{"id":1310879,"date":"2019-05-31T20:01:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T02:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=979718"},"modified":"2019-05-31T20:01:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T02:01:43","slug":"independence-pass-is-now-open-after-a-week-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/independence-pass-is-now-open-after-a-week-delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Independence Pass is now open after a week delay"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/independence-pass-aspen-2019.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/independence-pass-aspen-2019.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/independence-pass-aspen-2019-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/independence-pass-aspen-2019-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\"><figcaption><strong>Independence Pass east of Aspen is now open.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy of CDOT<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Independence Pass east of Aspen opened a bit early Friday after a week-long delay from its traditional opening.<\/p>\n<p>Officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation opened the gate east of Aspen just after 2 p.m. Friday. They were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/cdot-wants-to-open-independence-pass-by-friday-evening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">hoping to get it open by 5:30 p.m. Friday&nbsp;<\/a>but were able to open a bit earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Each spring, crews try to open Independence Pass on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/indy-pass-unlikely-to-open-by-memorial-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend<\/a>. However, with this season\u2019s large snowpack and numerous avalanches on the Pass the opening was delayed for the first time since 2008, when it did not open until June 5.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012 the Pass opened May 11, two weeks ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of all the remaining snow and avalanche debris motorists are reminded to take it slow, be aware and enjoy the beauty of this scenic highway,\u201d CDOT said on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s opening was a bit lackluster compared to years past, likely because it opened more than three hours ahead of the announced time.<\/p>\n<p>Usually there is a line of cars waiting at the winter closure gate (which is about 5 miles east of Aspen) to be the first ones up. However, when the gates opened, there were just CDOT crews and a few others.<\/p>\n<p>One of the avalanches this winter took out about a 100-foot section of guardrail near the 12,095-foot summit, and crews spent the past few days fixing the railing.<\/p>\n<p>Independence Pass will remain open through the summer and traditionally closes for the winter in the first week of November. The earliest it\u2019s been closed and not reopened in the past decade was in 2010 when it closed Oct. 25. It stayed open until Nov. 17 in 2016 and \u201917.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/independence-pass-is-now-open-after-a-week-delay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Independence Pass east of Aspen is now open.Courtesy of CDOT Independence Pass east of Aspen opened a bit early Friday after a week-long delay from its traditional opening. Officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation opened the gate east of Aspen just after 2 p.m. Friday. They were&nbsp;hoping to get it open by 5:30 p.m. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 10:06:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}