Ever been on a trail or mountain or deep in the woods somewhere when something goes terribly, drastically wrong? You twist your ankle and can’t continue; a storm rolls in and makes the trail impassable; or your equipment fails at a critical time? I remember when it happened to a friend of a friend a few years back: He’d set out on a solo snowshoeing trek on Mt. Quandary. He was an experienced outdoorsman with all the right gear—but his GPS fizzled out that day. Cue the storm clouds and blizzard, and you can guess how the rest went. It ended with a hospital and severe frostbite.

The point is: It can happen to anyone, no matter how experienced. You can’t overpower Mother Nature, nor can you foresee freak accidents. Adventure is a blast, but it involves risk—especially if you insist on completing your outdoor pursuits by yourself. 

That’s where iNeverSolo comes in. The new Lakewood-based company, started by local engineer and licensed pilot Jed Mitchell, makes it simple to create an in-case-of-emergency plan when you take off on an excursion. Here’s how it works:

1. Register on iNeverSolo.com. It’s free, and from then on, you’ll just log in.

2. Enter your plan for the day: where you’re going, how long you’ll be gone, what time you’ll be back, and your emergency contacts.

3. Activate your plan and set off on your journey.

If something goes awry and you don’t check out, iNeverSolo automatically notifies your contacts, either by text or email, that something may be wrong. It provides all the details of your plan to your contacts, and help can be deployed if necessary. 

Really, it’s just a tool that builds on common sense, and iNeverSolo now has users around the world. Don’t be that person who scribbled an illegible note on the fridge that no one even knew was there. Instead, trust the Colorado guy who thought of this—and share your plan the next time you head for the hills. 

—Image courtesy of Shutterstock