By Avalanche Canada staff
For winter backcountry users, there’s nothing like first-hand information on conditions. What’s the riding like? Any sign of avalanches? How much snow did that last system dump—10 cm or 20?
For mountain people, these are burning questions and Avalanche Canada is very happy to help answer them through the Mountain Information Network (MIN). The MIN is an online information sharing network that allows users to tap directly in to the experiences of others.
The MIN is accessed by clicking on the coloured icons that populate the map on Avalanche Canada’s homepage—avalanche.ca. With the first version of the MIN all those icons were blue and all accessed a type of submission we call a quick report. These quick reports give a brief overview of weather, snow and avalanche conditions and allow the submitter to include comments, observations and photos.
MIN 2.0 will be introduced in early January and allows the option of submitting more technical and detailed observations, as well as incident reports. Each type of report yields a different coloured icon. If you witness an avalanche, for example, you can easily submit details on its size, start zone, weak layer and other pertinent information. The icon that’s created will be blue. Red icons signify a report from a non-fatal avalanche incident. Or you can choose a snowpack report (purple) or a weather report (yellow) that allow detailed observations, similar to information shared by professionals in the field.
At Avalanche Canada, we know the MIN will be an important addition to backcountry safety. We are very excited to be part of Split Fest, an event we’ve been proud to be connected with since the beginning. We look forward to seeing the MIN submissions from Split Fest participants!
One of our forecasters, Joe Lammers, will be giving a great presentation at Canuck Splitfest focusing on this season’s snowpack. Joe will essentially rebuild the weather events that created the layers we’re dealing with right now and will share his insight into what’s coming next and how to best handle what we’ve got. Be sure to catch his presentation and feel free to ask questions.
To learn more about Canuck Splitfest 2016, see our introductory story here.
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