Provo Canyon Re-Opens After Avalanche
Mar 8, 2019, 4:41 PM | Updated: 10:17 pm
PROVO CANYON, Utah — Crews have cleared the roadway this evening after an avalanche in Provo Canyon.
US-189 had been closed in both directions at times for snow removal.
Both directions re-opened just before 9:00 Friday evening.
Jared Isaacson shared a picture with KSL showing snow covering much of the road.
Provo Avalanche March 8, 2019 (credit – Jared Isaacson)
Isaacson told KSL he was driving up to go fishing when he saw the avalanche.
“…and I kind of did a double-take — it was like the whole mountain was just sliding down,” Isaacson said.
His smartphone captured what the avalanche left behind — a wall of snow in the middle of the road.
“The highest part was probably at least 10 feet,” he said. “I jumped out of the car to slow people down as it was happening, and I’m like flailing my arms… and nobody even slowed down at all.”
Geoff Dupaix, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation, said, “These are two slide paths that we’re actually very familiar with. The one that crossed the road was the same location of the one that crossed back in January.”
That January slide was even larger — with snow as deep as 30 feet.
“This is one reason why we do a lot of avalanche control within these canyons, because we want to keep people as safe as possible,” Dupaix said.
Drivers who narrowly missed this slide were grateful.
“If somebody on that other side, especially a small car, would have been caught in it, they probably would have been buried,” Isaacson said. “It was pretty scary.”
No one was hurt in the avalanche and UDOT crews did some additional avalanche control work before the road completely re-opened.
State avalanche experts advise caution in all mountain areas this weekend due to high avalanche danger.
KSL TV’s Andrew Adams contributed to this report.
