Posts Tagged ‘mountains’
After 14 Years of Drilling, the World’s Longest Tunnel Breaks Through the Swiss Alps Today
The Gotthard Base Tunnel, a 35-mile hole in the Swiss Alps, has completed drilling
Drilling of the tunnel began way back in 1996 (remember those heady days--the drillers might have been humming along to Joan Osborne's breakthrough, "One of Us"), and has encountered its fair share of difficulties in the succeeding decade and a half. From the Sedrun (a layer of soft rock near the middle) to a near-disaster during the test phase that unleashed a torrent of water and sand, the drilling has not been particularly easy. One of the main drills was even trapped by falling sand, held incapable of drilling for a whopping six months at one point.
The tunnel was drilled from the middle out--an 800-meter tunnel was drilled vertically into the middle of the prospective track, and then two drills did their work in opposite directions. Well, really, that's only half of the total work: The tunnel is actually two single-track, parallel tunnels, connected by smaller spurs every thousand feet or so. The east-most tunnel finally broke through the last few meters of rock today, completing the drilling phase and officially making the Gotthard the world's longest tunnel. (The western tunnel will be completed around April of 2011.)
When completed, probably in 2016 or 2017 (the project is actually ahead of schedule at the moment), the Gotthard will connect southern Germany to northern Italy. And this groundbreaking (literally!) effort is only the first of three similarly massive tunnel projects: The others will connect Lyon, France to Turin, Italy, and Austria to Italy, provided they can make it unscathed through the European Union's budget cuts.
The tunnel was made for both convenience and environmental reasons. Though the Gotthard will only cut about an hour off the trip, compared to the above-ground routes, it allows freight shipping in much higher quantities to be shipped safely. Trains and heavy trucks do significant ecological damage to the Alps, both in erosion and in destruction of plant and animal habitats, and the tunnel should help mitigate that. And, of course, passenger trains will relieve some of the traffic congestion on the mountain roads.
The drilling of the tunnel itself has actually yielded some encouraging green possibilities as well--massive amounts of rock (enough to fill 13 Empire State Buildings) were removed from the mountains, and are being used to restore lakes that were previously dredged for gravel. Some of the warm water which runs through the Alps (and which was previously difficult to obtain) will be diverted for sustainable fish farms.
In National Parks, Technology Saves Lives, But May Also Put Them At Risk
With Labor Day approaching, it’s worth keeping in mind that technology, while great, cannot always save us. In national parks, it might actually make things worse.
Kyle Patterson, spokeswoman for Rocky Mountain National Park, a quick drive west of Denver, explains: “We have seen people who have solely relied on GPS technology but were not using common sense or maps and compasses, and it leads them astray.”
Rather than come prepared, inexperienced hikers plan to rely on their gadgets — GPS devices, cellphones, what have you — to save them. They know they can use a cell phone to call for help, so they may take greater risks. And when they do seek rescue, they often take it to extremes: In one example, a lost hiker in Grand Teton National Park called for help, and asked her saviors to bring hot chocolate.
The Times recounts the incredible story of a man hiking in the Grand Canyon's backcountry with two teenage sons. He pressed an emergency button on his personal GPS device, summoning a helicopter, but declined to board when it arrived because water was all he wanted — the canyon water “tasted salty,” he said.
Of course, technology can be a literal lifesaver. Three separate incidents in one park on one day this month highlight this fact. Aug. 11 was a busy day at Rocky Mountain, according to :
At 9 a.m., someone used a cell phone to call for help from just below the summit of 14,255-foot Longs Peak, where a woman had injured her knee. Other climbers helped her down to the Boulder Field (around 12,760 feet), where a helicopter picked her up. Then, at noon, rangers were notified by satellite phone that a woman had fallen while hiking in the backcountry on the park’s west side. She was brought out by a horse. And finally, at 2:15, someone used a cell phone once again to call for help from a beginner-level lake trail, where a woman had fallen and broken an ankle.
Technology might have saved these hikers’ lives, or at the very least serious injury if they had been forced to hike out or spend the night in the mountains. Without cell phones, it’s likely that they would not have found help for several hours — a major problem if they were unprepared.
But that’s just it. People are increasingly relying on technology, rather than training and preparation, to cover their backs when they push themselves too far. An inexperienced hiker might be excited about his new handheld GPS, so he takes it into the backcountry, but forgets the essentials: Water, a compass and a map. (And, of course, warm clothing, food, etc.) Then what happens when his batteries run out?
Not to sound all Boy Scout-y, but it's best to be prepared for any scenario, and to avoid depending on technology. It's great that Americans are enjoying our national parks — July was a record month for visitors at Yellowstone, according to the Times — but here's hoping our gadget-loving lifestyle doesn't ruin the experience.
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