Hi all,

Here’s the announcement you’ve been waiting for:

Washington State Department of Transportation – NEWS
North Central Region – P.O. Box 98, Wenatchee, WA. 98807-0098, — 509-667-3000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2011

Contacts: Jeff Adamson, WSDOT Communications, 509-667-2815 (Wenatchee)
Dustin Terpening, WSDOT Communications, 360-757-5997 (Burlington)

SR 20 North Cascades Highway reopens Wednesday at noon

WENATCHEE – Wednesday’s noon reopening of the North Cascades Highway marks the second latest since the highway opened 39 years ago. The latest ever was June 14, 1974, and the next latest, surpassed by this year, was in 1976 when it reopened on May 21.

WSDOT maintenance crews will open the east and west winter closure gates on SR 20 to traffic at noon on Wednesday, May 25.

The clearing effort took more than six weeks, compared to just three-and-a-half weeks last spring. Nine feet of snowfall in March and a record seven-and-a-half feet in April on the western slopes of the Cascades kept avalanche control technicians and snow clearing equipment on Stevens Pass until the avalanche threat eased and allowed the team to move up to the North Cascades. There, they found SR 20 buried in snow as deep as 75 feet.

“The crews are really pleased that the highway will be open for Memorial Day,” said Don Becker, WSDOT Twisp Maintenance Supervisor.

The noon reopening allows crews time to “sweep” the entire 37 mile winter closure zone for sand, rocks and debris between milepost 134, seven miles east of Diablo Dam on the west side of Rainy Pass 4,855 feet above sea level and nine miles west of Mazama at Milepost 171 below Washington Pass, elevation 5,477 feet.

“It provides the margin we need so the first drivers over the passes make their trip safely,” said Becker. “We had to rent a helicopter and do active avalanche control in the Liberty Bell Mountain and Cutthroat Ridge zones on Friday to bring down snow from those chutes. We couldn’t open the highway and allow traffic below potentially unstable avalanche zones.”

It took Monday and will take all day Tuesday for crews finish removing the huge piles of snow that slid down to the pavement. In the Liberty Bell Mt. zone on Monday, crews cleared about half the 650 feet of roadway that was covered with snow from 10 to 30 feet deep.

When the gates swing open, drivers should find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route. The forecasts for the next few days calls for high temperatures in the 60’s with a 30 to 50% chance of rain and a freezing level of 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

The highway closed for the winter Dec. 1. It typically opens between the last week in March and the first week in May. The earliest opening ever was March 10, 2005. One drought year, four years after the highway first opened in 1976, it remained open all winter.

Visit the North Cascades web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades
and the North Cascades Flickr – photo site: www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157623371473447/

Hi all,
The plan is to start the clearing on Monday!
Until then, SR 20 is still closed at Early Winters on the east side and at Diablo Gate on the west side. The crew will start the clearing from Early Winters to Silver Star Gate and plow the parking area out so we can stage the incoming equipment – snow blowers, graders, excavators and caterpillars. Our crews work Mon.-Thur. so Fri.-Sun. the staging area is available to you, as long as you leave our equipment alone!
We hope to get to Silver Star by Tuesday – then to Lone Fir Campground by Wednesday and to Cutthroat Ridge by Thursday. Once we get to Cutthroat Ridge (week 2) we’re into the avalanche zone and our Avalanche crew will have to be there to monitor the slopes before any work is allowed on the highway below.
If we’ve still got avalanche issues on Stevens – the work on the NCH could be delayed.
You may have noted that in last week’s snow slides on Stevens Pass that one of our two Kodiak snow blowers got caught in a natural slide at Old Faithful #3. It would normally be one of the pieces of equipment that would go north, but It’s not going to be available until all the broken glass in the cab gets replaced, the crushed steel panels get straightened, the broken steering gear gets replaced and all the hydraulic and cooling system leaks get repaired.
See the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157626170712679/

To begin with, we’ll start the work with the crew and equipment from Twisp and only one “imported piece” – a loader-mounted snow blower from the Leavenworth shed.
The Westside crew has been given the go ahead to begin work on Monday, too – dependent on weather/avalanches, of course.
So far as the weather starting to become spring-like: Not!– we’ve got a forecast for a potentially signficant snow event Sunday night to Monday morning, but we’re hopeful that it will dump at the higher elevations and allow us to get started down below as planned, without a lot more new snow. A second event is forecast for Wednesday-Thursday – but we’ll deal with that as we get closer and see if it really materializes.
So, to answer the question everyone is asking, “When will it open?” The answer is “We don’t know.” There are just too many wheels that can fall off from real wheels or caterpillar tracks to avalanche danger that has delayed us for days at a time during clearing over the past 30 years, to crew issues including having to send them elsewhere to deal with emergencies to illness – flu nearly shut down the entire operation for several days a few years ago. All that being said, just the volume of snow up there right now coupled with the wet forecast for the rest of the month promises that we won’t have a “quick” reopening. Over the last several years, we’ve done it in about four weeks. An optimist might be comfortable with six, this year.
Since I get peppered with calls from reporters at this time of year, I’ll share some interesting data I’m keeping handy about the NCH, Stevens and Blewett and those of you who still have your studded tires on:
North Cascades Significant Dates:
Closed: 12/1/10
Recent Opening Dates: 4/16/10, 4/24/09, 5/1/08, 4/26/07, 5/1/06, 3/10/05-Earliest ever
Noteworthy Openings: Latest- 6/14/74, Next Latest- 5/21/76, Never closed- 1977
Snow Data: 1/1/11– 4’ Rainy, 5’ WA, 3/1/11– 5’ Rainy, 6’ WA, 4/1/11– 9’ Rainy, 10’ WA
Stevens/Blewett – Snow Data: (roadside depth/total for the season)
Stevens: Jan. 1 – 4’/14’ Season, Mar. 1 – 8’/27’ Season, Apr. 1 – 9’/37.5 Season
Blewett: Jan. 1 – 4’/7.5’ Season, Mar. 1 – 2.5’/11’ Season, Apr. 1 – 1.5’/13.5 Season
Extended Studded Tire Deadlines: (RCW says 3/31, unless extended)
2011 –April 14 / 2010 –April 17 / ‘09 – Not / 2008 –April 5 / ‘07 – Not / ‘06 – Not
I expect to have some pictures from the crew and their take on how things went the first day by sometime Tuesday, so expect the first “real” update no later than Wednesday.
Let the adventure begin!

That’s pretty much the story. We’re really hoping that this day or two of warm temps might bring down some of the scary cornices that have formed at the top of some of the avalanche chutes. The forecast we’re seeing isn’t generating anything like confidence that spring will be here by April 11, but it’s providing enough optimism that we’re setting the date (as firmly as we ever can.)
For those of you who venture up above the gates while the highway is closed – I’ll bring to your attention a couple of new links in the left column of the NCH webpage – It was brought to my attention that the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has remote weather stations at Rainy Pass and a few miles further down the west side at Swamp Creek that were available on the web. Those links now allow you to check out the weather/snow accumulations on the west side as well as the east (Washington Pass) from the comfort of where-ever your computer lives.
I don’t expect to be writing e mail updates until we start the clearing work from the east side on April 11 (unless something changes), but the west side crew would like to start cleaning up the big slide below Ruby Mtn., a few miles above the Diablo Gate, perhaps as soon as next week, so Dustin might be writing the first “real” updates and posting the photos.
Jeff Adamson adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov (509) 667-2815

Enjoy this wonderful video about the scenic Methow Valley with locals telling of the trails and beauty. Thanks ABC!

The Methow Valley is calling you home. If you need a place to call home in the Methow Valley, call Winthrop Star Properties – 509-996-7829 or visit us online at WinthropStar.com.

SR 20, the North Cascades Highway is closed for the season

WENATCHEE – 37 miles of SR 20, the North Cascades Highway closed for the winter at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1.  The highway was temporarily closed at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29 in advance of a snowstorm that brought up to two feet of new snow by this morning.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) avalanche and maintenance officials found a foot of new snow at the closure gates and twice that at the higher elevations.  Several snow slides reached the roadway and with another snow storm forecast for later this week, attempting to reopen the highway under active avalanche zones would be unsafe.

The highway is closed between milepost 134, seven miles east of Diablo Dam on the west side of 4,855’ Rainy Pass and milepost 171, nine miles west  of Mazama on the east side of 5,477’ Washington Pass.

Crews were happy that they were able to keep the highway open through Thanksgiving weekend despite new snow and an avalanche that closed one lane for several hours.

The highway closed Nov. 17, last year, following two temporary closures earlier in the month. Last spring, the highway opened April 16. Typically, the highway is closed by avalanches between the week before Thanksgiving and the middle of December. There was one drought year, four years after the highway opened in 1976, when it stayed open all winter.

Visit the North Cascades web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades

 and the North Cascades Flickr – photo site: www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157623371473447/

These past few days have changed the look of the Methow Valley with a beautiful blanket of fluffy snow!  Although not enough for the ski trails to be ready, but a great start.  Dust off your snowshoes and get your warm gloves and hats out and enjoy the beauty.

New visitors to our new home are these quail.  Such cute little birds and fun to watch. Beautiful swans were out on Big Twin Lake this morning.  Hopefully, I can get a photo to share.

Old Man Winter is predicted to make us a visit with bone chilling temperatures these next few days.  Throw another log on the fire and an extra blanket on the bed!  Keep warm and drive safe.