When 70 cars carrying dozens of people collided on snowy I-70 this Tuesday, just a little bit of luck was on their side — Loveland Ski Area was right there.
“The incident commander on site was one of the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputies. I asked him, ‘What do you need?’ and he said, ‘We need to get these people off the highway. Can you send some busses up?'” says Rob Goodell, the chief operating officer at Loveland. “I told him yes, but where do you want us to take these people?”
It was just after 3 p.m. A blinding, 10-minute snow squall had lifted to reveal the wreckage on I-70 within sight of the Loveland ski slopes. It looked like a junkyard at 11,000 feet with semis, cars and trailers. They were smashed so tightly together that tow trucks and even people had a hard time navigating the wreckage.
The Loveland shuttle drivers flew into action, joined by drivers from Summit Stage and the Clear Creek bus service, Roundabout. They drove crash survivors from the scene of the crash to the lodge at Loveland Valley, where people could warm up and calm their nerves before meeting with loved ones at the rendezvous point in Georgetown.
“The people that had immediate medical needs and injuries were transported by ambulance, but they had other medics in the building to double check everybody, just to make sure,” Goodell says. “Not to mention our furry friends. There were a lot of dogs with people that we brought in as well.”
Colorado State Patrol reports 19 people were injured that afternoon. Of them, eight were sent to the hospital and one suffered serious bodily injury. Miraculously, there were no fatalities.
Gooddell tells Krystal 93 he has never seen a crash of this size so close to his ski hill. It was rare, like the conditions that caused it, but Loveland was prepared.
“CDOT organizes the T.I.M. group, a Traffic Incident Management group, that a lot of us stakeholders on the corridor participate in, and we’ve had meeting about situations like this,” Goodell says.
Gooddell is proud of his team. The drivers stayed late into the night, shuttling survivors from Loveland to Georgetown. Many had been on the clock since just after sunrise.
“I’m extremely proud to be a part of this mountain community because, wherever this would have happened, I know people would have rallied around to do what we did,” Goodell says. “It could have been right in front of Copper or anywhere else on the corridor. Anyone would have helped out. It’s what we do up here.”
State patrol believes speed, snow and poor traction are to blame for the pileup.
Many semi-trucks were traveling without chains. Passenger vehicles were following too close with bald tires.
Troopers have not written any tickets, most likely due to the size and scope of the wreck