During filming, the special effects crew used Styrofoam to augment the "snow effects" of the avalanche. Once the spring thaw hit, Stryrofoam was discovered all over the Durango. By then, the company was long gone.
This box-office failure was one of New World Pictures' most expensive productions.
When the film Meteor (1979) ran in to financial trouble with the special effects budget due to multiple special effects companies being fired for unsatisfactory work, American International Pictures purchased the avalanche effects footage in this film in order to complete the avalanche sequence in that film.
This film was featured as episode four of the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return (2018), on Netflix.
This film was sold to network television for $2 million.