Loveland Pass and Berthoud Pass Will Receive Gazex Systems To Mitigate Avalanches Over Colorado Roads
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) are installing Gazex systems on Loveland Pass and Berthoud Pass to mitigate avalanches above Colorado roads. This $1.5 million project should help with safety and efficiency of avalanche control projects during the winter season.
Gazex is a French made system that mixes compressed gas and oxygen in a long tube. The gas mixture can be ignited by a spark remotely via laptop. The resulting blast creates a shockwave that travels at 1,750 meters per second. The shockwave will hit the snowpack and help to mitigate avalanches in predetermined avalanche paths.
Gazex is an effective system that is used in places like Teton Pass and Las Lenas. According to the Denver Post, there are over 2,000 Gazex systems in operation around the world, but there is only one currently working in Colorado. That one is in the back bowls at Wolf Creek Ski Area. There are none mitigating avalanches on the 278 slide paths above Colorado roads monitored by CDOT and CAIC.
The project will install 4 control shelters and 11 “exploders” on the east side of Loveland Pass in the Seven Sisters slide zone above Highway 6 and 2 control shelters and 5 “exploders” on the Stanley slide path on Berthoud Pass on the route to Winter Park Ski Resort.
The Gazex systems will eliminate the need for avalanche control workers to throw hand charges on slopes or use outdated cannons to shoot slopes. The avalanche prone slopes can receive a blast during any weather conditions. Ideally the Gazex systems will limit the amount of time the road will be closed by increasing the speed and efficiency of avalanche mitigation.
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