Alarming number of deaths at North American ski resorts

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=314485

An alarming number of skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobile riders, and mountaineers have been killed over Christmas and the New Year holidays amidst record falls of snow.

Most of the deaths have occurred in North America.

In the latest fatality on New Year's Day a 29-year-old Whistler man was killed while skiing when an avalanche hit he and a 21-year-old snowboarder, sweeping the two of them off a 75-metre cliff.
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A huge snow storm has resulted in the most snowfall in Colorado in more than a hundred years. Denver received 7.8 inches of snow on Christmas Day.
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Avalanches all over...too much snow

National Guard, but like all other aspects and resources of that institution they've been abused and stretched too thin.

Are you serious or just exaggerating?

From what i understand about avalanche control, many of the guns are WWII vintage field Howitzers like this one;


Some areas use Viet Nam era Recoilless Rifles like this one;



There is no way the Army is going to take away avalanche control guns and send them overseas. No way. They have plenty of artillery in the Army and Marines.

news report on this very subject on both CNN and the traditional three.

The U.S. military is demanding two Sierra Nevada ski resorts, including Alpine Meadows, return howitzer cannons used for avalanche control so the weapons can be deployed for the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Alpine and Mammoth Mountain, under a loan from the U.S. Army, began using five howitzers last year to intentionally trigger avalanches in hazardous areas by firing rounds into snow-covered mountainsides. The ski resorts received word earlier this month that the Army's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois must have the howitzers returned immediately to support the war.

Ray Belli, ski patrol director at Alpine Meadows, which has one of the cannons, said Army officials did not tell him why they needed the artillery piece back, but that he had heard through the grapevine that they needed the parts to support the war effort in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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http://www.sierrasun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040427/News/104270003

accurate.

But then again, those particular ones are on loan and they have only had them a year.

But if it turns out it is all of them, i stand humbly corrected.

And dumbfounded.

at Alpine Meadows (Tahoe) there was such a huge Avalanche that took out the lodge and locals were poling the snow for days looking for bodies. Huge tragedy. This will be a big avalanche year with ten feet expected tomorrow. Intense avalanche control was a direct result of that tragedy.

I've never seen this many

damn shame.
http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=142404

and the spotlight glares on their shortcomings instead. :(

but aren't there warnings in avalance areas? Sorry to be dense about this topic.

.... if more people were employed, these lazy bums would not have time to be out on the ski slopes dying. :sarcasm:

I hadn't seen a lot about avalanche deaths, but I did notice an up tick in collisions resulting in injuries or deaths.