On a good season, Mammoth Mountain gets a ton of snowfall. When all that snow builds up it holds the risk of releasing huge avalanches. To mitigate this avalanche threat Mammoth ski patrol uses a number of different ways to trigger slides before the public can. One of the tools at their disposal is a World War II howitzer.
“On California’s Mammoth Mountain, the powder is great, but the risks are real. When large snowfalls and intense winds merge into avalanches, things get risky on steep slopes. To keep thousands of skiers and snowboarders safe high in the Sierras, ski patrollers like Matt Seibert fight off dangerous avalanches using a not-so-secret weapon: World War II-era cannons.”