The U.S. military is demanding the return of five howitzers on loan for avalanche prevention in the Sierra Nevada. It says it needs the guns for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Alpine Meadows and Mammoth Mountain are using the guns to fire rounds into mountainsides to trigger avalanches.
Now Don Bowen, the Army command's team leader in charge of the howitzers has said: "I need to have them back in the troops' hands within 60 to 90 days. It's a very short time frame to get them serviceable and back into the theater in southwest Asia. Afghanistan-Iraq is the immediate concern."
Alpine Meadows and Mammoth Mountain are the only ski resorts in the nation using the 119-A howitzer which cost around $1 million. Other resorts have older 105mm howitzers.
The US military have provided the ski resorts with recoilless rifles and other guns for avalanche control for 30 years but the howitzers are the most effective.
