Wreckage of deadly truck crash on Colorado mountain pass cleared from hillside
The wreckage of a tractor-trailer that crashed through the guardrail on Wolf Creek Pass last year was removed from the steep hillside on Thursday, five months after the crash.
The truck's driver was killed when the rig left Highway 160 while travelling downhill on the west side of the pass on Nov. 3, 2025.
The semi, according to the Colorado State Patrol, was travelling at an excessive speed with its brakes smoking prior to the crash. Near mile marker 161, about six miles from the summit, the 2020 Freightliner smacked the barrier wall on the right side of the road. The trailer then came apart, dispensing much of the cargo of iced tea beverages on the road, as the truck bounced off the wall and across the other lane of traffic into and through the guardrail.
First responders did not immediately find the driver in the wreckage, according to the state patrol. They required harnesses and ropes secured to vehicles in order to descend to the wreckage. The driver was dead when those first responders located him. The 23-year-old New York man was thrown from the cab of the tractor, CSP stated.
On Thursday, the tractor and trailer were retrieved from the hillside in an all-day operation. A heavy-duty tow truck was required, and both directions of Highway 160 were shut down for half-hour to hour durations during the recovery. It started at 10 a.m. and lasted eight and a half hours.
"The recovery operation was more complex than anticipated," Lisa Schwantes of the Colorado Department of Transportation told CBS Colorado, "so the cargo and some other debris still remains on the hillside. The cleanup operation for that will be scheduled in the near future. We do not have a date yet."
Schwantes said trucking companies are responsible for the cleanup of their crashed vehicles. However, in this case, the truck was uninsured. CDOT and the U.S. Forest Service (which owns the land where the truck crashed) coordinated - and paid for - the recovery of the wreckage.
"Unfortunately, uninsured carriers happen too often," Schwantes stated. "CDOT's Risk Management division does what it can to seek damages. That is why these tow operations have taken months to schedule. We hold out as long as possible, hoping the trucking company will take responsibility for the cleanup.
"This crash has been unsightly, and it needed to be taken care of, so CDOT moved forward."
Prior to crashing, the semi passed a runaway truck ramp 1.5 miles from the Wolf Creek Pass summit, according to CSP. It's not known if the driver was struggling with failing brakes or any other mechanical issue, but at that time, he descended past that ramp.
The truck left the roadway about a quarter mile from a second runaway truck ramp. That lower ramp was constructed above a set of dangerous hairpin turns near the Wolf Creek Pass scenic overlook. It is informally referred to as the "last chance" truck ramp. The highway has a 7% grade in this area, according to CDOT.
