SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – All the snow this week has been leaving its mark with multiple closures at the Cottonwood Canyons. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons are expected to be closed all day Wednesday.

Early Wednesday morning, skiers and snowboarders lined up to enjoy the fresh powder from this week’s recent storm at Big Cottonwood Canyon.

“I was trying to see ski, but it looks like they got the canyon closed maybe all day, which would be a bummer,” said Adrian Gleman, who traveled from Florida to ski. “It’s frustrating, but I understand. I’m here to ski, I paid a lot to ski and as of now I can’t ski in either canyon.”

At the canyon, police officers began telling people to turn around their cars, as the canyon was expected to be closed all day.

UDOT said this has been a busy year for closures and seeing them at Big Cottonwood is unusual.

“We’re seeing slides happening in areas where we don’t usually see slides happening, lower in the canyon…Never before has the avalanche risk been this high. We’re seeing non-stop natural avalanches during the closure. That’s why it’s so important to keep it closed and make sure we’re addressing that,” said UDOT spokesperson John Gleason.

Craig Gordon, a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center, said that Little Cottonwood Canyon closes more often because of its size, it has some of the most active avalanche paths in North America. In Big Cottonwood Canyon, which has less of slide paths, the risk is still there, but not as prevalent, however, all the snow this season has been impacting that.

“It’s just an epic winter, we’re getting lots of snow, and lots of snow means lots of avalanches….It’s a rarity to see Big Cottonwood closed like this and this full canyon closure….It’s been a couple of decades since that happened. That really speaks to the historic nature of our snowfall right now,” he said.

Gordon warned about increased avalanche danger over the next few days, saying he wants to remind anyone skiing or snowboarding soon to be safe, recommending they stick to low-angle terrain and have all the safety equipment they need.

“We’re seeing avalanches in areas we don’t normally expect to see avalanches occur, in our foothills, in our backyards,” Gordon said. “Avalanches are running fast, they’re running far, and they’re running historically great distances.”

Skiers today saying they understand the closures are needed for important avalanche work to be done but are hoping to enjoy the snow soon.

“They gotta keep that road safe…It’s dangerous, I don’t want to die driving through a ski resort,” said Tsvi Ancel.