Safe avalanches triggered after cars buried

CREWS fired artillery shells yesterday to safely trigger avalanches before they could pose a threat to traffic on a Colorado mountain highway, a day after a huge snow slide knocked two cars off the road in a high pass and buried them.

Eight people had to be rescued from the cars that were swept off the main highway to one of the state’s largest ski areas on Saturday.

Wind whistled through the mountains west of Denver at 100mph yesterday, producing whiteout conditions and driving wind chills well below zero, as the artillery fire was used to set off the controlled avalanches.