How Heavy Artillery Became Important Avalanche Mitigation Tools

Skiing and snowboarding are usually associated with fringe groups, anti-establishment mindsets, and of course, punk rock. However, the plot thickens.

Skiing and the military have deep roots dating back to World War II, the 10th Mountain Division, and giant canons. The use of high grade military canons, like the Howitzer, was developed in the 1940s in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, and some of these are still in use in California and Nevada at Mammoth, Palisades, and Mt. Rose.

However, there was quite a long build up to the use of these guns starting with the 10th Mountain Division.

The 10th Mountain Division was a specialized group of combat soldiers made up of ex-athletes, mountaineers, and skiers who saw their first combat in the Italian Alps in 1944.

Charles Minot Dole, who founded the National Ski Patrol (NSP), was inspired by the Finnish destruction of the Red Army when they invaded Finland in the early stages of World War II, and pushed the War Department to start training soldiers in mountain conditions, which includes skiing.

Eventually they gave in and the 10th Mountain Division trained at Camp Hale, near Leadville, Colorado. They became instrumental in the European Alps to help defeat Germany and Italy.

Members of the 10th Mountain Division were inspired by their mountain combat and training, and returned back to the U.S. where they founded up to 62 ski resorts including, Vail, Aspen, Stratton, and Whiteface.

One of which was Montgomery Atwater who was discharged from the 10th Mountain Division for injuries sustained during combat. In 1945 he became a forest ranger for the Wasatch National Forest, primarily focusing on public safety in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.

During his time there he performed ground breaking work for mountain safety, specifically avalanche safety.

He developed the first avalanche research center in the Western Hemisphere after being influenced by his time in Europe and mountains all over the world. He served as Avalanche Control Chief during the 1960 Olympics at Palisades Tahoe and the alpine skiing World Championships in Chile in 1966.

He is renowned worldwide for his avalanche research and forecasting as well as developing new techniques and equipment for avalanche mitigation.

One of which was the use of military grade howitzers and the development of the Mark 10 Avalauncher.

Atwater was the first person in North America to be successful with using explosives for avalanche control. He started with rudimentary techniques that didn’t get much results, but rather a heap of information.

It wasn’t until 1949 when Atwater urged the Utah National Guard to acquire a French Howitzer with 75 millimeter rounds to blast into the mountain. With its relative success, they set up a Howitzer at Alta.

As Atwater and the Utah National Guard continued experimenting with different artillery and ammo, they settled on 75 mm and 100 mm rounds shot out of a recoilless rifle, which contains a propellant that is attached to the actual explosive.

This is ideal for avalanche work because they’re light, easy to use, and have no recoil due to the propellant pushing out just as much force in the back as in the front.

Over time, technology has improved and Howitzers are being phased out at ski resorts, but these old war relics are still as accurate as they have ever been.