Past WA Pass

Under brilliant sunny skies this Tuesday (May 17), only a few days from being the second latest opening date of the North Cascades Highway, the east side crew "blew" by Washington Pass on their way to meet the west side crew (who are as far as Rainy Pass but were dealing with a muddy mess of a slide back near Panther Creek). Despite ample rain over the weekend, not many slides triggered naturally. The crew may be dropping charges by helicopter near the end of the week to loosen up what snow and cornices are hanging above the highway.

At Washington Pass.

Here's a long quote from WSDOT communications guy Jeff Adamson:
"You all can imagine the uproar we'd cause if we kept the gates closed while the pavement is clear, especially from those who don't appreciate the avalanche danger from Cutthroat Ridge to west of Rainy Pass - note Sunday's slide. It only takes a few degrees or a couple hours of direct sunlight (or more snow!) to trigger a slide. That's why we'll try to empty them by placing charges via helicopter directly into the starting zones, if we have to. 
NOTE: for those who have complained we're not working 7 days a week to reopen – take heart – the forecast I'm looking at right now suggests it's going to be warmest Saturday and Sunday, so avalanche and maintenance personnel could be working this weekend."

I bet those hard-working crews up on the highway would like to see some overtime. They deserve it.

– Paul

Big ole wall of snow on LB#1.