Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Five howitzers leased by ski resorts along California's Sierra Nevada to defend against avalanches have been recalled to active duty by the U.S. Army. The guns have been used during the ski season on the slopes of Mammoth Mountain and Alpine Meadows to break loose dangerous drifts of snow packed high on mountainsides, the Washington Post reported Sunday. But even though the ski season isn't over for the high altitude ski resorts, the Army needs its old howitzers back for fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Advertisement Army officials came looking for their cannons a few days ago, saying they needed to break the leases with the ski resorts because the weapons, once surplus stock, are now needed to be put into battle shape and shipped out to the front lines overseas. The howitzers are used against overhangs of snow to keeps skiers safe from avalanches without having the resort staff clear the threatening heaps up close.
