The mountains were rumbling at dawn today, when state avalanche experts purposely triggered 15 slide paths along 40 miles of the I-70 mountain corridor.
CDOT crews started blasting on slides paths between the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels and Silverthorne, using avy bombs and permanent avy guns. Four slides released. One buried the access road just above the westside tunnel bores.
Soon after sunrise crews closed the interstate at Vail Pass for another round of blasting, this time using avy bombs planted opposite the overloaded slopes. These triggered five separate slides, including one that ran more than 170 feet and buried the interstate under four feet of snow.
“The mitigation methods used in the early morning hours, before daylight, allowed our crews to work when traffic volumes are low,” CDOT Director of Maintenance and Operations Shawn Smith said in a statement. “This work is critical for keeping our roads safe, especially after the volume of snow we have seen over the past few days. We appreciate drivers’ patience as the team performs this important work of triggering avalanches and subsequent cleanup, which significantly reduces the risk of natural slides.”
This came at the end of a snowy and unrelenting holiday weekend. Beginning on Valentine’s Day, CDOT and Colorado State Patrol have been inundated with stalled vehicles, fender benders and several serious incidents, including three separate crashes involving sun glare this morning on eastbound I-70 near Genesee. Five people were hospitalized, according to state patrol.
“Mother Nature did not take off for the holiday weekend,” CDOT executive director Shoshana Lew said. “To the contrary, we saw some of the most intense snow totals of the season in the high country and multiple consecutive storms. Mountain corridor ski resorts reported more than a foot and a half of fresh snow in 48 hours and more than four feet of snow in the past seven days. CDOT crews have been working around the clock to clear roads and mitigate avalanche risk (…) We remind drivers that conditions remain challenging. Please drive carefully through the tail end of this weather system and watch out for snowplows and law enforcement, who are working hard to keep the roads safe.”
Coming next: A mini break before another blast of snow. National Weather Service predicts an inch or two tonight in town, possibly more up high. The sun reappears Wednesday until snow returns Wednesday night into Thursday and Friday. Weekend forecast is sunny.