June 8, 2022
Debugging at 14,000ft
Last summer, I was getting bug reports for my app Landscape that data would sometimes be lost while recording a hike. Data loss is a big issue because it erodes any trust and confidence that a user has in an app. I dropped my feature work and tried for days to reproduce the issue, but was never able to at my desk. Finally, I came to the conclusion that the only way to reproduce the bug and identify the issue was to get on the trail and hope I would encounter it myself.
La Plata Peak, near Leadville, Colorado was next on our list. We chose the non-standard southwest ridge route, which delivered on epic views and a very peaceful day. Other than on the summit, I think we saw two other people the whole day.
My pack had all the usual things (food, water, emergency supplies, bear spray, .....) but also had my MacBook Pro! I later learned that MacBook Pro has a maximum operating altitude of 10,000ft 😬 thankfully nothing went wrong.
I've never written code with a view more epic than this.
On the summit, I was able to connect my iPhone to my Mac and stream some logs from Landscape in the Console app. Luckily, I was able to reproduce the issue and fix it right there. Mission accomplished, if only we didn't have to hike all the way back.
![Image of La Plata Peak 3D model](/images/debugging-at-14000-feet/la-plata-preak-preview.png)
As always, here is the 3D model (.usdz) of our climb, exported from Landscape.
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