Highway workers were starting avalanches on the South Klondike Wednesday.
Flying in helicopters, workers from the Highways and Public Works Department dropped explosives on three separate mountains.
They were triggering avalanches to prevent them from happening randomly.
Signs warning of a highway closure were posted along the highway Tuesday night, but it was too late for some truckers to notice.
There were reports of trucks being stuck behind the mess on their way from Skagway.
“These things are hard to determine,” said Jennifer Magnuson, a spokesperson for Highways and Public Works.
“We need to have perfect weather conditions in order to do this (avalanche) control,” she said. “We need pinpoint accuracy to drop the explosives.”
Mountains along the highway were bombed at kilometres 84.2, 81.6 and 81.4.
“They’re hoping to have the highway open to one lane (Wednesday),” she said.
There was 378 centimetres of snow this January, compared to 219 centimetres this time last year.
“The snow up there is just phenomenal,” said Magnuson. (James Munson)