After a multi-day closure that buried U.S. Highway 6 under a 20-foot wall of debris, Colorado’s Loveland Pass reopened to traffic on Wednesday afternoon, June 18th. The massive slide, triggered by melting snow covered the mountainside, serves as another stark reminder of the power of the high alpine.
Crews from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) launched a full-scale operation to clear the road. The sheer volume of the cleanup was staggering: seven tandem dump trucks were needed to haul 92 tons of mud, rock, and silt off the highway.
The slide occurred Sunday, June 15th near mile marker 226 in a section known as Scottys Curves, cutting off the popular route between Arapahoe Basin and Loveland Ski Area. Initial assessments reported the slide was roughly 100 feet wide…