Alongside Highway 82 near Independence Pass, Colorado Avalanche Information Center Deputy Director Brian Lazar has noticed very little snow by the road or on the hillsides.
“It’s a low snow year and it’s evident on the hillsides the snow line is way higher on the hillside than it would be in a normal year,” Lazar said.
Still, the Colorado Department of Transportation is sending a helicopter up over the steep terrain to drop explosives into the snow for avalanche medication work.
“Even in our worst years we do get some snow up here, and there are several avalanche paths that threaten the road and we come up to reduce the risk from that threat,” Lazar said.
The big difference this year is the number of explosives they are using. In past years they have used as many as 50 bombs to help trigger avalanches, but this year they’re only using 20.
That might have something to do with the low snowpack, which is at 44 percent. But despite the lack of snow, those bombs do the trick in sending snow sliding down the hillside.
