Several vehicles were trapped late Thursday afternoon in an avalanche on a mountain highway just south of Copper Mountain, although there were no reported injuries.
The avalanche, reported about 3:50 p.m., shut down Colorado 91 in both directions, according to the State Patrol.
The avalanche dumped 15 feet of snow on the road and is about 300 feet wide, according to Trooper Gary Cutler, a State Patrol spokesman.
Volatile conditions in the high country remain. There has been another NATURAL slide on CO 91. CO 91 is NOW CLOSED and is expected to be for an extended amount of time. We are working to get updated info on this incident.
— Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) (@ColoradoDOT)
Four vehicles were buried in the slide, which ran down Resolute Cliff, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. People in the vehicles involved were able to get out.
The road reopened at about 8 p.m. Thursday. CDOT described the avalanche as natural and it happened in an area with no prior history of an avalanche.
AVALANCHE!!!! HWY 91 1 mile south of Copper Mtn Ski area. Three cars buried. All persons accounted for and safe. Drive safe!
— CSP District 4 (@CSP_District4)
Multiple avalanches have been triggered this week in the high country, where snow continued to fall Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday, Aspen Snowmass reported 22 inches of snow with a 111-inch base, and Copper Mountain reported 18 new inches of snow on a 120-inch base.
Interstate 70 was closed between Vail and Frisco on Thursday after an overnight avalanche on Vail Pass and a second slide later in the morning that ruptured a natural gas pipeline on Copper Mountain. The interstate reopened about 7 p.m. Thursday.
