WINTER PARK — .A.S. Gazex, a French company that makes remote-controlled avalanche-control systems, has proposed that its equipment be used on Berthoud Pass.
Town Manager Drew Nelson mentioned during the Feb. 7 Winter Park Town Council meeting that he, Mayor Jim Meyers, and officials from Winter Park Resort, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the U.S. Forest Service had attended a Gazex presentation.
The system could potentially replace existing avalanche-control procedures and allow for more efficiencies, said company officials. It could also help prevent road closures that result in thousands of dollars in lost revenue to the resort and town businesses, officials said.
According to the company website, the Gazex system detonates an oxygen-propane mixture in individually designed exploder tubes located at the top of avalanche risk zones. The exploders are connected to gas storage tanks.
When the gas mixture explodes, the force of the explosion is directed toward the snow, producing a direct push into the snowpack under the open end of the exploder. The resulting shockwave lifts up the snow, causing it to slide.
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