CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — When Vu Nguyen regained consciousness, he was face to face with snow, upside down in a pickup truck that had just been hit by an avalanche on Loveland Pass.
He remembered the slow traffic going up the dark, windy mountain road on Friday evening. He remembered the heavy snow. He remembered being pushed off the road, then rolling and tumbling. And then he remembered waking up.
Nguyen worked to free his hands of the snow, unbuckled his seatbelt, maneuvered around the air bag and crawled through the broken window of his brother-in-law's Ram 1500 truck.
"It just tossed it like a toy," he said.
He started to climb up the slope that the avalanche had slid down, catching his truck along the way. About 50 yards up, a couple men tossed a rope to him and pulled him back up to the road.
"I don't remember their faces, but I would never forget that act of kindness," he said.
Nguyen, who lives in Texas and has family in Denver, was one of a string of drivers whom the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) was escorting off Loveland Pass after it had closed the road around 6:30 p.m. due to the deteriorating conditions and increasing avalanche danger. About 45 minutes after the closure — around 7:15 p.m. — the natural avalanche tumbled down the slope, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office said.
Nguyen was lucky. He ended up with a scratch on his hand and a cut on his head, but is otherwise OK.
"It's incredible the amount of safety that the Ram truck people engineer into this," he said of the vehicle. "Incredible, because that was a long tumble down the road, down the mountain."
The avalanche occurred on a known path for slides, which has been named Seven Sister 6. The slide was about 164 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet deep, the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) reported.
Authorities used the vehicle's license plate to contact Nguyen, who confirmed he was safe.
Nguyen said he had seen the avalanche danger signs posted along the road, but it was something he never thought twice about.
"Until it picks your big truck and rolls it off like a toy truck — it gets real very quick," he said.
"I just want to say thanks to the people who opened their homes, the people who pulled me out of the snow, walked down the ravine and pulled me out of the snow," he continued. "And, (two people) who were kind enough to basically say, 'Hi, get in the truck and stay warm and we'll take you home somehow.' So, a lot of good people out there. And again, I will never forget them. Really appreciate that."
Earlier on Saturday, Denver7 shared drone photos from the Summit County Sheriff's Office, which showed an aerial view of where the pickup had ended up and the damage from the slide.
CAIC will release a final report on this avalanche at a later time.
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Drone pictures show how an Loveland Pass avalanche carried a pickup off the road
Mike Cooperstein, regional manager for the northern mountains for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), said avalanches don't hit cars often. He stressed that it is much safer to stay in the car and turn it off.
"Between the CAIC and CDOT, we put in a lot of effort to keep avalanches off of the highway," he said. "Obviously, avalanches are a natural thing. We can't predict every single one. We'll never stop every single one. But we do a really good job."
Avalanche forecasters around the state regularly analyze the paths that could tumble across roadways, which are a priority for public safety.
"And then we look at weather events to see when we think that these avalanche paths are going to reach threshold, and then we recommend mitigation to the Department of Transportation," Cooperstein said. "So, either the use of explosives or remote avalanche control systems to trigger avalanches in a controlled way while the road is closed. We'll bring down the snow, we'll clean up the mess."
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Tragedies, trials behind Colorado's avalanche forecasting program on US 550
Drivers should consider waiting to travel on Sunday because snow, as well as blowing snow, will continue to create difficult driving conditions, said Amber Shipley with CDOT. Loveland Pass will likely open sometime tomorrow, she said.
This weekend is the most dangerous period of Colorado's avalanche season, and Denver7 reported on CAIC's warning for backcountry explorers to make sure they have a plan that is well-suited for the conditions — or to avoid the danger zones completely.
The combination of Valentine's Day weekend and Presidents Day weekend is "one of the busiest — and deadliest — times of the season," CAIC said. More than one-third of all avalanche fatalities in February occur Feb. 14, 15 and 16, and February is the deadliest overall month for avalanches in the state.
Cooperstein stressed that Colorado had a large dry period at the end of January and beginning in February, resulting in weak layers on the top part of the snowpack.
"And then when we get storms on top of those, we get these types of avalanches that are a little bit more surprising," he explained of the Loveland Pass slide, though it applies around the state.
Always check CAIC's website for avalanche conditions and forecasts before heading out. Bring essential gear, which includes an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and a probe, and understand how to use them.
“We expect natural avalanches this weekend, and people venturing into the backcountry will be able to trigger slides big enough to bury, injure, or kill them,” CAIC Director Ethan Greene said. “And once the skies clear on Sunday, the chances of an accident will increase due to the nice weather, new snow, and dangerous avalanche conditions.”
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