Historic Hood River
Extended Avalanche Season?
4-3-2025
Notes
I wish people would label their explosion pictures better. The date of this image, June 22 1929, was important enough to be on both the front and back, but we don’t know what they were blowing up. Those trees in the foreground make me think this is an avalanche chute.
This reminded me of this earlier unlabeled explosion image. It also reminds me we’re not necessarily done with winter yet.
Peter
Google seems to indicate that the first use of explosives in avalanche mitigation was in 1939. But I would imagine that miners in Rockies in the 19th century might have used explosives (which they’d have had on hand) to remove cornices in order to safely work high-elevation claims earlier in the season. Some of those high-elevation mining claims could only be worked a few months a year due to snow.