Canada Used Over 200 Artillery Rounds for Avalanche Mitigation Last Week

Got an avalanche problem? Might as well blow it up.

Last week, according to a social media post from Parks Canada, Rogers Pass—home to a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway that winds between Revelstoke and Golden, British Columbia—saw heavy precipitation and unstable snow conditions. 

During the storm, 700-plus avalanches were detected, and 37 reached size three or four, which is big enough to destroy vehicles or buildings.

To control the slides and keep the road closure time to a minimum, howitzers fired 271 artillery rounds, firing on avalanche trigger zones. See some of their work below. Keep reading for more.

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Those weapons of war are part of Operation PALACI, a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) program that assigns artillery members to Rogers Pass. Their objective? Use the guns to trigger smaller avalanches before larger, natural ones occur. 

Artillery members work with Parks Canada scientists, who identify when and where avalanches might occur. Then, they pass that information off to the gunners.

The guns’ firing range spans from three to five kilometers, capping out at just over three miles. While they’re at work, the highway and rail line, unsurprisingly, are closed.

Operation PALACI is vital for two reasons.

One, the Trans-Canada Highway is a major link in Canada’s broader commercial network. Parks Canada, according to CTV News, estimated as of 2024 that keeping it closed costs $3 million CAD an hour. 

Two, Rogers Pass gets a lot of snow, averaging around 39 feet each season. Combined with the more than 130 avalanche paths that run over the Trans Canada Highway, the road there has the highest avalanche rating of any major road in North America, according to Parks Canada.

As for the latest round of explosions, Parks Canada estimated that, without Operation PALACI, Rogers Pass would’ve been closed for 294 hours. You can do the math.

“The efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of the artillery-based avalanche control program played a key role in managing hazard during this storm,” the agency wrote.

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