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Brighton council approves waiver to let Solitude add remote avalanche‑control towers
Summary
Solitude Mountain Resort presented data and videos on avalanche risks in Honeycomb Canyon and the council approved a waiver to install four additional remote explosive towers in 2025 and three more in 2026 to reduce worker exposure and speed mitigation.
Solitude Mountain Resort won council approval on March 11 to expand its remote explosive avalanche‑control system on the Honeycomb Canyon ridge.
Ian Riddell, a Solitude representative, told the council the canyon includes substantial avalanche terrain and showed photos and videos of hand‑charge routes and past slides. He said the resort currently operates four diesel towers in the Honeycomb area and is proposing a phased buildout—four more towers in summer 2025 and three in 2026—to reduce staff exposure and trigger avalanches more efficiently. “I feel very strongly that these towers are very effective,” Riddell said, explaining the towers create an aerial blast that is more effective than in‑snow detonations and can reduce both hazard and the number of loud detonations along the ridge.
Council discussion cited worker safety and the need to limit large manual exposure on the ridgeline. A council member summarized the local code provision that allows a waiver for mountain‑resort improvements, noting the town’s code provides an exception for otherwise‑prohibited ridgeline structures where public health and safety are at issue. The council moved to approve a waiver for the towers as drawn and voted to allow installation of the four towers in 2025 and the three additional towers in 2026.
Council staff recorded the approval as a waiver under the mountain resort improvement provisions of Brighton code (cited in the meeting as 19.72). The motion passed by voice vote; the record shows the waiver request and the council’s approval but does not list a detailed roll‑call tally in the transcript.
The council and Solitude framed the decision as a public‑safety measure: Riddell said towers shorten the time needed for avalanche control, limit the number of manual hand charges and so reduce risk to patrollers. The resort and staff also said limits on where towers are placed, and post‑installation monitoring, will guide any further work.
Next steps: staff will finalize permit paperwork and proceed with the phased installation as described. The council did not record any conditions beyond the waiver language read into the record.
