App provides real-time reports to increase safety in mountains: Avalanche Canada

KAMLOOPS – A group that promotes avalanche safety says a new smartphone app provides backcountry users with important real-time information.

Avalanche Canada says the app called Mountain Information Network — or MIN — is intended to be used with other tools in the outdoors.

The app is free and submissions about conditions in mountainous terrain are geo-tagged so users can see where the observations were made.

People can submit reports through a smartphone or a computer, and photos can be added.

Those conditions then appear as small blue icons on the map in the app and on Avalanche Canada's website.

Karl Klasssen, manager of group's public avalanche warning service, says contributions from various areas will be a valuable resource because data from some forecasting regions is sometimes irregular.