This year Hehuan Mountain has had heavy snowfalls, with the snow that fell in mid January the heaviest for five years. Taroko National Park has a multi purpose refuse truck, imported in 1986, with a snow plough function and this is brought into action to help the highway units keep the roads passable in the Hehuan area when the roads need clearing of snow and ice. This truck has served in the Hehuan mountain area for 13 years and after such a long period of service is now aging and sometimes unable to carry out a snow and ice clearing role. At such times the work is carried out by the Taiwan Highway Bureau. At present Hehuan is the only mountain area in Taiwan that needs snow and ice clearing work to be carried out. The bureau’s Luoshan Engineering Section, Fourth Maintenance Office is responsible for the highway east of Hehuan Villa and the Puli Engineering Section, Second Maintenance Office is responsible for it westwards to Wuling and Kunyang. The road sections served by these two units bear the most visitor pressure on the highway and it is hoped that that the joint efforts of these units, Taroko National Park HQ, the police and government organizations will keep visitors safe during the snow season.

Translated by：Kevin Lax
Source：Taroko National Park Headquarters