A late spring snowstorm hit Southwest Colorado on Saturday morning, bringing thunder, rain, snow and a number of complications on the road with it.
While Cortez woke to rain and light snow, to the east, it was a different story.
Saturday morning, a motorist slid off the highway and into a guard rail near Mancos Hill, and as road conditions deteriorated, many other drivers got into trouble.
U.S. Highway 160 was closed for a while in both directions, near the top of Hesperus Hill, west of Durango West, and at a point near Colorado Highway 140, in addition to a closure near Mancos. The road was reopened with travel limited to alternating lanes west of the Hesperus ski area.
La Plata County Sheriff Sgt. Jeff Blevans said it all comes back to the weather.
“It’s just a freak snowstorm,” he said. “It got icy, and cars slid off the road at Mancos Hill, and then cars got stuck up there near Hesperus, and then two or three miles down, there were other ones sliding off.”
No injuries were reported as complications mounted, but delays remained.
“The problem was that we had trouble getting sand,” Blevans said. “Cars without four-wheel drive were just sliding. Everybody got stuck. The roads were super slick, and it was just a mess.”
The Colorado Department of Transportation dispatched snowplows to clear snow and spread sand. Travel was delayed for about two hours before officials reopened the highway at 11:39 a.m.
bmathis@durangoherald.com
