Over Independence Pass on U.S. 82, the snow depths are still well over a foot. Time is of the essence, since the road between Twin Lakes and Aspen, perhaps the most magnificent road in America, will not be open to travelers until the Memorial Day weekend has passed and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has cleared it down to the pavement.
This past week, members of the Colorado news media, including Ark Valley Voice, were invited to see the clearing activities. There was a lesson in road safety as well as snow removal. CDOT and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s close partnership served as our instructors. The two organizations collaborate closely to keep us and our out-of-town guests safe on Colorado’s mountain roads and trails.
The snow on U.S. 82 over Independence Pass has kept the highway closed all winter, despite the fact that it is already spring in the valleys. It would be one thing if CDOT plowed the five or six feet of seasonal snow off the blacktop of this two-lane road. Keeping drivers and passengers safe on the route is a whole different challenge.
Reason being, twenty or thirty feet (or more) of the deep, wet, white material lay on the high hills above that roadway, making it one of the highest in the United States. That snow has drifted out past the ridges it clings to, forming overhanging cornices. The aesthetic value is high. A collapse would be catastrophic.
Snow cornices could collapse unless cleared. Avalanche begins. hardly noticeable. As it speeds up, it spreads, deepens, gathers rocks, mud, and trees, and turns a terrifying dirty brown as it rolls downhill. It lands 35 feet deep on the road hundreds of feet below where it started.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center and CDOT are employing explosives to induce numerous controlled avalanches that day to avoid burying a line of cars heading over the pass
We came to see how U.S. 82 is unburied after a record snowfall and learned more about the teamwork. A contract helicopter and two CDOT avalanche experts coordinate the activity. Statewide contractors vary.
As the chopper raced overhead, a few dozen CDOT and Colorado Avalanche Information Center staffers prepared to launch turkey bombs, which looked like giant turkeys wrapped in aluminum foil. By mission end, they had dropped 42 charges.
As mountain residents know, CDOT manages avalanche threats. Long-slide places like Monarch Pass are being worked on all winter. CDOT said that even a slow slide spreads and gains speed and weight, often producing a large debris flow. CDOT estimated that the slide above dumped 20 feet of debris on the roads below, taller than one of their heavy machinery.
