Here's a Transportation Department photo of the area, complete with graphics showing the slide zone and the spots from which personnel are toiling to make it safe. The caption on the image below, along with the other pics shared here, features text from CDOT.
This photo is the earliest in CDOT's Highway 550 gallery.... ...and here's the most recent, co-starring some curious onlookers: Accompanying this image on CDOT's Facebook page is this update from Monday:US 550 over Red Mountain Pass remains closed and there is currently no ETA for reopening. Technical climbers helped crews rig a ropes path from the top of the slope down to the highway. Crews will continue removing loose rocks and if all goes well, a helicopter will drop netting, possibly tomorrow, and crews can begin to bring down larger boulders below the field. We got a visit today from these guys, who don't seem to care that the road is closed!Additionally, Silverton Mountain personnel have been enlisted by CDOT to help place an estimated 46 nets over unstable portions of the hillside, on a cliff face approximately 600 feet over the roadway. A helicopter is doing much of the heavy lifting, but assisting on the ground is a crew that has to rappel off 300-foot cliffs in order to get in place. The angle's estimated at 40 degrees -- and to add more difficulty, blasting work must be done at the site as well.
Continue to see more photos and two videos of the rock slide area and the efforts to get U.S. Highway 550 over Red Mountain Pass reopened.
