Gazflex Review

The new Gazflex Avalanche Mitigation System was utilized three times over the 2019-20 winter. The system was installed last summer by CDOT and their independent contractors as described in a few posts here and here.

Having the system in place allowed CDOT to use it when the snow-pack was prime for maintenance work. The goal is to use it when simple hazard mitigation work can be done while avoiding huge results and a large clean up effort that would shut the highway down for a prolonged period. It looks like that is exactly how things transpired as all of the mitigation work resulted in relatively small avalanches.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center maintains a database of recorded avalanches in the State. The results from the mitigation work completed on the Big Slide avalanche path utilizing the Gazflex system can be found on their site. You will need to enter the date range, Obs Type and Zone Area to the categories shown on the screenshot below.

Gazflex Exploder
Gazflex Exploder
Gazflex Avalanche Results