SALT LAKE COUNTY -- A Utah Department of Transportation traffic camera captured footage of an avalanche spilling down the mountainside and onto the roadway in Little Cottonwood Canyon Monday morning at 9:15 a.m. on SR-210 near mile 8.
Amid multiple avalanches caused by crew members, UDOT didn’t feel comfortable with the conditions in the canyon and decided to hold off on re-opening it.
“We`ve triggered 40 slides right now. Seven or eight, which are going over the actual road itself in the canyon,” said John Gleason, UDOT Public Information Officer. “It`s about as bad as conditions as our folks have seen there in some time."
Skiers reported similar sightings.
“Real snowy, super windy too. The roads were fine, everyone could still drive, but it was definitely dumping at the top,” said Riley, a skier. "Came up here, sat in traffic for, like, two and a half hours. Then they told us to turn around and come down. So, here we are."
The canyon is expected to re-open Tuesday morning at nine.
“Three or four season ago, we actually lost one of our avalanche control workers,” said Gleason. “We`re not going to open it up again until we feel confident that it`s safe for everyone to travel.”
