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Uncle Sam says gimme back my cannon
The US 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 US 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.
Destination unconfirmed
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. "We were surprised they still used that type of weapon
in Iraq or Afghanistan," Belli said. "They must have more modern
weapons than that these days. "
Patrollers at Alpine use the 105-caliber, 119-A model howitzer to
do avalanche control in areas that would be either too difficult
to reach or too dangerous to control by hand. "We use it during
storm cycles where we can't make it up the mountain - where it's
too windy or too dangerous to make it up there - to do certain [avalanche]
routes that threaten the entire mountain," Belli said. The cannon
fires a 4-pound charge up to six miles for avalanche control purposes.
Poor safety record
Alpine acquired its howitzer at the beginning of this ski season
to replace an older, less reliable 106-caliber howitzer. The 106-caliber
howitzers have had a poor safety record at area resorts, including
a misfire that killed one patroller at Alpine Meadows six years
ago and a couple of misfires this past season reported by the Mammoth
Mountain Ski Patrol. Mammoth used the older guns for avalanche control
this season.
According to Belli, the government has promised to replace Alpine's
current howitzer with an older version of the same weapon. "They
haven't come to get it yet," said Belli of the cannon. "We're still
in the process of boxing it up and getting it ready, but we'll probably
have to wait for the snow to melt to bring it down the hill."
[Source: AP & Sierresun.com]
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