6 Missing as Avalanches Roar Down Rockies Slopes

Colorado avalanches buried cars on a highway and left six skiers missing Sunday as a fast-moving storm blew blinding snow through the northern Rockies and onto the Plains.

An avalanche just after noon Sunday swept across both lanes of Interstate 70 on Vail Pass, burying four cars and a semitrailer truck, the Colorado State Patrol reported.

The vehicles’ occupants were rescued unharmed, the patrol said, but the highway remained closed between Vail and Copper Mountain.

Six cross-country skiers were missing near Aspen, a day after two avalanches thundered down near the resort town. Temperatures were in the teens during the night.

Blowing snow prevented an airplane and helicopter from being used in the search for the missing skiers. Ground teams could not venture into the area because snow on the mountainsides was so unstable, officials said.

Dozens of people were stranded in remote cabin homes by one of the slides, the sheriff’s office reported. Twenty people were stranded at the Ashcroft ski area.

The avalanche hazard was rated extreme Sunday for the mountains near Aspen and Crested Butte, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. More than 268 avalanches had been reported since a warning went into effect Wednesday.

In Wyoming, up to a foot of snow fell, often accompanied by high wind, and a 320-mile stretch of Interstate 80 was closed from Laramie to the Utah line from Saturday night until after daybreak Sunday.

Elsewhere, blowing snow caused a pileup of about 75 vehicles on Interstate 75 in Waters, Mich., prompting a four-hour closure of a section of the highway, state police said. Authorities said about eight people suffered minor injuries.