Montgomery “Monty” Atwater was an avalanche researcher. He managed avalanche control for the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley and alpine skiing World Championships in Chile in 1966. He also provided services to Walt Disney Productions in about 1969. The company was researching methods of avalanche control in Mineral King, where Disney planned to build a year-round resort. Atwater established the first avalanche research center in the Americas and helped develop a pneumatic cannon for launching avalanche control explosives.