A trio of grade six girls from North Vancouver have developed a prototype app that tells hikers if they have enough time to finish their excursion before darkness falls.

"I think it's about 80 per cent of the overdue hiker calls that we get," said North Shore Rescue team leader Mike Danks.

Three months ago he was contacted by Eleni McLaughlin, Saoirse Pontin and Madeline Williams to ask him questions about their app — called Hike Safe — that would help solve a problem in their community.

"North Shore Rescue says that the number one reason a hiker gets lost or injured is simple: they get caught in the dark," said Pontin, 11, in a promotional video selling the idea of the free app.

The students — who had no coding experience when they started — wanted to enter a competition put on by Technovation, which challenges girls all over the world to build a mobile app that will address a community problem.

Now they're gaining attention in the media and online for their idea and have advanced to the semi-finals of the challenge, which awards the winner $10,000 to complete their app and make it available to the public.

"I didn't expect it really," said Williams, 12. "I thought it was just going to be a fun experience and so, yeah, it was surprising."

How it works

Hikers would download the app by scanning a QR code at a trail head. They would then enter which route they were taking along with what time they are leaving and their fitness level.

Hike Safe then calculates how long the hike will take and estimates whether or not the hiker can complete the hike while there is appropriate light to do so. It does not need cellular service to do this.

The app also send notes about progress and helps the hiker determine if or when they should turn back. Future versions could offer the ability for SAR teams to post bulletins or preparation advice.

"It would be really cool if we got it out to the app store," said Pontin, who added that if the group doesn't win Technovation, then it could be difficult to make that happen.

North Shore Rescue says 80 per cent of calls are for overdue hikers caught in the dark without a proper light. NSR made a record 138 rescues in 2015. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

For the past three month the girls, who are student at Ross Road Elementary school, have worked four to 10 hours a week on the project.

"I am just so proud of what they accomplished. It was a lot of work," said Cher Main, a software developer who served as the girls' mentor. "They started out having pretty much zero computer experience. They deserve some recognition for what they did, because it was a great idea."

Danks agrees and says depending on what happens with the competition, NSR is prepared to make the app a reality.

"We'll do everything we can to help those girls out because already they've helped us just by the awareness that this story has got," he said.