Canada Assesses Test Use of Drones for Avalanche Control
Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions, AVSS, uses a drone to fly an explosive up a mountain and then drops it onto the slope before it’s remotely detonated.
Historically, a variety of tools have been used for avalanche control in Canada, including 105 mm howitzer guns, where the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery of the Canadian Armed Forces fires a shell onto a mountain slope, creating a shockwave that releases an avalanche.
The Canadian government gave permission for a company to explore new ways to conduct avalanche control using drones.
We reported on the move at the time:
Parks Canada also uses helicopters to strategically drop explosives to trigger avalanches.
In some locations, remote trigger stations are built into the slopes.
Drones could be particularly useful for areas not accessible to an artillery gun and without remote trigger stations.
They can also be cheaper than using helicopters.
“This just gives us another tool in the toolbox,” said the co-founder of AVSS, Josh Ogden.
The Icefields Parkway, Highway 93 North, is a road threatened across the winter months.
Entrance to the Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise to Jasper. Image Image © PlanetSKI
Extreme weather conditions forces Parks Canada to trigger several large avalanches along the highway.
Some result in snow on to the road.
The Icefields Parkway, which goes from Jasper to Lake Louise in Alberta, was closed for 22 days this winter.
Parks Canada told CBC News that is actually the most hours the road has been closed over a winter in “recent memory.”
The area saw above average winter snowfall.
Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise to Jasper. Image Image © PlanetSKI
A safety specialist with Parks Canada, Deryl Kelly, said in a statement that drones may support managing avalanche risk in the future, but they will not become the only tool for avalanche control as they depend on good weather.
Testing will continue next winter.
The use of drones for avalanche control looks promising, said Brian Rode, vice-president of the Marmot Basin ski resort in Jasper National Park.
He said the ski resort will watch how the technology continues to develop and when it comes to market.
Marmot Basin, Jasper, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
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Jasper, Alberta, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
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