The propensity for avalanches in Mineral King had a substantive adverse effect on the feasibility of Disney's proposed year-round resort. After Disney's proposal was selected in December 1965, the company commenced feasibility studies that included snow surveys and avalanche control investigations. Even after submitting its master plan on 8 January 1969, the company continued its efforts to determine how to mitigate the avalanche risk. On 23 February 1969, avalanches swept through the historic resort on Disney's Mineral King property, killing Randy Kletka (a friend of one of the snow surveyors). Robert B. Hicks, the project manager, evidently consulted with Montgomery Atwater that year and considered consulting with him again in 1970. Atwater was a reputable avalanche researcher. He managed avalanche control for the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley and alpine skiing World Championships in Chile in 1966. He established the first avalanche research center in the Americas and helped develop a pneumatic cannon for launching explosives to set off avalanches in a more controlled manner to mitigate the risk of unexpected, damaging avalanches.