# Retaining earth in the mountains

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2021-12-11

concrete-walls, construction, housing, mountain-town, mountains, park-city, retaining-walls, utah

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As many of you know, I am working on a new build in Park City, Utah. One of the things that I have had to get up to speed on are earth retention systems. Building in the mountains is challenging. Here are a couple of photos from this morning of a new single-family home under construction near the lot that I am working on.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/51f47498c6d9e301cd25b93433036900.jpg)

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/337f3e5bf2f613c7b8e18e2e86c76c4d.jpg)

It looks to be a combination of cast-in-place concrete and precast blocks (right side). We are looking at a similar strategy. To give you a sense of the magnitude, some of the concrete blocks we are looking at are 1,800 lbs each. As is the case with many construction projects, a lot of the costs here end up going towards things that most people won’t ever see or think about.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/retaining-earth-in-the-mountains)*