Park City • For once, the action at Sundance wasn’t on Main Street.
With the festival in full swing Saturday, a powerful winter storm made getting to — and getting around — the mountain resort town something out of a horror film.
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"It’s just been accident after accident after accident," Park City Police Officer Ben Powers said about midway through his shift.
National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Schoening said the snow showers were expected to taper off in the Salt Lake Valley early Sunday. In the mountains, more heavy snow — another foot to 1½ feet — was expected overnight. Schoening said the heaviest of the snow was expected overnight, and the last of the mountain showers were expected to wrap up around noon Sunday.
An avalanche late Saturday closed Little Cottonwood Canyon and authorities did not immediately know when it would reopen.
UDOT spokeswoman Tania Mashburn said crews would be working through the night to clear roadways — particularly the route to the Sundance festival — but just how passable mountain roadways will be come morning will depend on the weather.
"We’re definitely dedicated to it and to try to keep it open," she said. "We’ll just have to see how the weather cooperates."
Authorities advised motorists to check www.utahcommuterlink.com Sunday for the latest on road conditions and restrictions.
On Saturday, Park City’s police force, typically focused on keeping the peace outside premieres and the clubs in the center of town, had its hands full with fender-benders and pushing rental cars out of the snow.
As soon as Powers and another officer had helped push a Mini Cooper off the street and into a parking lot, the officer was immediately called out to another wreck.
"I had everything nice and black this morning," said Tom Tuckey, who, nearing the end of a 12-hour shift, found himself sidelined for a time after a driver crashed into his plow truck. "Right now you can’t find a black spot at all."
Instead of watching over the hordes of photographers snapping shots of the celebrities on Main Street, Powers found himself with a camera in his hand, documenting damage from crashes around town.
"We’re not seeing much of Sundance today," one officer said at the scene of a crash.
With the snowfall picking up as the day went on, drivers on their way to and from Park City found themselves in white-knuckle conditions, on slick roads and facing low visibility.
By 8 p.m. Saturday, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Joe Dougherty said there had already been 140 slide-offs in Summit County. Salt Lake and Utah counties had reported 18 injury crashes and 77 that didn’t cause injury. Other counties also reported a few injury crashes, some slide-offs and non-injury collisions.
Dougherty said none of the injuries suffered were life-threatening.
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