Colorado State Patrol describes primary factors that led to huge pileup on I-70 with lots of "crashing and crunching"

The Colorado State Patrol has released a list of "primary factors" that are believed to be behind Tuesday's pileup on eastbound Interstate 70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel.

One person suffered what CSP described as "serious bodily injuries" and several other people had minor injuries in the series of crashes, which the agency now says involved somewhere between 60 and 70 vehicles. Many of the cars, pickup trucks and semis involved were heavily damaged.

CSP says the heavy snow accumulation in the afternoon right before the crash led to sudden, slick driving conditions for vehicles headed eastbound out of the tunnel. It says some drivers were going "too fast for the conditions" and that others were following vehicles in front of them too closely. Finally, one of the other believed primary factors was some cars' tires not having sufficient tread depth.

The eastbound lanes of the interstate were closed for 5 hours while vehicles were towed from the scene and victims were checked out by first responders.

Colorado State Patrol says no one has received a citation related to the pileup.

Easton Dameron was one of the many drivers who were frightened to suddenly find themselves in the middle of a very dangerous situation.

"We came out of the tunnel, it was snowing pretty hard. I just see a bunch of brake lights. I may be going 30 miles an hour, so I see all these lights, so I start slowing down. There was this box truck right in front of us and we just see it, like, swerve towards this guardrail. And so we start braking, we start swerving over here to the right, and then I just see all these cars come flying down slamming into each other," he said.

When a CBS Colorado news crew interviewed him at the scene of the pileup, Dameron was sitting at the wheel of his sedan while an SUV was stuck on top of it with its back wheels on his roof.

He described the sound of all those collisions as "a bunch of crashing and crunching."

Some people who were affected by the crash were taken to nearby Loveland ski area by shuttle buses. They stayed warm there and then many were taken to the town of Georgetown.