alt Hacker News> deal with avalanche conditions
Swiss solution: chuck some explosives out of a helicopter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H519qhLnRtM (start at 1:20)
(In the image at https://swisshelicopter.ch/de/aktuelles/721-lawinensprengen-... the explosive pack says "do not eat". I'm not reassured that we need this warning for people allowed to handle that.
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If the trebuchet is breaking the sound barrier, a small fleet of trebuchets set in place on the snowfield and set off in an appropriate wave beam, could provide less explosive-manufacture-distribution-usage solutions to the problem.
I could imagine this thing gets even more efficient and resilient, attains some kind of wind or sun-based auto-recharging mechanism, and then deployed on mounted areas to shock-wave snow layers. Yes, its possible, no its not real until someone does it. I could imagine it being done.
Note: I also like the idea of not having to use explosives, is the starting base. If you would prefer to blow stuff up, that's not what I'm talking about.
The evolution of this technology towards an automated, resilient, field-portable version would be interesting. Imagine having a 6-pack of them.
Some parks in Utah use a howitzer.
> I'm not reassured that we need this warning for people allowed to handle that.
Not sure what type of explosive that is but the rumour is that C4 when ingested gives a high similar to alcohol. Or at least that is what some troops believe.
“Amongst field troops in Vietnam it became common knowledge that ingestion of a small amount of C-4 would produce a ‘high’ similar to that of ethanol, and it is possible that this was the reason for this episode.” From the clinical description of a c4 poisoning case.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1279680/