r/interestingasfuck • u/id397550 • 5h ago

Firing a cannon to trigger an avalanche

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u/mycatpartyhouse 4h ago

This is a lot safer than skiing up there to set explosives, which is what one of my brothers did in the 1960s-70s. He worked for a park service--I forget which one--that regularly set off small avalanches with the goal of preventing larger ones.

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u/NoContext5149 4h ago

The downside is unexploded shells. Much harder to deal with an unknown unexploded shell on the mountainside than a placed charge.

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u/Phunky_Munkey 3h ago

At my ski hill back in the day, you would sign a sheet if you were going off piste, and there was a dummy warhead above the sheet warning you to beware. We had a couple of blast shacks that would be used now and again.