After snowy holiday weekend, Colorado transportation officials mitigated 9 avalanches along I-70

The Colorado Department of Transportation and Colorado Avalanche Information Center worked to mitigate avalanches on Vail Pass and between Silverthorne and the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels after a snowy holiday weekend

News | Feb 19, 2025

Ryan Spencer

Colorado Department of Transportation employees watch during avalanche mitigation work on Vail Pass on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. The avalanche work along Interstate 70 was necessary after the Colorado Rocky Mountains were battered by snowstorms over the Presidents' Day weekend.
*Colorado Department of Transportation/Courtesy photo*

The Colorado Department of Transportation says it has safely triggered and cleared nine avalanche paths along the Interstate 70 mountain corridor following a busy holiday weekend that saw successive snowstorms.

Crews closed I-70 between Silverthorne and the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels briefly Tuesday morning, Feb. 18, to conduct the avalanche mitigation work, the transportation department said in a news release. Four avalanche paths from that operation reportedly released debris into I-70 lanes.

Later in the morning, crews also performed winter maintenance operations on Vail Pass between Exit 180 to East Vail and Exit 195 to Copper Mountain. Crews triggered five avalanches during their work, the release states. One of the mitigated slides reached the interstate and was as much as 4 feet deep and 175 feet in length, according to CDOT.

Avalanche debris covers the part of Interstate 70 between the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels and Silverthorne on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. The Colorado Department of Transportation says this slide was safely triggered and cleared before the interstate reopened Tuesday morning.

Every winter, the transportation department works in collaboration with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center to monitor and control 278 of 522 known avalanche paths along Colorado highways, the release states. Ski areas along the I-70 mountain corridor reported more than 1.5 feet of snow in 48 hours and close to 4 feet of snow in the past seven days, according to the transportation department.

“Mother Nature did not take off for the holiday weekend,” CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said in a statement. “To the contrary, we saw some of the most intense snow totals of the season in the high country and multiple consecutive storms.”