8 trapped in U.S. 40 avalanche rescued

A massive wave of snow roared down Stanley Mountain on Saturday and pushed two cars off U.S 40 near Berthoud Pass – injuring at least eight people and temporarily closing the main route to the Winter Park ski resort.

The avalanche happened about 10:30 a.m. about 12 miles off Interstate 70 as a few cars of skiers were making their way up the mountain pass to take advantage of almost 10 inches of new snow at the popular resort.

“It’s one of the biggest slides we’ve ever seen,” said Stacey Stegman, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Colorado State Patrol Trooper Eric Wynn said eight people had to be rescued from the two cars swept from the road.

Motorists helped dig the trapped people out of the snow, estimated to be 15 feet deep in places. They were aided by a rescue team participating in an avalanche training class on top of the pass.

Seven adults and one minor were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver, a hospital spokeswoman said. She said that their injuries appeared to be minor, and all but one person were released Saturday.

The Associated Press reported that an Ames, Iowa, church group was among those swept off the pass.

Brad Sawtell, a forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center who was conducting the training program on top of the pass, said one car fell 30 feet, while the other tumbled even farther. One car landed on its side, and the other was upside down, Sawtell said.

“It’s amazing they walked away from it,” Sawtell said. “I’d put money on the fact they were wearing their seat belts.”

Rescue team members said that had the avalanche occurred a few hours earlier – when Berthoud Pass receives its heaviest ski traffic – the outcome could have been deadly.

“If this would have happened at 7:30 or 8 in the morning, it could have been a whole lot worse,” said Bill Barwick, an Alpine Rescue Team spokesman. “The fact nobody died is a wonderful thing.”

CDOT crews worked late Saturday to clear the snow covering more than 200 feet of roadway. The road reopened about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Stegman said.

“We’ve gotten calls from all over the country asking if the resort is closed, and the answer is no,” said Matt Sugar, a Winter Park spokesman.

Stegman said crews had blasted the area Wednesday and again Saturday after the avalanche.

“For us to have blasted on Wednesday and have a slide this massive come down today, it’s just very unusual,” she said.

The avalanche came down the Stanley Slide Path, a swath of Stanley Mountain where avalanches are common.

Avalanche Information Center officials said strong winds in the area probably triggered the avalanche, which traveled more than 2,000 feet down three gullies traversing the mountain.

The center rated the slide a 4 on an avalanche scale of 1 to 5.

A category 4 avalanche can push cars off the roadway, knock down trees and destroy a wood-frame house.

“Berthoud Pass gets a lot of snow, and a lot of it is above tree line, so when the wind blows, it really blows, creating a significant avalanche danger,” said Spencer Logan, an avalanche forecaster in the center’s Boulder office.

“It’s not the biggest slide we’ve ever seen on the Stanley path, but it’s certainly one of the biggest in recent memory and certainly one of the biggest near the Front Range,” Logan said.

The avalanche training course on top of the pass Saturday included about 20 members of the Alpine Rescue Team.

“It just so happened we had the right people in the right place at the right time,” Barwick said.

Sawtell said it took rescuers less than 10 minutes to reach the avalanche scene.

When they arrived, several motorists had already gotten out of their cars and were helping dig the survivors out.

Michael Murphy, a University of Colorado student, was among those trying to help.

Murphy and two friends were on their way to do some backcountry skiing when the avalanche struck.

The skiers suspected that a friend’s father in a car in front of them might be trapped. So they grabbed their avalanche beacons, probes and shovels and started digging.

Murphy said it wasn’t long before he encountered one of the survivors who had made his way back up to the road.

“He was pretty banged up and had nicks and cuts all over,” Murphy said. “I stopped and talked to him because I wanted to make sure he was cool.”

It was an hour later, Murphy said, when he discovered his friend’s father had made it past the avalanche site – only a few minutes before the snow enveloped the road.

The harrowing event, Murphy said, wouldn’t deter him from backcountry skiing.

“It just gives me the absolute respect for the raw power of the snow,” he said.

Staff writer Annette Espinoza contributed to this report.

Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-954-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.