A new navigation app for Canada’s backcountry community found early success in its first winter thanks to expertise from a veteran Revelstoke guide and other B.C. ski tourers.
Granite, a route-finding application launched late last year, is filling a crevasse in online navigation tools for navigating the province’s mountains.
It uses 3D satellite imagery, elevation contours and slope angles to give recreationists a clear picture right from their smartphone of viable ski lines and potential avalanche risk in regions across B.C. and Alberta, including the Columbia Mountains around Revelstoke.
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The team of developers – Esteban Sanchez, Gabrielle Toupin and Daniel Leung – began prototyping Granite in 2024, before launching it in October 2025. By early this March, some 4,000 people had used the app, and submitted more than 100 trip reports.
“Granite’s really becoming the one app in B.C. that you can use for all your backcountry needs,” Sanchez told Black Press Media.
The developers had noticed a lack of localized apps for recreational navigation. Often, recreationists were merely following backcountry ski touring lines on random Strava tracks, less-reliable applications such as the volunteer-run OpenStreetMap, or even AI-generated routes off ChatGPT.
For navigating avalanche terrain, Sanchez saw that something more robust and reputable was needed.
“Increasing safety’s critical,” he said. “Let’s actually document lines that we know are proper lines.”
Unlike other apps, they’ve sourced from guidebooks and partnered with local guides to map tried-and-true routes in the Coast, Columbia and Rocky mountains, including experts certified under the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). A percentage of revenue from Granite’s user fees compensates these guides for mapping hundreds of lines.
Leung explained that his team was collaborating early on with Squamish ski guide Eric Carter, who also recommended Revelstoke’s Adam Zok as an ACMG-certified expert on the Columbia Mountains.
“We’re really stoked to be working on this, and working with people in the community like Adam,” said Leung, who’s worked for ski patrol at Whistler Blackcomb.
Previously living in California and Wyoming, Zok runs guided ski touring trips at Golden Alpine Holidays and the Blanket Glacier Chalet, and has been touring in Rogers Pass for 12 winters.
“When I finished school, I started snowboarding full time,” the 38-year-old told Black Press Media, remembering spending a lot of it splitboarding at Rogers Pass.
This included breaking into new terrain he couldn’t find in guidebooks, mapping areas such as the Dawson Range south of the Asulkan Valley.
He also explored numerous seldom-toured spots farther afield, likely laying down tracks where nobody had done so previously, including at Argonaut Creek near Mica Dam.
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After Granite’s developers reached out last fall, Zok took some time before the 2025-26 ski guiding season to plug away at mapping nearly 150 routes for Mount MacPherson, the Revelstoke Mountain Resort sidecountry and Rogers Pass.
“I have a trillion old GPS tracks,” Zok said, explaining how he was able to trace them on Granite.
He immediately liked Granite for how it filled a digital void for backcountry users who require a wide range of information to plan and navigate routes.
FATMAP used to be his favourite app for 3D geo-referenced satellite imagery, but shut down after being acquired by Strava in 2023. Newer options have emerged since then, including the Canadian-made Outmap, but Zok said most of them are overly complex, glitchy or lacking in the functionality that Granite has.
He prefers Granite’s mix of satellite imagery, contour lines and slope shading, which make it “worlds easier” for users to find safe passages and avoid dangerous slide paths in the mountains, even around more remote areas. For popular areas, Zok applauds the developers for including functions such as route lines and descriptions, photo sharing, trip reports, Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale ratings, and even boundary lines for Glacier National Park’s winter restricted areas.
He said these features give users access to all the backcountry information they could hope for, and straight from their phone.
“They’re trying to make (Granite) a one-stop shop for everything you need for planning,” Zok added.
“That both keeps you safe and opens up the door to more complex adventures.”
Having spent plenty of free time last winter helping Granite’s team tweak their app, “it’s been nice to sculpt it into something I actually want to use,” he reflected. “I think they’re doing a pretty good job.”
The developers commended Zok for being a dedicated contributor and “power user” of Granite, who visits the backcountry rain or shine and provides critical feedback for the app by suggesting small changes to the user interface.
Thanks to the many touring lines Zok has shared, “the best content we have is probably in Rogers Pass,” Sanchez said.
“He’s out every day, using Granite every day. We’re getting on-the-ground feedback from experts like Adam.”
Zok said the Granite team has likewise been great at incorporating his feedback, and he’s optimistic for the app’s continued success.
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“It’s 2026 – we have all the technology to have this information accessible to us,” he said.
“It’s silly not to use it.”
On the horizon this summer is an expansion of Granite to include more than 400 hiking and mountaineering routes, on top of the 50 it’s already shared.
Users will also be able to share not just photos but even videos through the app, and check wildfire smoke forecasts as well.
“We’ve really learned over the last few months that contributors like Adam and their unique experience they share with the overall Granite community is what really makes Granite special,” Leung added by email.
The developers are also engaging with local search and rescue organizations, the BC Search and Rescue Association and AdventureSmart to share recreational data, support safety and awareness in the backcountry, educate users on mountain navigation, and reduce emergency calls.
The team hopes to expand outreach to attract more backcountry enthusiasts as well, whether as app users or route-mappers.
“If people know areas and want to contribute, we want to hear from them,” Sanchez emphasized. “We’re really creating the home of the backcountry community.”