A two-vehicle, head-on crash near Green Mountain Reservoir on Sunday closed Colorado Highway 9 for hours and sent at least eight people to hospitals, including one via a Flight For Life helicopter.
At 1:43 p.m. Sunday, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a collision on Highway 9 north of Silverthorne near Heeney Road in Heeney. Sgt. Blake White reported that the vehicles involved were a southbound Toyota Tundra and a white Subaru Ascent, which was traveling northbound.
White said the Subaru entered the southbound lane and the front driver’s side of the vehicle collided with the front driver’s side of the Toyota in the southbound lane.
The Subaru rotated counterclockwise and skidded before coming to a stop in the northbound lane. The Toyota continued southbound for 37 feet and went off the left side of road about 10 feet before stopping.
White said there was one driver and one passenger in the Toyota and one driver and seven passengers in the Subaru. Use of drugs and alcohol was not thought to be involved, and neither driver was suspected of speeding, White said.
A Flight For Life helicopter landed at the scene of the crash at 2:25 p.m. to take one severely injured woman, who was traveling in the Subaru, to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
Brent Boyer, communications manager for St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco, said the woman was listed in critical condition as of Sunday evening. White said the seven others in the Subaru were transported via ambulance to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center. Of the seven transported by ambulance, White said four were juveniles.
Two of the juveniles were not wearing seatbelts, one was wearing a seatbelt and one was in a child safety seat. All four were injured and listed in stable condition as of Sunday evening, Boyer said. The driver of the Subaru and another adult passenger were both wearing seatbelts and had minor injuries, White said.
The driver of the Toyota was wearing a seatbelt, was injured and was taken to the hospital via ambulance. The passenger of the Toyota was not injured.
Boyer said seven patients were admitted to St. Anthony’s Summit Medical Center, including the four juveniles. Although White confirmed that eight patients were taken to the hospital, he said the discrepancy may be that one patient did not need to be admitted upon arrival. The three other patients admitted to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center were adult men, and all three were in stable condition. One had been discharged by Sunday evening, Boyer said.
Highway 9 was closed at 1:56 p.m. and reopened at 4:26 p.m. During the closure, traffic was redirected around the accident scene via Heeney Road.