Technology Tuesday

This week's Tech Tuesday takes us up the mountain to Eldora Ski Resort, where many folks served by Imagine! are able to take advantage of the slopes through the Ignite Adaptive Sports program. Members of the Ignite program are ever vigilant in determining new ways and means for people to maximize their experience on the slopes, and today we'd like to highlight one such mechanism.

Many individuals who take advantage of the Ignite program have something in common: limited, or lack of, sensation in their extremities, specifically fingers and toes. Keeping them warm has always been a priority, but it can be challenging if a person cannot feel or report that their fingers and toes have gotten too cold. John Humbrecht recently set out to solve this issue by developing an app called WarmEnough.

The premise is simple: a small flexible temperature probe is placed inside the boots of a skier, and it relays temperature data to the app (pictured above). If the temperature goes below a certain threshold, an alert chimes to notify you that it's time to get off the mountain and warm up. And that's all there is to it. Simple and effective, and as of this posting, the app is in its beta testing phase, and seems to be working as intended. This app (along with the accompanying temperature probe) is scheduled for release sometime in the summer of 2017 for the following ski season.

Stay tuned! And keep up the good work, Ignite!