Either that or this magical thing called GNSS :)
Openstreetmap has roads mapped down to a couple decimeters and Japan has its own satellite constellation QZSS, which in combination would be more than enough to find the center of the road and then slowly work your way outwards to the edges.
Sometime in early March, a bulldozer specially equipped with both a GPS and a mobile satellite phone is sent up the mountain and over the Snow Canyon. The GPS and sat phone work in tandem to provide the driver a detailed video screen image of the dozer’s location in relation to the center of the snow-buried highway. This driver’s job is not to clear snow, but simply to lay out an accurate track of the road itself. Following the GPS dozer is a team of dozers that will begin the clearing operations.
That doesn’t all fall at once haha. They continually plow after every snow fall and add to the existing piles. How they manage to keep stacking and carving it so perfectly and so high is a mystery to me, but I’m sure the snow is only this high in this particular area. It’s likely an attraction or something
Ok awesome! They use GPS and bulldozers and plows. That makes sense. That said, seems like they do wait for it to all fall then they carve it. Very fucking cool.
That was such a cool read. Thanks for that, I’ve had a rough few days and to read that at 630 this morning set me right for some reason. Have a great day, friend!
How do they even know where the fuckin road is under 60ft of snow to say nothing of how they actually do it
I assume they don’t wait until there’s 60 feet to start plowing
Yeah but those perfectly straight walls of snow make me question that. It looks carved.
Either that or this magical thing called GNSS :)
Openstreetmap has roads mapped down to a couple decimeters and Japan has its own satellite constellation QZSS, which in combination would be more than enough to find the center of the road and then slowly work your way outwards to the edges.
That doesn’t all fall at once haha. They continually plow after every snow fall and add to the existing piles. How they manage to keep stacking and carving it so perfectly and so high is a mystery to me, but I’m sure the snow is only this high in this particular area. It’s likely an attraction or something
Yeah I know it doesn’t fall at once lol but like I just commented it’s so perfectly carved
Found it! It is a tourist attraction:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Yuki-no-Otani+Snow+Canyon+in+Toyama%2C+Japan
And here’s how they do it:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/snow-canyon-japan
Ok awesome! They use GPS and bulldozers and plows. That makes sense. That said, seems like they do wait for it to all fall then they carve it. Very fucking cool.
That was such a cool read. Thanks for that, I’ve had a rough few days and to read that at 630 this morning set me right for some reason. Have a great day, friend!
Damnit I replied before I read your second link lol. I went down a rabbit hole