News Utah’s avalanche guns are going silent

[GoldensRule]

Utah’s avalanche guns are going silent

The end of avalanche artillery in Utah

For decades, the boom of howitzers kept skiers safe. Now the military wants the guns back, and Utah must reinvent avalanche control.

www.deseret.com

 

[2seater]

Very interesting history..

 

[ef9boy88]

Interesting, I wonder if they would be able to purchase guns that are no longer useful to the military or maybe even have some built. May not be cost effective.

 

[Jimi Jah]

Drones can drop explosives now.

 

[.dC0m]

I know some Ski resorts will fly a guy who's job is to manually drop explosives (from the Helicopter) onto the mountain to create avalanches. Not sure if it's more cost effective, but Ski resorts/parks have been creative in the past 20 - 30 years.

 

[sonofeugene]

Why would the military want those antiques back?

 

[.dC0m]

Why would the military want those antiques back?

 

[sonofeugene]

So they want them for spare parts?

 

[BillSmith]

I know that the Marines from the Mtn. Warfare base were used to the nudge snow in and around their location in the Sierra Nevada Mts. Anyone know if they still do?

 

[GoldensRule]

So they want them for spare parts?

No, modern 105mm howitzers like the M119 are completely different from the M101. It could be they want them back because ammunition stores are completely depleted. The fuse type used in the M101 is no longer manufactured and hasn't been for many, many years. Bringing them back could simply be an accounting issue which, if you are familiar with DoD "accounting" is kind of funny.

 

[DudeFromTheWest]

IIRC the US Forest Service used to use 106mm recoilless rifles out here for avalanche control. They started to retire them after they had an in-bore explosion on one of the rounds. Also the supplies were starting to get exhausted since all the rounds they had were from the Korean War.

 

[GoldensRule]

IIRC the US Forest Service used to use 106mm recoilless rifles out here for avalanche control. They started to retire them after they had an in-bore explosion on one of the rounds. Also the supplies were starting to get exhausted since all the rounds they had were from the Korean War.

Yes, the M40 see:

A nasty, motherless of a weapon for anyone within 100 ft of the rear when fired.

 

[FunGun]

In the 70's and 80's I would ski at Loveland in Colorado. One day I got there early and heard explosions. I asked the guy in the parking lot what was going on and he told me they were firing mortars for avalanche control. I could see the mortars hitting. It took several hits to clear the slope.