“When you use explosives in any kind of an operation, you have to exercise extreme caution because when the explosion goes up, it sends whatever is in the area up with it.” –Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon
Provo Canyon traffic was halted for 15 minutes yesterday as a bomb squad used explosives to demolish an ice bridge created by a build up of avalanche debris near Bridal Falls.
KSL reports the avalanche responsible for the ice bridge happened January and deposited about 20-30 feet of snow along with ice, logs, branches, rocks and dirt. 6 months later, the majority of the deposit has remained where it came to rest. This has lead to safety concerns as the weather warms and more people are heading to the area for summer fun.
The area by the waterfall is still closed but visitors have been routinely disregarding the closure, in some cases putting themselves at extreme peril.
The main reason for Wednesday’s demolition operation was a response to viral video of a man jumping through a hole in ice bridge and into the raging river below. Thankfully he was able to swim to shore but it was extremely dangerous and officials didn’t want any copycats.
“That is incredibly risky behavior. It can be life-threatening We don’t want someone to die as a result of the risky behavior that that person engaged in here last week. … It boggles our mind that people think that it’s OK and safe to jump into the river here.” –Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon
Here’s the video of the man going through the deposit. Not smart.