Avalanche
A combination of heavy snowfall and high winds has created significant avalanche danger in the backcountry of Eagle and Summit counties, warns Scott Miller in Vail Daily. Following over 2-feet of fresh snow this weekend, Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) initially issued warnings about “high” avalanche danger for much of the central Rocky Mountains, including the Vail and Summit County area, and ‘considerable’ danger for the remainder of the week.
- Related: VIDEO: Insane New Footage of a SECOND I70 Avalanche Which DID Reach the Interstate and DID Bury Cars
According to the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office, more snow is expected from today through Friday.
Local experts recommend anyone thinking about heading into the backcountry check the center’s forecast for the day, adding travelers should check the cotrip.org website before hitting the roads. And while no injuries or deaths were reported locally from the weekend storm, a backcountry skier near Telluride was caught in a slide Sunday and died.
Two naturally occurring avalanches near Copper Mountain on Sunday afternoon closed I-70, one of them reaching the road and burying cars. Then yesterday, a huge section of the Interstate was closed most of the day while CDOT performed avalanche mitigation, triggering and clearing slides in avalanche-prone zones.
