DENVER—More than 2,000 travelers were stranded at Red Cross shelters in the Colorado high country Monday as a threat of avalanches closed a stretch of Interstate 70 west of Denver.
Deep snow drifted into more than two dozen narrow ravines in the mountainsides—known as avalanche chutes—raising the danger of potentially deadly snow slides cascading onto I-70.
High winds and blowing snow forced the state to close the highway overnight.
Crews planned to use low-power explosives to bring the snow down while the highway was closed. Transportation officials said it would be at least midafternoon before the highway opened.
In addition to the avalanche threat, wind-blown snow reduced visibility to nearly zero.
At the 1.7-mile-long Eisenhower Tunnel about 40 miles west of Denver, wind gusts reached 70 mph, keeping crews from clearing the avalanche chutes.
“That is basically the problem we are having right now,” said John Nelson, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Transportation. “It’s not snowing, it’s blowing snow.”
Red Cross spokeswoman Melinda Epp said the agency opened seven shelters in schools and recreation centers and most of the 2,000-plus travelers who used them during the night were still there Monday morning. Others relied on the kindness of strangers.
Ken Simons and his wife were trying to get from their Grand Junction home to Denver to spend New Year’s Eve with friends when the road closure caught them in Frisco.
“I’ve got some (champagne) in the car, but it’s probably frozen by now,” Simons said.
Leaha Widrowicz was trying to get back to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with her boyfriend and his mother after a skiing trip but had to spend the night in Frisco, missing their midnight flight from Denver International Airport.
“We’re not even thinking of New Year’s right now,” Widrowicz said. “We are just trying to get home to family.”
Brian Jerry of Colorado Springs said strangers let him stay in their Silverthorne home Sunday night because motels were full.
“We called the local Quality Inn, and they basically laughed at us,” Jerry said Monday.
Jerry, who had been snowboarding at Keystone Resort Sunday when high winds began, said he and his friends found a place to stay through conversations at a restaurant.
“The good will and the bonding together has been outstanding,” he said.
Westbound I-70, the main route between Denver and many of the state’s major ski resorts, was closed from 10 miles west of Denver to Vail, a distance of about 75 miles. Eastbound lanes were closed from Vail to Georgetown, about 60 miles.
It wasn’t clear if the closures would hurt the ski resorts during the lucrative holiday season.
“It’s going to be resort-by-resort,” said Jennifer Rudolph, a spokeswoman for the industry group Colorado Ski Country USA.
The highway department also closed several other highways around the state Sunday as snow blown by wind gusting to 65 mph reduced visibility to near zero. U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass, U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass and U.S. 550 over Red Mountain Pass all remained closed Monday.
Steamboat Ski Resort reported 17 inches of fresh snow Sunday.
