Wyoming Transportation performs Teton Pass avalanche control
TETON COUNTY, Wyo. (KIFI) - The Wyoming Department of Transportation closed the Teton Pass earlier on Thursday morning to conduct avalanche control. They are looking to do man-made avalanches instead of having natural ones that can cause some damage to us and to the landscape.
They start out by ensuring that closing down the road itself. Then a group of hikers can move around the mountains detonating small avalanches in particular areas. They also have a mortar system that triggers avalanches on a larger scale. Crews can fire explosive charges out of a cannon that explode 30 seconds triggering the snowpack down the mountain. This process usually ends up taking four to five hours.
Then, the road has to be cleared up. When the man-made avalanches are all set and done, about 10 to 20 feet of snow are left on the roadways. Rotary snow machines then remove miles of snowpack from the roadway. This usually tacks on an additional two to three hours of work.
The entire process totals up to take a lot of time. It usually ends up being around seven to eight hours of total work. For example, the Teton pass was closed on Thursday morning from 2 a.m. all the way until 10 a.m. This is a long, but necessary process to complete for our safety.
