DEN82FA057

After departing Salida at approximately 0820 the plt radioed over UNICOM that the clouds in the local area had bases of 12,500 ft MSL & tops at 16,500 ft MSL. About 15 min later the acft impacted a mountain at the 13,500 ft level. There were flt precautions over & Near the mountains of Wyoming & Colorado for occasional moderate turbulence below 20,000 ft with strong up drafts along the eastern slopes. Also mountains of Wyoming & Colorado occasionally obscured above 7,000 to 10,000 ft with clouds & snow. At 0845 a helicopter plt reported unable to maintain VFR over the Continental divide from corona pass to estes park due to blowing snow & clouds obscuring the mountains. The pax held a commercial certificate with an instrument rating but reportedly did not meet the currency requirements for IFR flt.