Gazeks & O'Bellx Avy Control Installed on RMP

**AlpiNord** · 07-10-2023, 02:58 PM

Interesting Durango Herald article:

[B][URL="https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/cdot-installs-permanent-avalanche-control-equipment-on-red-mountain-pass/?fbclid=IwAR2TwU1xgJkWX_iyDmUl7pf7bveF2Yet2ERCPhz1 1llsgcU3z5mk19D68U8"]CDOT installs permanent avalanche control equipment on Red Mountain Pass

Contractors working for the Colorado Department of Transportation began work Monday to install five avalanche control units along known side paths on U.S. Highway 550 north of the summit of Red Mountain Pass, between Silverton and Ouray.
Traffic delays of up to 20 minutes could occur weekdays beginning July 11, lasting through July 17.

Five avalanche control devices will be constructed along three known slide paths, Blue Point, Blue Willow and Mother Cline.

Blue Willow and Blue Point, at mile post 81, will be controlled using two Gazeks. The devices are remotely controlled and use a mixture of propane and oxygen that, when triggered with a spark, create a sonic concussion with a 328-foot effective radius.
The exploder nozzles are permanent fixtures, mounted on a concrete pad, and fed by gas lines that pressurize the chamber from a remote location.

The Mother Cline slide path, at mile post 89, will be controlled with three O'Bellx systems. Similar to the Gazeks, the O’Bellx can be remotely triggered and uses a mixture of hydrogen and propane gas to create an explosion which will trigger an avalanche.
Unlike the Gazek, the egg-shaped O’Bellx device must be removed from its concrete pad by a helicopter before each season and have its gas supply refilled.
The Mother Cline path will be equipped with the O’Bellx system because the beginning of the slide path is smaller in radius and requires a less forceful blast, and the Gazek is more powerful.