PITKIN COUNTY — Warm weather renewed an unwelcome trend in recent weeks: Drivers on Highway 82 whip downvalley with confidence bolstered by sunny skies and dry pavement. They enter Snowmass Canyon clipping along well over the 50-mph speed limit. They encounter a sheet of ice in a series of curves and — WHACK! — into the guardrail or another vehicle they go.
It’s a scenario that’s playing out too often this winter, according to emergency responders from the Basalt Fire Department, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado State Patrol.
Basalt sent ambulance crews, fire trucks or both to mile marker 30 on westbound Highway 82 eight times between New Year’s Eve and Jan. 31, according to Fire Chief Scott Thompson. A ninth call came Monday when two cars slammed into the guardrail a little farther downvalley in the shady canyon.
“The overall problem is people are coming into the canyon too fast,” said Capt. Rich Duran, who heads the Colorado State Patrol’s office in Glenwood Springs.
Ironically, the problem is worse when the winter weather is better. When the road in the open straight-away approaching the canyon is snow-packed, traffic travels slower, Duran said. But when conditions are dry, many drivers who are unfamiliar with the road fail to think ahead.
On warm days, the snow that has accumulated during the winter against the concrete barriers melts. The three curves at the east entrance to the canyon in the westbound lanes are banked, so the water from the melting snow spills onto the travel lanes, noted Tom Grady, director of operations for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
In the dead of winter, the sun quickly disappears from the roadway in the narrow canyon, and by “2 o’clock you’re in full shadow and ice,” Grady said.
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