DENVER – A huge avalanche knocked two cars off a mountain pass Saturday 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, 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 U.S. 40 near 11,307-foot Berthoud Pass, about 50 miles west of Denver on the way to Winter Park Resort.
Wynn said crews were probing the area for other vehicles but they believe all have been found.
The avalanche hit between 10 a.m. and 10:30 and was about 200 to 300 feet wide and 15 feet deep, Wynn said. The area usually has slides 2 to 3 feet deep because crews trigger them before more snow can accumulate, said Spencer Logan of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Despite three snow storms in as many weeks, the area of the avalanche hasn’t been hit as hard as eastern parts of the state that got up to 4 feet of snow, Logan said. But the pass did get up to 10 inches in the past few days, he said.
Logan said authorities haven’t had time to test all slide areas, and he blamed 30 mph winds, with gusts up to 60 mph Saturday morning, for the avalanche conditions.
“This is a tremendous amount of snow to come down the mountain for us,” Stegman said.
Mile Cikara, who was headed to Winter Park to ski, told KMGH-TV in Denver that he joined others furiously digging out victims. “I along with 30 other people grabbed shovels and started digging to get people out. I had a shovel but people were using their hands, skis, ski poles, whatever, to dig out,” until rescue teams arrived, he said.
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