Altitude illness
Health telemetry watches SpO₂ and resting heart rate against your own baseline, not a population average, and flags a trend before it becomes AMS.
Activities · Climbing · Skill 4–5 · High to extreme risk
Objective hazard is a layer, not a feeling.
Alpine climbing is where the map stops being a convenience. Glacier travel, avalanche terrain, crevasse fields and a weather window measured in hours — the app treats each of those as data you can read before the alarm goes off at two in the morning.
01 / By the numbers
1–5dAlpine routeWeeks for an expedition peak
5Layers auto-enabledTopo, glaciers, avalanche, weather, huts
<2sMesh repairParty stays linked through a col with no line of sight
118bpmParty HR averageFused from wearables, visible to the leader
02 / What the app enables
Pick the activity. The map configures itself.
These layers switch on together, because they are the set this activity actually needs. You can change any of them; the point is that the default is not a blank topo map.
- Topographic
- Slope angle and aspect derivatives from SRTM and 3DEP LiDAR where available.
- Glaciers
- Extent, crevasse fields and known route lines.
- Avalanche
- Terrain classification and current forecast where a bulletin exists.
- Weather
- GFS and ECMWF, with the freezing level that decides whether the route is in.
- Huts
- Refuges and high camps with capacity and season.
03 / Failure modes
The ways this actually goes wrong.
Every activity in NavTrax carries a documented failure-mode list, and each entry names the feature that addresses it. Not a disclaimer — a design input.
Crevasse fall
Glacier layers plus roped-travel guidance. Party positions are shared over mesh where nothing else reaches.
Avalanche
Slope angle and aspect on the map, the bulletin on the layer, and a route line you can check against both.
Weather trap
Multi-model forecast with the freezing level, and a pre-scheduled satellite check-in for the day the window closes.
Team conflict
Not a joke on a three-week expedition. The health dashboard surfaces sleep and stress proxies, which is usually where it starts.
04 / Practice
What the app assumes you already do.
- Rotating acclimatisation
- Tracked per member against their own baseline.
- Avalanche assessment
- Slope, aspect and bulletin on one map.
- Roped glacier travel
- Party positions over mesh, no cellular required.
- Conservative weather
- Two models, and the freezing level shown explicitly.
05 / Curated kit
The gear list, scoped to this activity.
Pulled from the activity's own equipment profile and matched against the in-app store catalog. Nothing here is a generic recommendation.
RopeDynamic half ropes8.5 mm, twin-rated
ProtectionScrews and picketsRoute-dependent
TractionCrampons and ice toolsTechnical, mono or dual
SafetyAvalanche transceiver, probe, shovelNon-negotiable
SleepBivy or high-camp tent4-season
CommsMesh node and satelliteCols kill line of sight
MedicalAlpine trauma kitPlus the offline guides
NavigationAltimeter watch and phoneRegion pinned before the approach
06 / Under the hood
How party vitals reach the leader
The window is the whole plan.
Avalanche and glacier layers, mesh and health telemetry are Pro. Advanced safety monitoring is Elite.