VIDEO: Little Cottonwood Canyon closed for much of Wednesday, leaving drivers to wait out the closure —or turn around.
Unified Police reported extreme avalanche conditions kept the roads closed. Crews worked on avalanche control all day, and UPD said a number of slides several feet deep spilled across the roadway.
While many people turned around at the closure, some had no choice but to stick it out.
"I was here at roughly 7 o'clock," said Sam Garfield, a Unified Fire Authority firefighter who works at the station up the canyon.
When he pulled up, he said they told him, "that the canyon was closed. They didn't know when it was going to be open."
He was supposed to come on shift but instead spent around eight and a half hours in the park-n-ride parking lot, waiting. Meanwhile, the crew he was supposed to relieve was stranded up at the station, unable to go home.