A Phoenix driver survived rolling his SUV down a snowfield just below the summit of Imogene Pass on June 18. The Telluride side was still closed for snow. Here is what happened, and how to keep it from happening to you.
If you want one image that explains why locals plead with visitors to respect Colorado’s high passes, here it is: a Toyota SUV resting on its roof in the middle of a snowfield, well below the road, near the top of 13,114-foot Imogene Pass. The driver, a 58-year-old man from Phoenix, walked away. That is the remarkable part.
What happened on the pass
Around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 18, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and Telluride Fire responded to a report of an SUV that had rolled several times off a switchback near the top of Imogene. The driver had come up from the Ouray side, crossed the summit, and lost control on an icy stretch a few switchbacks down the Telluride side. The vehicle left the road and tumbled onto the snow below.
He was the only person in the car. By the time crews reached the scene around 10 a.m., he had pulled himself out and climbed roughly 150 feet back up to the road, where bystanders were waiting with him. Two of them had wilderness first-aid training. He was taken to Telluride Regional Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening. Search and rescue staged nearby but were not needed at the scene.
A pass that was open, and closed
Here is the trap. Imogene straddles two counties, and on June 18 they were not on the same page. The Ouray side was open. The San Miguel (Telluride) side was still closed for the season because of snow and ice. According to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, Ouray County had mistakenly shown the entire pass as open as of June 16, and there was no signage at the summit warning that the far side was closed. The driver crested the top believing the whole route was passable.
By about 11:15 a.m., Ouray County crews were headed up to install signs at the summit and correct their website. But the lesson for the rest of us is already on the snow, wheels up.
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Why June is still a snow month up high
This is a low-snow year across the San Juans, which tempts drivers to assume the high country is already clear. The opposite lesson applies. Even in a dry year, shaded north-facing switchbacks near the top hold ice and firm drifts into late June, and those drifts hide what is underneath, including the edge of the road.
“Even the most experienced off-roaders can find themselves in peril,” San Miguel County Sheriff Dan Covault said, calling the county’s passes some of the most challenging and dangerous in the country. Telluride Fire District Chief John Bennett credited his crews for reaching the patient and providing care quickly in difficult terrain.
How to keep your rig off the snow
The driver did a lot right after the crash: he got clear of the vehicle, got back to the road, and had help around him. The better win is never rolling in the first place. Before you point a truck up a high pass this season:
- Check both counties and the Forest Service, not a single app. A pass can be open on one side and closed on the other, and online status can lag days behind reality.
- Treat seasonal closure dates as real. A road that looks clear at the bottom can be buried in ice a few switchbacks higher.
- Bring the right vehicle. The Forest Service recommends a high-clearance, short-wheelbase, four-wheel-drive rig for these routes.
- When you hit snow or ice near a summit, stop and turn around. Momentum on a frozen switchback is how vehicles end up inverted.
- Pack for a bad day: layers, water, food, a first-aid kit, and a satellite messenger. Cell service is unreliable up there.
Imogene is one of Colorado’s great alpine drives. It is also a place where a wrong assumption and one icy corner can flip a two-ton vehicle onto a snowfield. Know before you go, and when the snow says no, listen.
Photos courtesy of the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office. Reporting from Denver7 and Unofficial Networks. For current conditions, check the San Miguel County and Ouray County road pages before heading up.
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