Fighting Avalanches With World War II Cannons
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.
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Fires cannon: "Oh shit we missed." *hits Poland* "Nevermind, direct hit."
*_that explains all the potholes_*
Why Poland not mexico? :P
@@a.l2025 its a joke. Because its a German ww2 cannon.
Your name fits what you just said, it’s a American artillery piece not german
@@broccodoggo8363 it's a howitzer
Imagine being stuck in a snow storm on the mountain during a blizzard and then you get hit by a ww2 era shell out of nowhere.
Shell*
The mountain is closed when they're doing it. No one is out there.
They have signs posted in the backcountry because this is a real threat lol
B B “Imagine” can you not read English
Missile?
*Group of teenagers break the rules and go off the path* *3 mins.* *later* “Detonation”
> "...World War II Cannons!" > 1:16 Howitzer 1954
M Sosnowsky I mean it’s still a World War II era gun, that one in particular was just made later.
The Howitzer was use In World War II it's just that model was made in the 50s.
isn't that the Gerry AA?
@@jakartagamer6188 Your thinking of Flak guns.
@@markfryer9880 yes because it looks like 88mm AA flak cannon thingy
What do you do for a living? I kill snow with a howitzer
American 152mm howitzer **Shows german ww2 artillery footage*
'Murica doesn't have 152mm guns, Soviet/former Soviet countries do. In the video, they use M101 105mm howitzer.
Yeah the biggest WW2 US artillery gun was the Long Tom 155MM howitzer but yeah the gun in the video is a M1 105MM howitzer
To be fair, some of that footage did look like Americans -- based on the helmets, anyway.
.
There also not discontinued
*Snow Yetis: Fighting World War II Cannons With Avalanches*
Did he just say they fire it blind 90% of the time?
They have coordinates for all the spots they know they have to hit on the mountain. They fire the Howitzer from the exact same location every time and that thing is really accurate when you know where you are shooting. During whiteout conditions, the mountain would be closed for safety. Nobody is on it. You can just fire that thing knowing it was designed to hit what you aim it at. Just adjust the angles to recorded results and fire.
azimuth - the direction the howitzer faces angle of elevation - angle formed by barrel in relation to horizontal ground plane of emplacement projectile velocity - speed the shell leaves the barrel ( determined by weight of shell and propellant used ) .. and you can calculate a ballistic trajectory. it's called indirect fire in the military. firing a shell at a target not in direct line-of-sight of the gun .. having an accurate map of the terrain ( stands to reason they would ) also helps .. they most likely use a contact fuse, though I could see a delay fuse for airburst also being possible ( delay from when the shell is fired based on trajectory/time of flight to the target ) .. this short also shows someone calling out "detonation" for each shell.
but what about the wind?
@@jackrush1222 when applicable, yes, but Mammoth uses a 105mm howitzer .. a shell weighs around 19 kg. maybe gale winds would have an appreciable affect
I hate it when I’m skiing and then get hit by an artily shell
Artillery is used at all the ski resorts in the U.S. west for avalanche control...I've skied all over Colorado, Utah and California. There are additional technologies used (mainly igniting gas mixtures causing concussions) but artillery is still the most common.
I've seen cannons at larger resorts but as far as I've seen most resorts use hand charges
Surplus is for the man in man in need.
Shhhh stop making shit up the adults are talking. Some resorts use it if makes sense for the geography. Some public works divisions use it to maintain mountain passes too. But not everyone uses artillery, and even those who do usually use other means of avalanche control too. Hand charges are by far the most common
“The howitzer was originally a World War II weapon of war, now discontinued in the war theatre” There’s so much wrong with that sentence
1:20 the howitzer existed before world war 2 and it still in use today. That specific model is not though.
Eric Holladay In Syria .. possibly.. as long as it can destroy suicide vehicles from a distance..
jeremy ooi ?
jeremy ooi suicide vehicles are unpredictable, they mostly use drones or helicopters.
I think when he said "The Howitzer" he meant that specific gun they had and not the type of gun.
1:19 "... a world war 2 weapon...of war"
Lop
Because they had weapons they didn’t use in war
@@chanc4069 what
Every 60 seconds, a minute passes
Only in america 😂. In the austrian alps we use helicopters to deploy avalanche triggering explosives.
Like its any better lol "they use cannons, we throw explosives out of heli".
@@hukumbra I guess both our nations do a great job regarding mitigating avalanches. I guess you could even trigger more with a canon. I just don't see it being safer that's all
Whether one is more effective than the other depends on the type of avalanches that are trying to triggered. Slab avalanches are deep and start below the surface, so the cannon would most likely be more effective. Loose snow avalanches are on the surface so the helicopter method would be better. I would figure that the avalanche types are more common in specific climates throughout different resorts.
lol i think we got you beat my friend hahahahah
@@praesdynamite4596 the detonations from an explosive thrown out of a heli still triggers the avalanches 🤷🏽♂️ ... "90% of the time we are firing blind" doesn't sound that safe to me
Future archeologists will think Mammoth Mountain was the site of a massive battle.
Damn . . .they must've feel historical just by using this cannon
The howitzer Cannon is still used in the United States military today
Mammoth Mountain California: *Uses Artillery to fix problems* California Legislation: Am I a joke to you?
It is a 105mm single shot weapon which is legal.
@@oswaldchai9865 at least they are qualified and trained to operate the piece
Their ability to use artillery is grandfathered in. They've been doing it for decades.
Show us the full clip of the avalanche caused by the canon!
Dirk du Toit i know. But they always cut the video just as the shell hits the mountain, but they don’t show the full effect of it.
Hayoung Ihm Nothing more happens. This is exactly what they want.
1:16 It's not a WWII cannon if it's stamped 1954.
But we don't know if it was designed in W.W.2. The M1919 Browning has been in use since the Great War and is still produced today. As the design is unchanged from the Great War it is still classified as a weapon of the Great War.
200 years from now: Nuclear weapons are the only way to keep our mountains safe
That's in.....California? Woah, did not expect that to be in a warm desert state
From where I live near LA, you can see the beach and the snow at the same time and the desert is right behind the snow lmao
Its in the eastern part of california, bordering Nevada. In the beautiful eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range.
California gets crazy amounts of snow in some areas. When winter started all the way till the beginning of March. The 7 most snowed resorts in America were in California. Mammoth (the resort in the video) had the most snow in America.
Avery Lopez-Baines the higher you go the colder it gets. we have pretty high mountains because the pacific plate and the north american plate are pushing each other up
California is really big effing State. It covers a lot of climates and climates.
Why do they mix in german artillery footage when talking about an american howitzer?
they didnt.
Because they didn’t?
@@broccodoggo8363 Since when did americans wear Stahlhelms in WWII? And that's DEFINITELY a 21 cm Mörser M 18/L31 at 1:22.
BDNeon shit that’s a good eye you have they flew the coop on this video!
@@broccodoggo8363 still smaller than your ego!
The like to dislike ratio is amazing 1100 to 5 🤯🤯
Shout out to the patrollers! Nothing but mammoth love!
"Avalanche Mitigation" is now entering my lexicon.
Some places use a recoilless rifle, although it cannot be fired in enclosed positions like that. It is considerably smaller and lighter than a howitzer, so it can be positioned to aim at places a normal howitzer can't hit.
Where do I sign up? Dad: So what do you do for a living these days? Me: I fire WWII howitzers to stop avalanches.
Das ist Artillerie, in Deckung!
Yall be going in hard with the content
I just imagine skiing and tripping over a giant shell lol
There are warning signs at the top of the mountain about the possibility of unexploded shells.
@@outdoorsguy lmao
That might be one of the best jobs ever!
When your having a bad day skiing, it’s all the snowboarders fault
This is nice to see for a guy who like history I wish I worked there
This had me 💀
Did not know that. Thank you
I saw this happening before my eyes? I saw explosions at the top of the mountain!
If you weren’t at this mountain you probably just saw detonation charges, not the explosive round of a WW2 cannon
I was at mammoth on the face of five run on the side. They detonated around dragon’s back or something.
Whoot whoot! Wondered when you guys would get to this.
Cool guys. Great job but risky.
Very very smart idea
Modern Problems Require Old Solutions
when a ski patrol is trained to shoot cannons...
"Create the safest environment for our guests" Shoots cannonballs on the skiing slopes
We got these bad boys on the pass in Colorado too.
Tiny coming in!
Hello Matt. I work with your aunt Janet C. in the Lab. She told me your video was online so I had to see it. Janet is very proud of your work to keep the mountain safe. I live on the former army base called Fort Benjamin Harrison so she knew I would like to see your war guns in action. Great Video !!!
Very nice video supper video Great job
105mm howitzer. S Korea still use it. We have over 4,000,000 bullet.
God bless the mammoth mountain ski patrol!! We love you. You guys are the best and keep us safe every season. I love the sound of the howitzer setting off explosions. BOOM!!! Break up that sierra cemment!
The m18 recoiless rifle is also used for this at snaller mountians
Somehow I find it fun. Very fun
*I shoot tank shells at mountains to stop avalanches* . weird flex but ok
Yeah I know
Very cool
That’s one cool job
Good vid
Wouldn't it be fun to find the damaged projectile lodged in the rock as a souvenir.
That title for your vid is so gud
In the Future: Firing WW3 era Cruise Missiles to prevent meteors from hitting spaceships
What a job. A job to die for!
i wonder if there are procedures incase of unexploded firing, i/e it impacts but doesn't detonate
"We're at war with mother nature" Mother Nature:"hold my beer..."
so cool
You’re telling me the random howitzer in SSX 3 that I still have for GameCube, is actually realistic?? Lmao
Avalanche Control: Artillery Only Edition
Good ISP Meme man
Imagine skiing and minding your own business when over your shoulder seeing a explosion
Seems likes a fun job
My math teacher did this before he taught and he brought a shell (deactivated, it wont explode) and he showed it to us
Lol 1954 date of production, why not say Korean war era cannon to bring more attention to that vastly forgotten conflict
SnowTeam: fire!... Shit, it missed. Just a friendly Squirrel: Hear's shell coming...... Not again
All those swiss crosses. :D
my dad ski bumed in Utah during the seventies and would tell me how he'd wake up in the morning could hear of a howitzer going off along the Wasatch. Didn't know they still used them today.
When you live in a town surrounded by mountains you get very used to the sounds of huge explosions buzzing through the city on snowy days, very funny how tourists are always very scared
We use them here on the Alaska Railroad
ARTILLERY SPECIALISTS
Is the shell still in production today?
"It's my goal to create the safest environment for our guests" with a fucking artillery cannon
Imagine going skiing a little too early and you get fucking bombarded
The perfect job doesn’t exi......
It’s not a WWII artillery piece, WWII ended in April 1945 But....at 1:18 you read it and it says: HOWITZER 105 mm ORD CORPS USA MMP 1954 70. LBS INSP The title is misleading..!! This 105 mm artillery piece was even manufactured after the Korean War.... Still cool though...
Sensacional. Que história!
One of the few ways to buy an artillery shell
When the cannon isnt enough
In the US, they shoot cannons but in Soviet Russians, cannons shoot you
and in north korea?
Un I think you lost your mind
It's kinda true, look up "False Dmitry I"
Imagine finding a shell and it’s not detonated and they didn’t investigate just touched with stick
There are warning signs at the top of the mountain warning about unexploded shells. I've been there. They request you report them to ski patrol. Also, there are not too many sticks above the treeline.
Job of a Life Time.
Perfect civilian job translation for 13Bs ETSing from Ft Drum
Theoretically, this strategy could be applied in many different ways. Next time I see a “landslide prone” road sign, I’ll be sure to hop out the truck with my .308 and unload on the hillside.
people saying that's an American cannon it's a Gerry 88mm AA gun based from the footage they're using the stahlhelm
You don’t really need high tech stuff to start a avalanche this is all you need even a few tiny well placed ones would do the job
Just point a camera at the gun and where it's aiming. The highlights would make a great video.
*Don't bring an avalanche to a cannon fight...*
Him: the howitzer is a ww2 weapon. Me: hold up 1700s Russian gun crew: yalls getting shipped off to Siberia
Weird that for the B&W historical footage, they mostly showed German crews manning their own howitzers, rather than US crews manning the venerable 105mm guns. After all, there is plenty of footage showing US 105mm guns in action during WW2, Korean, and Vietnam.
Says canon , shows a howitzer
Didn’t ologies already do a podcast on this?
So avalanches keep happening... LETS BLOW THEM UP
I just imagine teenagers not knowing they where howitzers being fired
How can i Work there?
Can you go and find the bullet thing?
Lol highly doubt you checked for any previously existing animal just tryna to get by
When your insurance company wont cover your bills because you sing on sky accidents not gun related accidents but you are hit by a fucking cannon ammo in the fucking leg
How did this start did one day some guy just decide to shoot artillery at a mountain to make an avalanche
Shelling Gerbirgsjäger be like