Print

Mail

wiki links

Avalanche near Colorado ski resort buries two cars

A huge avalanche knocked two cars off a mountain pass on the main highway to one of the state's largest ski areas, shortly after crowds headed through on the way to the lifts, authorities said.

Eight people were rescued from the buried vehicles and all were taken to area hospitals on Saturday, said state Patrolman Eric Wynn. Details of their conditions were not available.

"Our crews said it was the largest they have ever seen. It took three paths," Stacey Stegman of the transportation department said of the massive slide on US highway 40 near the 3,392m Berthoud Pass, about 80km west of Denver on the way to Winter Park Resort, Colorado.

Wynn said crews were probing the area for other vehicles but they believe all have been found.

Members of Oakwood Road Church in Ames, Iowa, who were on a ski trip, were among those swept away by the avalanche, including Darren Johnson, said his father, Don Johnson.

Darren Johnson's vehicle was the only one of the church's four-car caravan hit by the snow, his father said.

Don Johnson said his son was treated and released from a Denver hospital, while a passenger in his car, Peter Olsen of Nevada and a sophomore at Iowa State University, was being treated for a broken rib.

The avalanche hit between 10am and 10:30am and was about 60m to 90m wide and 4.5m deep.

Despite three snow storms in as many weeks, the area of the avalanche has not been hit as hard as eastern parts of the state that got up to 1.2m of snow, Logan said. But the pass did get up to 25cm in the past few days, he said.

Logan said authorities have not had time to test all slide areas, and he blamed 50kph winds, with gusts of up to 100kph on Saturday morning, for the avalanche conditions. The danger was expected to increase with the prediction of 110kph gusts of wind in the evening.

The pass was closed after the avalanche but reopened on Saturday night.

On an average January weekend day, the resort draws more than 10,000 visitors.

Colorado has been digging out for the past three weeks after back-to-back blizzards and more snow falling on Friday.

The Denver area was blanketed with up to 20cm of snow on Friday, while nearly 30cm fell in the foothills west of the city before the storm moved into New Mexico.
This story has been viewed 2535 times.