The wine and brownies are gone: 50 women trapped on ski bus for 23 hours after major Colorado snowstorm

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The wine and brownies are gone: 50 women trapped on ski bus for 23 hours after major Colorado snowstorm

The group was stuck on Interstate 70 Thursday morning after leaving Vail on Wednesday afternoon

Jennifer Brown
Published: 9:57 AM MDT on Mar 14, 2024
Updated: 8:17 AM MDT on Mar 15, 2024



A group of about 50 women on a ski bus were stranded overnight on Interstate 70 because of a snowstorm. By Thursday morning, they were out of food and melting snow to drink. (Provided by Mary Wagner)

Updated at 12:11 p.m.: The bus started moving about noon Thursday, roughly 20 hours after it left Vail. The women reported they were looking forward to coffee.

A massive snowstorm that buried Colorado and shut down Interstate 70 stranded travelers overnight, including a ski bus filled with 50 women who were out of water and food after being stuck 16 hours and counting. ... “We’re in good spirits,” Mary Wagner, one of the skiers on the bus, told The Colorado Sun on Thursday morning. “But we’re done now.”

For years, the women, many retired or moms with kids in school, have taken the ski bus on Wednesdays. This week, they spent the day at Vail, then got back on the bus at 3:30 p.m. for the ride home. Within 10 minutes, as the snow started to fall, they were stopped on Vail Pass because of a stalled car. When they were able to move again, the uphill climb overheated the transmission on the bus, so they waited for a tow truck that got them to a pullout 3 miles up the road.

The charter bus recovered, so they crawled along, past more accidents and through the Eisenhower Tunnel. They had to switch drivers in Idaho Springs because, by this point, about 11:30 p.m., the original had reached her time limit of hours in the driver’s seat. ... Then at midnight, when they were just east of Idaho Springs, I-70 stopped moving.

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Prepared with snacks for the last ride of the season

It was the last Wednesday bus ride of the season, so the women wore silly T-shirts that looked like bikinis over their ski clothes. Like usual, there were homemade treats, beer and wine for the drive home. Wagner had packed a sandwich for lunch but then ended up buying food on the mountain, so she ate it along with an apple and a cheese stick for dinner.

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The Wednesday ski bus has been running for decades. This week’s trip was the last of the season, so there were special outfits. (Provided by Mary Wagner)

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Mary Wagner, second from right, enjoyed a day with friends at Vail before getting stuck on the ski bus overnight. (Provided by Mary Wagner)

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Reporter Olivia Prentzel contributed to this report.

Jennifer BrownReporter
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Jennifer Brown writes about mental health, the child welfare system, the disability community and homelessness for The Colorado Sun. As a former Montana 4-H kid, she also loves writing about agriculture and ranching. Brown previously worked at the Hungry Horse News in Montana, the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Texas, The Associated Press in Oklahoma City, and The Denver Post before helping found The Sun in 2018.

[underpants]

1. I was hoping that was a direct quote

Funny none the less.
Seems like they made do pretty well.