Driver grateful to be alive after rockslide hits truck on Highway 6

PRICE — A Spanish Fork man is thankful he’s okay after a rockslide came crashing down onto Highway 6 and hit his truck Friday afternoon. He said it happened so fast that he barely had time to react.

The slide snarled traffic and left other drivers in awe as they passed by it.

Erin Young and her daughter Kaylynne Young drove through the aftermath as they headed from Price to the Salt Lake Valley, only a few minutes after boulders barreled down onto the highway.

She said there was debris and large rocks across the entire road.

“There was still sand, you know, kind of coming down off the side of the hill,” Young said.

People had gotten out of their vehicles and jumped in to start clearing debris and directing traffic. As her daughter took cell phone video from the passenger seat, they could see one man trying to secure tow straps on one of the boulders.

Young, who said she drives the canyon about once a week, explained she’d seen rockslides before, but none as bad as this.

One of the boulders ripped through the guardrail, mangling the metal.

The two wondered if everyone was okay.

“That’s kind of where we’re looking at, like, the car, trying to see like if anyone was hit,” Young expressed.

They passed by Todd Bramall and his truck pulled off on the side of the road.

He also took video and snapped pictures of the aftermath.

But unlike the Youngs, he didn’t just see the rockslide. He felt it.

As Bramall drove west through Price Canyon toward home in Spanish Fork, he spotted dust up the hillside and said he immediately knew what was happening.

He had no time to react before the dust descended upon him, surrounding his truck.

“I had heard rocks pelt the side of the truck, as well as hit it,” Bramall said.

With his truck right in the rockfall’s path, Bramall explained his instincts — and an impression — guided him.

“Reflex was to hit the brake, which I did, and then immediately had the thought ‘speed up to get out of it,'” Bramall recounted.

Pulling out of the dust, Bramall stopped on the side of the road and got out.

One of the rocks had launched into the hood of Bramall’s truck, tearing through down to the engine. Smoke started rising, the damage making his truck undrivable.

“My oldest boy said it looked like a cannon ball had gone through it,” Bramall explained.

Other rocks dented the front of his truck and hit the windshield post in front of his side mirror.

When Bramall turned and looked down the road, he could see people out and trying to move the boulders, some waist — and shoulder — height.

He realized the moment of hitting the brakes allowed the rock to smash Bramall’s hood rather than inches away, where he was sitting in the driver’s seat.

Suddenly speeding back up got him out of the slide’s way before the worst of it hit.

“Had I been 10 seconds slower, I would have been in the middle of those big boulders,” he said.

With no one else hit or hurt, UDOT came out and cleared it up with a snowplow and front loader.

Utah Highway Patrol also responded, saying the rockfall appeared to be from natural causes, and is a frequent occurrence in that area.

Troopers, Young and Bramall all said Friday’s rockslide is a reminder of why it’s so important to pay attention and stay alert on Highway 6.

Bramall’s truck had to be towed, and now he’ll have to figure out if it can be fixed. But he’ll keep the rock as a keepsake, remembering his luck and the moment that instinct, and impression, kicked in.

“I’m just grateful to be alive and be able to continue to spend time with family,” Bramall said, adding, “I know where the impression came from, and grateful for that.”