The method is a unique idea without blowing something up or setting off a cannon. What they did was go to a nearby lake with a helicopter used for fighting fires and rescuing people and get about 700 gallons of water in a container and then drop that water on a place where an avalanche is likely and set the avalanche off. Though the cost per hour of using a helicopter for this likely would be more expensive than most explosives or cannons it is another way where it might not be possible to get to some of these locations except on Skis, Snow shoes or snowboards or snowmobiles and this could save a lot of lives in the process because people who are mountaineering skiers like myself or snowboarders with "Split Boards" where the board breaks into two and can be used as a set of mountaineering skis to climb up to a snowboarding location in the mountains or somewhere and then popped back together for the ride down.
So, since there are so many mountaineering enthusiasts now nationwide and worldwide it is helpful to have people setting off avalanches before a back country snow enthusiast dies or falls down a tree well because the tree well is hidden by a snow drift over the top like happened in Lake Tahoe in the last few days when someone died.
When you have snow as deep as you do now dying is much easier because of people not understanding fully the changes in variables in really deep snow over 15 or 20 feet deep in the back country.
I recounted my own experience being in a middle of an avalanche recently but here it is and I barely survived this because I was alone on Mountaineering metal edged skis with poles when an acre or more of snow broke loose that I was skiing on and started rolling down Mt. Shasta with me in the middle of it. By moving as fast as I could because I was in my early 30s and trying to keep my ski tips above the snow level as much as possible with my skis and poles moving at great speed. Then when the avalanche stopped finally I was up to my neck in snow with my shirt off because it was sunny spring skiing but I was cold from the snow up to my neck then. So, I kicked about 10 or 15 minutes of struggling my metal edged mountaineering ski tips up through the top of the snow so I wouldn't sink deeper into the snow and die because it was 10 or 15 feet or more of loose snow from the avalanche moving like an ocean wave down the mountain and hitting the trees. So, the only thing that would allow me up on top of this snow was my skis and poles otherwise I would sink in deep in this deep of loose snow.
After that I realized I would never ski alone above Tree line again on Mt. Shasta where this happened at between 9000 and 10,000 feet on Mt. Shasta and I rode the wave of the Avalanche a little maybe like a surfer rides an ocean down to where it hit the trees with a loud thudding as the tons of snow hit each tree in the forest below me.
Whatever I was doing before this I knew all I wanted was to get back to my car and drive down to the city and take a long hot shower to try to psychologically recover from this near death experience on Mt. Shasta.
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