This ski pole collects avalanche data for you Photo: Mountain Hub Photo: Mountain Hub
This new ski pole from Mountain Hub is much more than just a tool for riding snow. It might become an essential piece of mountain equipment for backcountry skiing and riding.
That’s because this ski pole doubles as a probe — traditionally used to test snow depth and locate buried victims — and fits inside the Scope ski pole itself. But the Scope (one of the most high-tech offerings of its kind on the market) extends into the pack and using extremely advanced technology, senses weaknesses in the layers that could make a slope vulnerable to slides and beams that information to your cellphone via Bluetooth.
Park City, Utah-based Mountain Hub originally launched this technology under the name Avatech a few years ago. It’s currently available as the SP2, a probe for snow safety professionals like ski patrollers. As the technology senses snowpack stability (or instability), it sends out information to other patrollers’ probes via Bluetooth — a means of communication faster even than a quick call on the radio.
The information can also be uploaded to Mountain Hub’s website, where any powder hound can benefit from the crowd-sourced info. It’s not limited to just snowpack, either. Users can geotag photos and other bits of crucial information about a ridge, slope, cornice, or peak.
The Scope poles will debut at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City this month. They won’t be available for your outings this winter; you’ll have to wait until the official launch next fall when they’re expected to run $500. But for now, you can pre-order a pair for $350.
