The Approach

We have long since been committed to a community driven approach to creating to new safety technology. We think this is paramount. Unfortunately, very few people get the opportunity to see the big picture response to our work the way we do. Our calls for help are always met with an overwhelming response and willingness to provide insight. Contributing to the snow safety realm is not a small feat. For the Lyte probe to reach its full potential it will and does take a village.  So we wanted to highlight some of that for you. To start here are some data points:

The Data

RAD has been out in snow talking with professionals, iterating on designs, testing, and talking to professionals again. This is (in our minds) the only design cycle that can be for a smart probe that has so much potential for the avalanche community.  In 2016-2017 we launched a beta test where we sent out 30 probes to get feedback. During the 2017-2018 season we focused more internally testing but there were still a select few out collecting data. Check out the numbers from the last two years of community collaboration:

  • During 2016-2017, a little more than 1300 measurements were taken by 37 different users all across the western United States all of which did not include any RAD team members.
  • Over the last two years more than 5200 measurements have been taken through our app by both external users and members of the RAD team.
  • The conditions we have exposed the probe to are wide varying. The probe has been used from Central California all the way to the Arctic. Consider the map to the right showing the bulk of where measurements have been taken.

The Personal Touch

Collaborating with the avalanche community has been so much more than the number of measurements and where they all took place. In fact we would argue that’s smallest component of it. It has been more so the demonstration of so many who continue to impress us with their dedication to the community. Consider a couple case points.

  1. An avalanche forecaster who gave up a an afternoon on his day off to test the Lyte probe with Micah. And to make it happen his wife offer to watch Micah’s son!
  2. A local cat skiing operation invited us to join them so they use the probe in the middle of pre-season conditions checking, having us come along totally interrupted their operations.
  3.  An experienced local skier goes out every weekend and uses the probe to provide a continuous flow of detailed observations side by side.

Examples like this go on and on. Why? The avalanche community is one of a kind. This is a passionate group of people are so dedicated to making recreation safer that they would give up their free time or interrupt their operations to push for better future. We are humbled and blessed to be a part of that.