Little Cottonwood Canyon ski areas find themselves again on the cutting edge in the battle against nature as they seek a replacement.
Men perform avalanche mitigation with a military howitzer at Alta Ski Area in the 1950s. Alta was the first ski area in the United States to use explosives and military artillery to try to mitigate avalanches. . If history hadn’t taught that to the U.S. Forest Service and the members of the Utah Winter Sports Association — the ski area’s founders — they were given a reminder in 1938 when the first skiers’ lodge was destroyed by a slide just before it was finished. The Salt Lake Valley from Alta ski resort, on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
A month after the first lift started running, Wadsworth initiated the use of dynamite to trigger a slide on Mount Superior across from the ski area. It appeared unsuccessful at first, but that area slid the next day, stacking 14 feet of snow atop a 2,000-foot stretch of State Route 210. Two of those stand guard at Alta Ski Area. One cannon’s barrel faces the avalanche start zone on Mount Baldy. The other’s faces Mount Superior. When either is fired, a deep crackling, enveloping sound reverberates around the surrounding mountains. At ski areas across the nation, just such a boom has become a battle cry of sorts:For those who fire them, however, the booms sound much more sinister.
Is the legislature okay with this!
2nd Amendment! THIS IS WHAT OUR FOUNDING FATHERS WERE WORRIED ABOUT!
Don’t put this behind a paywall c’mon