State routes to Mount Charleston open

Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 | 8:47 a.m.

Metro Police re-opened state routes leading to Mount Charleston and lifted the advisory for residents to evacuate the area, but continued to close off the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

Metro on Friday afternoon lifted the closure of State Routes 156 and 157, Lee Canyon and Kyle Canyon roads, on Friday afternoon after an assessment by the avalanche assessment team deemed the area to be relatively safe. No avalanches were reported over the weekend.

Officers continued screening visitors to the mountain.

Visitors to the area will not be allowed to park on the side of the roads and will be prohibited from certain recreational areas near, said Officer Jose Montoya, a public information officer for Metro, on Friday.

Metro is still closing SR 158, the Deer Creek Road, which Lee Canyon and Kyle Canyon, Montoya said, adding that the resort will be closed indefinitely.

Mount Charleston Lodge was recovering Saturday and Sunday.

"It's not what it would be if the roads were open," lodge general manager Paul Card said. "It's still pretty good."

Cathedral Canyon resident Gail Daines said that everything was quiet on the mountain.

"It's going good so far," Daines said. "No snow play allowed, though."

On Jan. 9, 13-year-old Allen Brett Hutchison was killed at the Lee Canyon ski area when an avalanche swept him off a ski lift and buried him under at least 10 feet of snow. Two more avalanches hit the resort on Tuesday, with one destroying Ski Lift 1.