Described as new to science in 1972, it is known only from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, where it grows under conifers such as spruce, hemlock, and Douglas-fir.

The fruit bodies of the fungus, or mushrooms, have a slimy dark chestnut-brown cap that becomes deeply radially grooved or corrugated in maturity, and reaches diameters of up to 8 cm (3+1⁄8 in).

The species was described in 1972 by mycologists Alexander H. Smith and James M. Trappe, based on specimens they found in Cascade Head in Tillamook County, Oregon, in October and November 1970.

[3] Based on the nucleic acid sequence similarity in the internal transcribed spacer region, C. vanduzerensis is closely related to the European and North American C. mucifluus and the Costa Rican species C. costaricensis.

A drop of FeSO4 solution (a reagent commonly used in mushroom identification) applied to the surface of the cap will turn olive-green.

[9] The basidia (spore-bearing cells in the hymenium) are four-spored, broadly club-shaped, and have contents that are often in the form of yellow masses or granules when stained in Melzer's reagent.

The veil hyphae are 4–8 μm wide, and hyaline (translucent) to yellow when mounted in a dilute solution of KOH.

[1] Smith and Trappe noted a similarity to the European Cortinarius elatior, but this species has violet gills at first.

[1] C. collinitis has a lighter brown slimy cap, with glutinous bands on the stem that are rarely tinged purple.

A third species in this group, C. cylindripes has a lighter colored, sometimes wrinkled cap, and gills that are pale purple when young with fringed edges.