Avalanche buries road

[h2olawyer]

The avalanche you may or may not have heard about today (January 6) buried one of the roads we will be riding in the June 25 year party.  A large slide came down & split into three separate chutes before burying US Highway 40 on Berthoud Pass.  The highway department normally sets off avalanches before the snow gets to this point.  Looks like they missed this one.  Two cars were knocked off the road & sent rolling down the side of the mountain.  Only one of the 8 people involved was injured.  Bet the rest needed a change of underwear!  The slide covered two stretches of the highway, 100 feet & 300 feet long & 15 feet deep.  Could have been much more tragic.  It happened after most of the ski traffic between Denver & Winter Park was already at the ski area.  It is about 60 miles WEST of Denver - not North / Northwest like the national media have been misrepresenting.

The highway will be closed at least overnight so they can fire some explosives into the snow & try to dislodge more snow.  Depending on what comes down the mountain, they should have the road open sometime Sunday.  I'll try to remember to point out the spot when we ride by it in June.  This isn't the first time for an avalanche there.  Several avalanche chutes are on this pass.  This particular section is called the Stanley Slide area.  Anytime there's a name for particular avalanche paths, it's obviously a fairly common occurrence.  This one was just much larger than the slides normally seen.  In the 1960s, the head of the state highway department was up on the pass with a film crew from Disney productions.  An avalanche came down & crossed a large flat area, came onto the road & killed everyone watching.  It is a fairly famous film clip.  The cameraman kept filming right until the snow buried them.

This winter's el Nino weather pattern is similar to the one in 82 which dumped record snows on most of Colorado.  I remember a stretch of over 50 days in Steamboat with measurable snowfall.  We got over 350 inches in town that winter.  The spring snowmelt caused record river flows & Glen Canyon Dam was nearly lost.  Too much water too fast & it nearly overflowed the dam.  They opened the spillways just in time to save the dam.  (Hayduke nearly had his wish!)  At least our drought might be finally abating!

H₂O

[Night Vision]

glad no one was killed!. those avalanches pack some power.. no telling what they'll find under that 15 feet of snow... maybe some car size bolders  :o

we're having a record heat wave here in Syracsue... two straight days in the 60's
please send any snow you don't need over here. I want to ski this year  :-\

[Mutt]

I just walked the dogs this evening at 11:30 with a short sleeve shirt on. It's 65 degrees! Tons of motorcycles and convertibles out riding today.

You can send all the snow up to Syracuse to Night Vision. I like this mild winter weather.

Mutt  :)

[h2olawyer]

I'm sure the ranchers out on the eastern Colorado plains would be more than happy to ship out all the snow you want!

The winds are picking up here now.  Supposed to be 60MPH gusts tonight & tomorrow.  Should make for some real serious avalanche conditions.  Temps are getting into the 30s & 40s for the next few days.  However, there is another "significant storm" headed for us by next weekend.

Just finished some maintenance on the snowblower - cleaned carb, replaced some hardware, tightened the engine / frame bolts.  Starts easier, runs smoother & throws snow farther.  Still a little rough running - will be ordering a carb kit on Monday.  Also need a new carb cover.  The old one has fatigued & cracked.  Tired of making new plates to hold it together.  The carb cover holds heat by the carb to prevent it from icing up.  It also has no air cleaner - meant to be that way on Tecumseh Snow King engines.  There are still some nuts, bolts & screws I need to order through Toro.  Got most of the little screws & washers at the local corner hardware.  Decided to use stainless steel.  Still was less than $3.  Next is an oil change.  Hasn't been done in a while.   ::)  Need to find some 5w-30.  Figures - different oil spec than any other engine I own . . ..

Hope all you out in the temperate east are getting in some quality ride time!

H₂O

[MotorPlow]

That's the 1st thing I thought of when I saw that on the news... "Is that road going to be rideable by the Vision this summer"?

[h2olawyer]

The road was reopened later the same night!  Figured they would do more avalanche control before they opened it back up.  they've been busy shooting artillery at the slides today, though.  Should be fine by June.  There will still be snow up high - 11,000 ft.+ but all the roads will be open by then - even Trail Ridge at over 12,000 ft. & Mt. Evans at 14,000+.  trail Ridge is the highest paved through road &  Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America.  They get the big snowblowers out in May to try & get the popular tourist roads open by Memorial Day.  I've been over Trail Ridge Road within a few days of reopening.  There are some snowdrifts over 20 feet high that the snow removal equipment has cut through.  Pretty impressive - both the amount of snow & the machines they use to clear it.

H₂O