U.S. 50 in Monarch Pass closed twice since Christmas Eve because of avalanche, snow
CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- While many lower elevations of southern Colorado have received little or no snow this season, the mountain areas are getting enough to produce dozens of avalanches.
Early on Christmas Eve morning, an avalanche on the east side of Monarch Pass, near the Monarch Mountain ski resort, forced the closure of U.S. 50 for two hours as crews worked to clear snow from the highway.
The incident led the Colorado Department of Transportation, on the recommendation of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, to conduct avalanche prevention work in the pass early Tuesday morning.
"When that snow sits on the ground for a long time, especially under clear skies, it goes through a process that weakens the snowpack, and putting a big load on top of that really weak snow that's sitting on the ground," said avalanche forecaster Mike Cooperstein. "And that's what's causing these problems. Since Christmas Eve, we've had more than 330 reported avalanches and that's not counting the ones that weren't reported."
The mitigation work closed the pass for around three hours as CDOT used equipment to knock down snow accumulations and remove them from the highway.
Both snow events happened in the early morning hours to avoid traffic impacts, and there were no injuries to people or damage to vehicles.
However, it did create challenges for the ski resort.
"We usually get up here between 7:30 and 8 a.m.," said Dan Bender, the resort's marketing manager. "We got here 20 minutes late and that's when our customers started showing up. So we were well behind the curve. It took us a long time to get caught up. Not so great when we're entering our busiest weekend of the year."
CDOT often uses explosives to perform avalanche prevention along highways, but is in the second year of using new technology in the pass that allows the agency to knock down snow accumulations from remote locations.
"It's much safer for our crews, it's quicker and more efficient," said spokesperson Lisa Schwantes. "We can do it remotely and at night when there are fewer impacts to the traveling public."
Another issue created by the snowy weather in the pass is finding places for crews to dump the snow plowed after each storm.
"We have to take it to other locations so that we have room to put it during the next storm," Schwantes said.
Authorities expect more snow and avalanche warnings in the pass for New Year's weekend, so it's important that travelers remain aware of weather forecasts and alert to changing conditions.
On Christmas Eve, a backcountry skier died after being buried by an avalanche on the South Diamond Peak of Cameron Pass, northeast of Rocky Mountain National Park.
"Avalanches are much more of a threat to backcountry skiers and hikers than to highway traffic," Cooperstein said.
