand, all transceivers can be used to search and find other transceivers. “Not only are these new apps incapable of connecting with other avalanche transceivers, they are also incompatible between themselves, so one type of app can’t find another,” explains CAC Executive Director Gilles Valade.
The 457 kHz standard was chosen because it transmits very well through dense snow, is not deflected by objects such as trees and rocks, and is accurate. “None of the various communication methods used by these apps come close to that standard,” adds Valade. “WiFi and Bluetooth signals are significantly weakened when passing through snow, and easily deflected by the solid objects we expect to see in avalanche debris. And the accuracy of a GPS signal is nowhere near the precision required for finding an avalanche victim. ”
Other critical issues include battery life, robustness, reliability and interference. “These apps are being actively marketed as software that turns a smartphone into an avalanche transceiver but the CAC has serious concerns about their vulnerabilities,” says Valade. “We are warning all backcountry users to not use any of these apps in place of an avalanche transceiver.”
The three apps are:
– iSis Intelligent (Mountain) Rescue System http://www.isis-application.com/en/
– Snøg Avalanche Buddy: http://www.avalanchebuddy.com/
– SnoWhere: http://charcoalfrost.com/
For more information:
Mary Clayton, CAC Communications Director
250.837.2141 (228)
250.837.1492
mclayton@avalanche.ca
Skiers should carry transceiver probe and shovel and know how to use them through training.
Beacons are transmit only.
you need a beacon transmitter and a beacon receiver otherwise known as an avalanche rescue transceiver.
If you ski offpiste with people that aren’t properly equipped or trained then you shouldn’t expect them to be able to save your life when you get buried.
I have found that a smartphone interferes with the ava beacon and needs to be kept apart from your beacon.
Not ok. Who are the people who finance this stuff?
Very good info because so many media outlets were pushing these as cool options.
Disgusting.