A short video about the history of Alta's artillery program that commenced in 1949 to combat the ever-present threat of destructive avalanches. This is the last season artillery will be used as part of Alta's avalanche mitigation efforts.
-
For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.
Ski Utah video "The Last Gunners"
- Thread starter Daniel
- Start date
Will / do drones get used as avalanche control tools?
Not at the 4 Cottonwood Canyon resorts. Each of the BCC and LCC resorts have multiple RACS (Remote Avalanche Control System) towers/devices from France and Switzerland positioned in or in close proximity to the start zones of slide paths. Ski patrol avalanche mitigation teams also conduct control work by the usual methods (ski cutting, skiing/hiking/climbing to positions from which hand charges are tossed, cornice stomping, etc). All four used to use avalaunchers situated on firing platforms but I don't believe any still currently do though, during the display of the film's credits, it appears that Alta Ski Patrol will in the future. Here's a photo of Alta's artillery bunker taken from Snowbird's Peruvian Gulch:
UDOT (Utah Department of Transportation) does aerial control work along numerous canyon roads but uses helicopters for its bombing runs. They also use artillery towed behind a truck and delivered to pre-determined roadside positions to place shots in start zones of avalanche paths threatening the canyon roads, of which there are many. UDOT will continue to use artillery going forward, as far as I know.
Drones are used to film avalanches as they occur and also to film the aftermath of control work. Here are a couple examples of the former and latter:
At the end of the second video, one can see another huge debris pile down canyon that completely covered the road for a significant distance and another group of snowcats working to restore the road to drivable status.
Last edited:
Intersting video.
While watching the movie Buried about the deadly avalanche at Alpine Meadows in the 80s one of the things brought up was how the head of patrol had military exprience with howitzers and was savvy about how to use explosives.
