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How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

323 points| dpflan | 9 years ago |atlasobscura.com | reply

87 comments

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[+] chrissnell|9 years ago|reply
I would love to see that first bulldozer at work. I'm a little amazed because snow becomes incredibly heavy and hard to move/push when it's packed. As the blade moves forward, that dozer will quickly have to use incredible force to move forward.

I experienced this first-hand last summer when I was driving my old Land Rover across the country. I was solo, way up in the very remote Henry Mountains [1] of Utah, about to reach the crest and continue east. I came around the bend and there was a massive drift of snow covering the trail. [2] Foolishly, I thought I might be able to drive through, or at least ram-reverse-ram-reverse-ram my way through. I should have known better. I drove into the drift and my tires sank and the face of my front axle compacted the snow ahead and just stopped. The entire front of the truck was encased. It had been a warm day and was rapidly chilling in the evening light and the wet snow froze around my axle and my truck wouldn't move an inch. I spent the next hour digging out the front of the truck in fading light and by some magic, was able to free myself and back down the precarious cliffside road to a spot where I could turn around. Lesson learned: snow is really heavy.

[1] https://goo.gl/maps/XjyNapW3XRL2

[2] https://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/27742972523/in/albu...

[+] mc32|9 years ago|reply
The article goes on about it. They send a remotely operated dozer with GPS to blaze a guide path, then other dozers come in to take off layers and then it's down to 6 or so feet they send in the blowers. So, it's many machines doing many passes to get the job done.

I do appreciate the pristine snow not contaminated with rock salt, however.

[+] Lagged2Death|9 years ago|reply
One of the reasons to put tracks on a vehicle is to reduce the pressure it exerts on the ground. A bulldozer might weigh 15x as much as light truck, but if it has 75x the contact area, it would have (much!) lower ground pressure, and would be dramatically less prone to sinking into snow or mud or what-have-you.

Some sanity checks:

1993 Toyota 4Runner / Hilux Surf: 25 psi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_pressure)

Caterpillar D6R LGP Bulldozer: 5 psi (http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=Con&category=...)

Some tracked vehicles like bulldozers are available in extra-wide track versions to reduce their ground pressure even further. It wouldn't be surprising if most of the snow fleet is so equipped.

[+] M_Grey|9 years ago|reply
Torque. It must be a low-range, diesel beast. It probably can't go that fast, but it's probably harder to stop than a single locomotive.

Young me does want.

[+] userbinator|9 years ago|reply
Keep in mind that bulldozers routinely shove other, equally dense, materials around.
[+] hodgesrm|9 years ago|reply
Sounds like you bottomed out. At that point ordinary vehicles no longer get traction from the wheels because they don't have enough weight on them, in addition to the fact that being caught in the snow means you need more traction to move.

Treaded vehicles don't have this problem if the snow is reasonably compact or they have wide enough tracks to avoid sinking in, as do snowcats or snowmobiles.

[+] davidbanham|9 years ago|reply
Remember also that there's a big difference between the fluffy powder they're plowing in northern Japan and the wet stuff you drove your landie into.
[+] foota|9 years ago|reply
Your linked photo hardly looks like a road.
[+] orasis|9 years ago|reply
In glacier national park they use excavators for the first passes.
[+] poikniok|9 years ago|reply
Presumably they don't let a 40 feet of snow or whatnot accumulate at once. If they just clear 1-2 feet of snow every night all that involves is having a plow that can throw up the snow high enough to the sides and out of the way, which seems plausible. I say this because I presume clearing 40 feet of snow is rather impossible.
[+] jonah|9 years ago|reply
If you want to see some impressive snow[1] in the US, visit Crater Lake National Park in Southern Oregon during the winter. Last time I was there, the snow cuts looked just like these (though not quite as tall.)

"The average snowfall at Crater Lake is 533 inches every year. That's about 44 feet. The greatest cumulative snowfall for one season was 879 inches (73 feet) the winter of 1932-33. The greatest depth on the ground at one time was 258 inches (21½ feet) the winter of 1983. Most of the snow usually melts by the beginning of August, although after particularly heavy seasons, there are drifts that fail to melt before the snows return again in the early Fall."[2]

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=crater+lake+snow&tbm=isch

[2] https://www.nps.gov/crla/faqs.htm

[+] lb1lf|9 years ago|reply
We do have a few quite interesting mountaineous roads in Norway, too - matter of fact, a couple of minutes ago I heard on the radio that only two of the -hm, six? seven? I only ever use two of them- mountain crossings connecting eastern Norway to the rest of us were open due to lots of snow and poor weather in latter days. Those two are now convoy only.

Have a look at this, for instance:(0) Not as elegant as the Japanese operation, but the photo probably predates GPS, to the Norwegian snow plow crews credit. I'd feel very small traversing down that road. Doubly so if I suddenly met a heavy truck, a bus or anything larger than a bicycle, really...

I just stumbled upon a couple of nice photos of the current weather conditions at Haukeli, one of the passes currently closed. Just click the photo for the next one. (1)

(0) http://www.gibud.no/auction/APUserImages/2015B105661F1LTLXUH...

(1) https://www.nrk.no/hordaland/sa-vakkert-kan-det-vaere-a-vent...

[+] mgv11|9 years ago|reply
Sorry slightly off topic. Crap! I think have crashed exactly by the Haukeli tunnel. It was years ago and we were doing a mountain crossing with convoy driving through the worst parts. I was behind some old geezer and just coming out of the tunnel he gets blinded by the light/snow and slams his breaks. Me too close and eager just behind him just somehow manage to overtake him in the narrow tunnel, but unfortunately had I too fast speed and bumped the next car slightly. There was just a small mark on the car, but they still did a full checkup and sent us the bill. My boss wasn't happy, but I didn't have to pay ,even if it was 100% my fault.The following mountain crossings since that I have taken bit more easily.
[+] shagie|9 years ago|reply
For some US background on deep snow plowing:

* Yosemite: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=F99C47BC-DA5D-5D...

* Glacier: https://glaciermt.com/blog/plowing-glacier-national-parks-go...

* More Glacier: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/05/11/pioneering-the-road-to-...

General National park: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/03/videos-offer-pl...

[+] Animats|9 years ago|reply
Clearing doesn't always work. Here are photos from Hokkaido of cars with people in them buried in snow drifts.[1] Six deaths. One train derailment.

Note the poles over the road with the downward pointing arrows. That shows where the road is, when it's buried.

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287894/Japan-storm-...

[+] r00fus|9 years ago|reply
I almost clicked the dailyfail link. Almost.
[+] akg_67|9 years ago|reply
Very interesting. I wasn't familiar with Toyama. But I spent last December and January in Sapporo. People mentioned last year in December they had most snow in last 15 years. I was comparing my experience in Sapporo with living in Ottawa. Both places seem to have similar winter. I can see myself living in Sapporo in winter but not in Ottawa. The main difference was the snow ploughing of roads and sidewalks. It was much better in Sapporo than Ottawa. Also Sapporo has very good subway and underground walkways so your exposure to winter conditions is somewhat reduced.
[+] zurp|9 years ago|reply
“I remember when I was in high school there was a lot more snow,” says Tanikawa, who is now 50. “In the morning snow fell and it would fall all day while we were at school. When I came back home there would be 40 to 50 centimeters of snow to clear.”

“My children,” Tanikawa adds, “have not had that experience.”

And he had to walk 10 km uphill both ways to and from school, I'll bet.

[+] jacquesm|9 years ago|reply
My first introduction to Canada was something like this. The winter I got there the first time was some of the worst weather in decades, the trip from Dorval airport to Montreal was through a canyon just like the one in the picture. The only thing sticking out of the snow was the tops of the lampposts.

1997/1998 was quite the introduction to the concept of 'winter' for me. In NL a harsh winter might see one night of -15 and the rest of the time a bit below or around freezing. That winter saw one of the worst ice storms in Canadian history, lots of electrical infrastructure went down under the weight of the ice, power grid pylons breaking off like match-sticks.

Another place where these snow canyons are made in winter is Alaska.

[+] kazinator|9 years ago|reply
By contrast, Vancouver, BC's idea of clearing one inch of snow is to dump two inches of river sand on it that will still be there in July, destroying your bicycle's drive system.
[+] Turing_Machine|9 years ago|reply
"Syracuse, New York, often dubbed the snowiest city in the United States, receives, on average, 117 inches of snow a year. "

Not even close. Valdez, Alaska averages 305.8 inches per year.

[+] aqrit|9 years ago|reply
Valdez has a population of 4_000
[+] Florin_Andrei|9 years ago|reply
So what happens when all that stuff starts melting?
[+] sushobhan|9 years ago|reply
“This is a job and someone has to do it,”- this comment from the article just made my day. Hats off, such an awesome attitude and dedication towards work.
[+] bahmboo|9 years ago|reply
Mt Baker WA 1998/1999 season 1140 inches and that was just at 4200 feet at the resort. Road snow canyons is cool.
[+] pwarner|9 years ago|reply
Not nearly as deep, but the Sierra should have lots of snow this summer. Reference https://www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvisit/fourth-of-july-weeken...
[+] hkmurakami|9 years ago|reply
I was in a car to Niigata (near Toyama) a few years ago in february, and the walls were about 10 feet high. First time I'd ever seen them, and I was definitely in awe.

Btw Toyama has great water and consequently is home to some of the finest sake distilleries in the country.

[+] avenoir|9 years ago|reply
Logan Pass in National Glacier Park gets similar accumulations of snow. Thia is off topic, but I would highly recommend this drive in the summer. One of the most stunning roads in North America.