The section of US Highway 550 between Silverton and Ouray, Colorado is the most avalanche-prone stretch of road in America's highway system.
In Red Mountain Pass, "the setting is the story" in many cases. US Highway 550, nicknamed The Million Dollar Highway features prominently in the story including the first two chapters where Jim Philips is kidnapped in a roadside turnout, and where Lyle Morrison accidentally plows Dr. Philips' vehicle off the highway.
In 1993, when I drove Highway 550 from Durango to Ouray, I experienced the white-knuckle effect of piloting a car on a twisting roadway with no guardrails and a steep drop just feet off the highway's shoulder. The highway bisects beautiful country, featuring stunning orange-red peaks, the Uncompahgre River Gorge and forests of evergreen and aspen trees.
It is the most avalanche-prone highway in the nation. I wondered what it would be like to be responsible for clearing this stretch of road during a winter storm, knowing the room for error is small and that every bend in the road might reveal a freshly-deposited field of avalanche debris.
Dan Castle of CDOT's Red Mountain Division Patrol #14 met with me for a couple of hours and answered all of my questions about their winter operations. He could not have been more gracious. Dan gave me access to the Colorado Special plows, explained the Patrol's philosophy, and described the thoughts that go through a plow driver's mind as he/she pilots their plow along the Million Dollar Highway.
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