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2025 Archive Index - All Editions

Today is 3.14 - Happy Pi Day!

On avalanches in the Himalayan States

Earlier this week Army and Border Police teams rescued 23 workers following an avalanche at Mana village, Uttarakhand. Eight workers died in the disaster, which occurred at a construction site that had housed 54 labourers in eight containers. Avalanches in the Himalayan States, like the one in Mana, which is among the last outposts in Indian territory and close to the border with China, are not uncommon.

Villagers here have historically been ‘winter-migrants’ and in the winter months the village is deserted. Coinciding with the ritual closing of the Badrinath temple in November, there is migration to lower villages, such as Gopeshwar and Jyotirmath, with residents returning only when the temple reopens in April or May. This is part of traditional wisdom and has a lot to do with the historical experience of the upper Himalayan stretches being prone to disasters. While these practices may have saved the resident villagers, it still raises the question as to whether the workers — several of them migrants — were adequately aware of the risks of their enterprise.
Source ... (The Hindu)

Washington used M60 tanks to prevent avalanches

Back when they got the first one they named it "Thumper"

Starting in the late 1990s, the Washington DOT had a force of three tanks for avalanche control, but that number dwindled to one M60 by 2015, said John Stimberis, one of the department’s two avalanche forecaster supervisors. Over time, the number of technicians qualified to fix the tank dropped because the Army no longer uses the M60, Stimberis said. In 2018, the Army required the department to return its remaining tank, in part because it was difficult to maintain, and because the service had required that all federal and state agencies that use artillery to prevent avalanches switch to M101 howitzers for the sake of consistency. The DOT still uses a howitzer for avalanche control, but the artillery piece is more than 80 years old, and it will eventually be replaced by remote systems.
Source ... (Task and Purpose)

One dead and eight rescued in Armenia on Aragots

This is in the Incident archives, a bit more may be added yet

According to the ABC newspaper, three firefighters and six hikers from a mountaineering group who had left La Seu d’Urgell (Lleida) were surprised by an avalanche. Eight of the affected were rescued and the ninth was missing, until the mayor of La Seu d’Urgell, Joan Barrera, confirmed his death to RTVE.
More ... (Avalanche-Center.org)

Tahoe ski patroller injured in avalanche

This is in the Incident archives, if more becomes available it will be added there

A ski patroller at Palisades Tahoe was injured on Thursday morning after a major storm delivered more than 2 feet of fresh snow in 24 hours. The patroller suffered a leg injury while conducting avalanche mitigation work along the KT-22 terrain, where a deadly avalanche occurred last year.
More ... (Avalanche-Center.org)