Over the last few days, Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon, also known as State Route 210, has been closed as crews work to clear the widespread debris from avalanches up and down the canyon. A video of the mitigating process has been shared by WorthFPV on YouTube.
The crew workers from the Utah Department of Transportation are trying to clear up the avalanches that have resulted in 60+ inches of snow that kept falling over the past week.
The YouTube video by WorthFPV captured the aftermath of some historic avalanches for Little Cottonwood Canyon. From Sunday, April 2, to Friday, April 7, SR-210 was closed. Parts of the route were buried by numerous avalanches as debris piled up to 20 ft deep and went more than 600 ft wide.
The Maybird and Tanner slide paths were shown in the YouTube video, which covered the road at an unknown level. The Alta Ski Area and Snowbird worked alongside UDOT in a huge effort to clear the road as soon as they could.
Little Cottonwood Canyon remains closed for indefinite time
The Utah Department of Transportation informed the general public about the situation via Twitter. They asked if anyone was stuck down in the valley or up in the canyon waiting for the route to open up. UDOT shared a video to give everyone a peek at why they had to keep the route closed for so long.
They concluded by saying that their crews were working as hard as possible to reopen the canyon safely. The route being completely buried under snow looked remarkable in the video as it put the danger from avalanches in Utah into perspective.
Little Cottonwood Canyon is home to the Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. Recent avalanches have forced the canyon to enter an interlope for an uncertain number of days, leaving visitors and skiers stranded.
On Thursday afternoon, Snowbird officials said that another avalanche gathered on Mount Superior had crossed State Route-210 and onto the ski resort’s Chickadee Trail. A spokesperson for the Utah Department of Transportation, John Gleason, told Axios Salt Lake City that this is the longest period Little Cottonwood Canyon has remained closed in decades.
Since March 28, 2023, more than 30 avalanches have collectively spilled into Little and Big Cottonwood Canyon. However, Big Cottonwood Canyon reopened on Wednesday, April 5.
Even though the route was closed, dozens of snowboarders and skiers camped out near the base of Little Cottonwood on Thursday morning as they kept waiting for the green light to start their activities on the slopes.
UDOT's avalanche program manager, Steven Clark, told reporters on Thursday that just because they got past the storm cycle, it did not mean that they were out of the avalanche hazards as well. He continued that the abundance of snowfall has worn out the avalanche-mitigating crew and maintenance workers.
A Snowbird spokesperson told Axios Salt Lake City that about 1500 people, including guests and employees, were stuck up at Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The latest update from the Utah Department of Transportation was on April 8, where they announced that all travel along SR-210 will be closed again at 9 am on Saturday and will remain closed until around 7 pm.