{"id":1316199,"date":"2019-10-28T22:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/indy-pass-close-while-maroon-creek-remains-open\/"},"modified":"2019-10-28T22:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T04:52:00","slug":"indy-pass-close-while-maroon-creek-remains-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/indy-pass-close-while-maroon-creek-remains-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Indy Pass close while Maroon Creek remains open"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The snowstorm that blew in Sunday night and Monday morning was enough of a winter blast to close Independence Pass for the season on the earliest date in nine years, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was getting very difficult for our crews to keep up with the amount of snowfall on the Pass,\u201d said Lisa Schwantes, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation. \u201cOnce that happens \u2026 it\u2019s safer to just call it, so we closed it for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while other officials said they\u2019d heard CDOT might reassess the closure later in the week and open it again before winter shuts it for good until Memorial Day, Schwantes said it\u2019s possible but unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have a dry spell and the snow melts on its own and we anticipate a long dry spell, we possibly could open it,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at this point we\u2019re not going to send crews in to clear the snow any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to close the Pass on the Aspen and Twin Lakes sides was made about 7:45 a.m. Monday. It\u2019s the earliest closing since at least 2011, which was the limit of CDOT\u2019s available records Monday, she said.<\/p>\n

Independence Pass, which is 12,095 high and the highest paved highway in Colorado, generally closes in early- to mid-November and reopens the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend. It closed Nov. 5 last year, Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

Karin Teague, executive director of the Independence Pass Foundation, said Monday she heard CDOT will reassess the closing once the latest spate of winter weather clears out mid-week. Alex Burchetta, chief deputy of operations for the Pitkin County Sheriff\u2019s Office, said Monday he heard the same thing.<\/p>\n

Schwantes, however, said snow drifts up to 5 feet high can form on the Pass and will not be removed anymore this winter.<\/p>\n

Snow and low temperatures are expected in the Aspen area Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures were expected to rise into the upper 40s and possibly low 50s by late week, according to weather forecasts.<\/p>\n

Pitkin County will continue to try and keep Maroon Creek and Castle Creek roads open until closer to the historical closing date of Nov. 15, said Scott Mattice, the county\u2019s road and bridge manager. County crews were able to plow Maroon Creek to the Maroon Bells parking lot Monday and Castle Creek to Ashcroft, he said. \u201cWith temperatures up to the 50s late this week, it\u2019s easier to keep them open until closer to the Nov. 15 date,\u201d Mattice said.<\/p>\n

The county will post electronic sign boards at the Maroon Creek and Castle Creek closure gates next week that will warn of the Nov. 15 closing date unless additional snow falls, he said.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The snowstorm that blew in Sunday night and Monday morning was enough of a winter blast to close Independence Pass for the season on the earliest date in nine years, a spokesperson said. \u201cIt was getting very difficult for our crews to keep up with the amount of snowfall on the Pass,\u201d said Lisa Schwantes, […]<\/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":["post-1316199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 15:40:12","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\/1316199","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=1316199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}