Avalanche Inclinometer

Review by eFreeware

Slope angle, elevation and compass aspect are the three terrain factors that matter most when you are deciding whether a line is worth skiing, and getting a reliable read on all three usually means carrying a separate inclinometer or squinting at a general-purpose tool built for carpenters. Avalanche Inclinometer, from Iterum, LLC, is an Android app that puts those three numbers on one screen and is meant for people who spend their winter days in avalanche terrain rather than on a job site.

It costs $3.99, carries no ads and offers no in-app purchases, so what you pay at the store is the whole arrangement. The developer's pitch is that the price amounts to less than a beer at a ski resort, which is a fair way to frame a single-purpose tool: you buy it once, and it does one job.

The app has been on Google Play since March 2017 and was updated in September 2024 to version 1.2.0, which adds support for newer Android devices. It shows a 4.9 average from 22 ratings, and the install figure sits at over 1,000. Those are small numbers, and they tell you something useful: this is a niche instrument rather than a mass-market app, which is exactly what a dedicated snow-safety tool should be.

Reading a slope without stopping to think

The core of the app is a measurement screen that shows slope, elevation and aspect in large type. That choice of typography is deliberate. Tired eyes, flat light, driving snow and the glare of a bluebird afternoon all work against small text, and the developer's stated aim is a display you can read at a glance when your hands are cold and your goggles are fogging.

There is no clutter of small buttons and widgets to work through before you get a number. The screen keeps to the readings themselves, which suits the moment when you are standing at the top of a suspect slope and want an answer rather than a menu.

The dial itself changes color according to the steepness of the slope, giving an immediate visual cue about how the angle relates to avalanche likelihood. I like the idea of that as a secondary channel: even if you are not reading the number, the color tells you which band you are in.

The developer is upfront that the app is one input among many. That framing is the right one for any instrument of this kind, and it is worth taking at face value.

Sighting methods and the spoken readout

You can take a measurement in more than one way. Holding the phone parallel to the slope gives you a reading across the surface, while sighting along the long edge of the phone, like a gunsight, lets you measure up or down a slope. The second method is the one that appeals to me for judging a line from below or above before you commit to it.

The developer also mentions through-the-camera sighting, describing it as handy when the light cooperates but often not. That caveat is refreshingly direct, and it tells you the camera is a convenience rather than the primary method.

Once the phone is aligned, a single tap locks the data so the numbers stay put while you read them. That is a small detail with real consequences: you do not have to hold a steady position and memorize a figure at the same time.

The app can also speak the steepness aloud while you are measuring, so you do not need to look at the screen at all. For anyone measuring a slope in an awkward stance, or with a glove in the way, a spoken reading is a genuinely useful alternative to reading a display.

Sharing a measurement with the rest of your group

One button sends your position, the angle in degrees and the altitude by email. The message also includes a browser link to the spot, along with kml and gpx waypoint files. That combination covers most of the ways people pass route information around: the files for mapping software, the link for anyone who just wants to see where you were.

The email addresses are entered once on the Settings page and remembered afterward. The developer's reasoning is less typing and more skiing, and that is the right priority for a tool you use with cold hands. Groups that split up, or that want a record of what they skied and how steep it was, would get the most from this.

I would expect the sharing feature to be the part that separates this app from a plain angle gauge. A number on a screen helps you make a decision; a waypoint file with the angle attached helps everyone else understand the decision later, whether that is a partner planning a similar line or your own notes at the end of the season.

What you need before the first measurement

Setup is minimal: you enter the email addresses you want the share function to use on the Settings page, and the app remembers them. There is nothing else described in the way of accounts, profiles or configuration.

The phone is the instrument. You align it with the slope rather than pointing it at a distant object, and the reading is taken from that alignment.

It advises taking an avalanche course, watching for red flags, choosing routes carefully and practicing rescue often. The app measures terrain; it does not assess the snowpack, the weather or the people you are traveling with, and the developer does not pretend otherwise.

The backcountry traveler this fits

This is a tool for skiers and riders who already understand avalanche terrain and want a fast, legible way to put numbers on what they are looking at. If you carry a beacon, shovel and probe and you think in terms of slope angle and aspect, the app fits naturally into that routine.

It is also a reasonable fit for people who travel in groups and want to pass measurements along. The email sharing, the waypoint files and the stored addresses all point toward that use, and they make the app more than a personal gauge.

The narrow focus is the point. General-purpose inclinometer apps exist for carpentry and similar work, and the developer draws that contrast deliberately. Anyone who wants a broad measurement toolkit will find this app does less; anyone who wants the three terrain numbers in a form they can read in bad weather will find it does exactly enough.

The price and what it buys

At $3.99 with no ads and no in-app purchases, the app is a straightforward one-time purchase. There is no upsell to work around, which keeps the measurement screen free of anything that is not a measurement.

The developer's beer comparison is a fair summary of the value question. You are paying a small amount for a single-purpose instrument, and the question is simply whether you spend enough time in avalanche terrain to want it in your pocket.

The install base is modest, over 1,000, and the rating sits at 4.9 from 22 ratings. Those numbers describe a small, specific audience rather than a broad one, and that is consistent with what the app is built to do.

A focused instrument for avalanche terrain

Avalanche Inclinometer does one job and does it in a way that respects the conditions you would use it in: large numbers, a dial that changes color with steepness, a spoken reading, a tap to lock the value, and a one-button share that produces waypoint files and a browser link.

It suits backcountry skiers and riders who already read terrain and want quick slope, elevation and aspect readings without fighting a cluttered interface. It also suits groups that want to send measurements to each other with the location attached.

The app is an instrument, not a judgment. The developer says as much by pointing users toward avalanche education, red flags, route-finding and rescue practice, and anyone who treats the numbers as one input among several will get the most from it.

What's new in version 1.2.0

Version 1.2.0 adds support for newer Android devices.