The Jaw-Dropping Mountain Pass In Colorado That's Home To The World's Scariest Job

Colorado’s Red Mountain is home to the most dangerous road in America, and a select group of people who risk their lives to maintain it.

Highway 550 gets over 300 inches of snow per year. To make matters worse, the road crosses 70 known avalanche paths…and has almost no guardrails. When winter hits hard, this road can be a deathtrap if it isn’t kept clear of snow and ice. Luckily, a few brave plow drivers are just mad enough to tackle the task.

Flickr/Alan Stark

Equipment operators with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) work all winter to plow the 15 miles of U.S. Highway 550 that wind from Ouray to the top of Red Mountain Pass. They receive a salary between $3,000 and $4,000 a month for performing what is arguably the most dangerous job in America. It’s impossible to say how many people have died trying to make the journey across Red Mountain Pass since the road was first opened for winter travel in 1935, but estimates are in the dozens.

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Flickr/Alan Stark

The four full-time CDOT operators work in all weather conditions, from freezing sleet to ferocious blizzards. They use 18-ton Mack plow trucks to blast the snow and ice out of the way, working shifts that can last anywhere from 12 to 18 hours when the weather is particularly stubborn. The vehicles cost $200,000 each, and only get two and a half miles to the gallon.

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Flickr/Alan Stark

Last year, a piece of ice the size of a football field detached from the mountain and hurtled down the slopes. No plow driver has been killed by an avalanche on the pass since 1993, but the danger remains. One stretch of road, East Riverside, claimed the lives of three different plow operators between 1970 and 1993.

Let’s hope these avalanche-dodgers stay safely at work for years to come.