It was a relic of grainy Disney Studios footage from 1957 that elicited the loudest gasps from the audience at Wednesday\u2019s Colorado Department of Transportation avalanche lecture at the Frisco Historic Park & Museum.<\/p>\n
In the brief black-and-white clip, a deep-voiced narrator describes the fatal nightmare filmed by photographer John Hermann. At the time, 62 years ago, Hermann asked people living near the Continental Divide for the best location to film an avalanche. The story goes that longtime High Country locals pointed Hermann to what they referred to as the \u201cDam Slide,\u201d an avalanche path above Berthoud Pass on U.S. Highway 40 on the border of Clear Creek and Grand counties.<\/p>\n
In sharing this story on Wednesday, longtime CDOT avalanche mitigation and snow removal expert Ray Mumford said that the longtime locals Hermann spoke to thought there was no way a Dam Slide avalanche would ever reach the road where he and highway department supervisor Wayne Whitlock would set up.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo both men set up the camera on the highway and filmed,\u201d the Summit Cove resident said, \u201cand continued filming the avalanche until it reached the highway. This is that avalanche.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are trees up there,\u201d he said pointing to the top of the monstrous avalanche cloud as the video played. \u201cImagine standing there watching that coming and not getting out of there. And that happened in 1957. That was the last time it hit the highway until three weeks ago. I\u2019ll be saying that a few more times in this presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mumford repeated that phrase or phrases similar to it \u2014 that avalanches hadn\u2019t reached certain High Country Colorado roads for years \u2014 several times on Wednesday. That included when he referred to the slides that reached portions of Interstate 70 within Ten Mile Canyon between Frisco and Copper Mountain.<\/p>\n
In fact, it was Mumford whom CDOT reached out to earlier this month, the same weekend the first powder cloud engulfed the highway in the canyon. Mumford describes himself as \u201cthe old guy\u201d of CDOT\u2019s avalanche mitigation and snow removal community. He\u2019s a lifelong Coloradan, originally from his family\u2019s ranch on the land where Denver International Airport currently resides. He\u2019s lived in Summit Cove for the vast majority of the time since he departed the U.S. Army in 1973. Way back when, Mumford set his sights on Summit County in 1973 with the hopes of getting a job with the state\u2019s highway department, one of the few full-time gigs you could get in the High Country at the time.<\/p>\n
In the near half-century since, Mumford estimates he\u2019s worked on and witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of avalanches across the state. From 1975 through 2008, Mumford worked full time with CDOT, including for a time as the department\u2019s avalanche coordinator and trainer. From 2008 to 2016, he worked in a part-time role. In the few years since, he said CDOT continues to consult him for his expertise, including earlier this month.<\/p>\n
To further put his career of avalanche work into perspective, Mumford said it wasn\u2019t uncommon before new technology was introduced a few years ago for him to take part in 35 to 40 avalanche missions each winter in the Seven Sisters area near Loveland Pass.<\/p>\n
But all of his years working on avalanches with CDOT paled in comparison to this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Ten Mile Canyon, when it starts putting snow on the road, it takes a special storm to do that for those paths to load up,\u201d Mumford said. \u201cWhen that happens something big is happening for sure. \u2026 When the first powder cloud came across Ten Mile Canyon, they asked me then, \u2018when was the last time you saw an avalanche hit the highway?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018gosh, it was well over 30 years.\u2019 And I\u2019ll be darned the very next day an avalanche came across the highway and pushed a car over. And it started progressing from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the next two weeks, more avalanches naturally triggered at locations such as Ten Mile Canyon, the \u201cDisney Slide\u201d at Berthoud Pass and at Mount Bethel just east of the Continental Divide. Even for an avalanche-lifer like Mumford, it was clear this was becoming quite the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something to see,\u201d Mumford said, \u201conce in a lifetime, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, there is a three-word phrase Mumford shares when putting this past month into proper context historically: \u201cNever say never.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar to the locals who suggested Disney\u2019s Hermann film the Dam Slide in 1957, before this month, many Summit County locals had little to no knowledge that avalanches of certain magnitudes were possible in specific locations. That even includes someone as knowledgeable as Mumford.<\/p>\n
In the lead-up to this month, Mumford said CDOT\u2019s two highway avalanche forecasters gave him and CDOT a heads-up several days before the avalanches began that something was coming and that it could be significant. Although it was on their radar and control teams prepped mitigation equipment, Mumford said there is always a degree of uncertainty.<\/p>\n
The positive news for Mumford, CDOT and the people of Colorado is that since CDOT joined forces with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in 1992, there have been no highway deaths due to avalanches. Before 1992, there were 22 recorded deaths, including five CDOT employees.<\/p>\n
Along with CAIC\u2019s informational contributions, Mumford said improved and more dialed-in technology in recent years has helped CDOT\u2019s cause. These days, remote-controlled technology and helicopter access makes the job of a highway avalanche mitigator easier and more efficient. Still, Mumford doesn\u2019t shy away from bringing up the word \u201cluck\u201d when referring to avalanches.<\/p>\n
As Mumford puts it, Mother Nature always wins. You can never beat her. You can try to at least even the score sometimes, but nature will always win. And whatever she throws at you, Mumford said, sometimes there is nothing you can fight back with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t take these avalanches for granted,\u201d Mumford said. \u201cWe learned that here three weeks ago. These avalanches are still killers out there and we always have to keep our guard up when we are out there traveling on these highways.\u201d<\/p>\n