Rogers Pass (elevation 1,330 m or 4,360 ft), in the heart of Glacier National Park, is a high mountain pass through the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia used by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway. The pass is a shortcut across the "Big Bend" of the Columbia River from Revelstoke on the west to Donald, near Golden, on the east. The pass was discovered on May 29, 1881 by Major Albert Bowman Rogers, a surveyor working for the Canadian Pacific Railway. To keep the Highway open during the winter, the Royal Canadian Artillery uses 105 mm howitzers to knock down the avalanches under controlled circumstances so traffic is not caught in unexpected avalanches.