Cottonwood and Kebler Passes opening this week

Cottonwood opens Thursday evening, Kebler Friday evening

By Katherine Nettles

The two annual high mountain road markers of summer are almost here, as both Cottonwood Pass Road and Kebler Pass Road will be open by this weekend providing shorter, more direct routes to the Gunnison Valley’s eastern and western neighbors, respectively. The Gunnison County public works department has been at work the past couple of weeks clearing snow, repairing culverts and removing trees in addition to road maintenance. 

Martin Schmidt, assistant county manager for public works, confirmed that Cottonwood would open Thursday evening, May 22, around 5 p.m. He described to the Crested Butte News that Cottonwood was plowed in mid-May but last week was still covered in ice at the top. “It is having shoulder and asphalt maintenance work done prior to opening to traffic on the evening of May 22,” he said. Gunnison Nordic’s fifth annual Cottonwood Classic bicycle ride is on for Thursday morning, May 22, prior to the road opening to motor vehicles. 

 Kebler is scheduled to be open by Friday evening, May 23. Schmidt said Kebler had one culvert failure and dozens of trees to address this week. “We plowed off between 5 feet and 18 inches of snow on Kebler depending on the aspect of the roadway,” he reported. The plan is to apply magnesium chloride in June on Kebler. 

Happy roads and trails, everyone!