North Casades Hwy 2017 Clearing

[Niehart]

Week three 4/28

Hi all,

The west side crew has cleared to within 2 ½ miles of Rainy Pass and the eastside crew is about the same distance from Washington Pass. The difference is on the west side the snow is three feet deep. On the east side, snow is 7 feet deep and the Liberty Bell avalanche zone is still ahead where there’s 45 to 55 feet of heavy wet snow on the roadway.

On the westside the work is progressing well with a plow truck and the loader-mounted blower On the eastside, the two big caterpillars have begun cutting down the huge piles of snow in the Liberty Bell avalanche zone.

Weather conditions on Thursday were pretty common for all of week 3. At midday it was 38 degrees, clouds and sun with snow flurries where the crews were working at about 4500 feet elevation.

The avalanche crew is always checking what's ahead. There's 9-1/2' of snow at the top of Washington Pass. Avalanche chutes still have snow in them that hasn't come down yet. We'll see what Monday brings. The forecast is dry Saturday, snow Saturday night, ice Sunday morning with some rain/snow later in the day. Monday through Wednesday, it's supposed to dry out again. Let's hope so!

Crews are still hopeful to open by Memorial Day.

 

[Panman]

Pops we may have to go North to go South on the 30th.

Week four - 5/1-5

The west side crew started Monday about 1-1/2 miles from Rainy Pass. The crew was plowing and snow blowing through 40” of snow. By Tuesday, through 5-1/2 feet of snow, they made it to Rainy and by Wednesday had it cleared shoulder to shoulder. They’re now pushing further east.
On the east side, Monday, the highway was cleared to Liberty Bell Mtn. Under the watchful eyes of avalanche team spotters, crews got to work on the 45’-55’ of snow at the foot of the three biggest chutes, LB 1, 2 & 3. It was almost crowded with a D-6 and a D-8 caterpillar, a backhoe, an excavator, a snow blower and a snow cat.
By the end of the work week, the crew had cleared and widened through LB 1,2 & 3 and on to Washington Pass. They're now pushing west toward Blue Lake.
Warmer temps brought down more natural slides and next week could see some avalanche control shots to bring down more. We can't open with unstable snow in those chutes even if the pavement below has been cleared.

 

[allrider]

Tuesday 11 am!!! Who's in?

SR 20/North Cascades Highway reopening planned for May 16 Warmer weather helped crews speed up the initial June estimate

DIABLO – It seemed like the winter weather might never end after record rain and snow pounded the state and delayed the reopening of State Route 20/North Cascades Highway. Finally, warmer temperatures, warm rain and sun arrived and should allow crews to reopen the road well ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

With a lot of long days, and help from the weather, Washington State Department of Transportation crews turned eight weeks of work into 5-1/2. Crews are finishing final repairs and are planning to open the highway for the summer at 11 a.m., Tuesday, May 16.

“Not being able to start clearing until April 10 meant we couldn’t be open for the beginning of fishing season or Winthrop’s ‘49er Days Festival which we never like to happen,” said Don Becker, WSDOT’s maintenance supervisor in Twisp. “Crews always had a Memorial Day weekend opening as a goal, despite the estimates that told us June. Luckily, in the end, the weather was finally on our side.”

The warm weather helped melt some of the snow, but those conditions also increased the avalanche risk. Safety is WSDOT’s top priority and crews used spotters and safety ditches in the snow to keep themselves protected during clearing. Some chutes still have snow, but rain over the next few days is expected to cause them to slide and get cleaned up before the highway opens.

 

[Panman]

Weather looks better Wednesday.

 

[Fontanaman]

I can see some time off from work is coming up. I want to go to Halcyon Hot Springs via the North Cascades Hwy with the wife and my trailer in tow. Yahoooo!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Might just be a good day to play hookie from work if weather cooperates...

--G

 

[allrider]

Weather looks crappy for Tuesday. I think i'll wait till next Wed the 24th or so. It will be warmer and dry. See yall at backfire this Wed the 17th?

 

[bigjohnsd]

I'll be riding that baby next week!

 

[escapefjrtist]

^^^^ We'll scout it out this weekend John...prediction is sunny in the high 60s!

--G

 

[Fontanaman]

^^^^ We'll scout it out this weekend John...prediction is sunny in the high 60s!
--G

Yeah I am thinking of a day ride this weekend around the Loop this weekend. Just got to convince the wife of that.

 

[AdamK]

Had a fun time riding out on Hwy 20 and back on Hwy 2 today with George, Kevin, Jim and Paul. Thanks for letting me come along guys!

 

[Niehart]

Paul's 03 still look pretty darn good. Oh and jealous.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Great ride...glad we got it put together!

--G

 

[Fontanaman]

Here some photos I shot while riding. The Sena's really helped keeping 5 riders on the same page. This was the first time I have had a Sena connected to more more than one buddy. On this ride we had 4 of 5 folks with Sena's and all connected.

You may think yacking about Sena is odd after riding on one of the classic roads in the USA but after being over the pass so many times I need something new to talk about. With 5 riders we had roughly 200 years of collective riding experience on this ride, then Adam quipped --G has all of those two hundred years. Too much fun!

Enough chatter here are some pics.

--G and Paul

They were looking at this.

We stopped at Rainy Pass for this photo op. This is a favorite - I like how the road fades away to infinity, the snow bank and sign on the right with the mountain in the background.

It was a great day of riding!

 

[audiowize]

That was a fun ride, and some territory I haven't covered yet on two wheels. It was nice to have George leading and the wealth of knowledge about all the local roads from the peanut gallery.

 

[AdamK]

Enough chatter here are some pics.

Nice! I'm stealing a couple of these for my website.

Thx Jim!

 

[escapefjrtist]

You guys made fun of me all day... now, where's that hurt feeling report - I need one now. ;-)

Love the pics Jim, can't add anything to your most excellent shots.

--G

 

[AdamK]

You guys made fun of me all day... now, where's that hurt feeling report - I need one now. ;-)

Thanks for being a good sport George. It helped pass the time. I'll be the fall guy next ride!

 

[JamesW]

Cool crew, nice ride, great pictures. Fun day for all from the looks of it.

 

[Panman]

Great ride Saturday, good crew and a good lunch.

We always seem to stop at the Diablo look out.

To take take in the view.

Not many pictures as the camera battery's died, and no spare's.

Nice easy 400 mile day, good crew. Thanks for letting me join guys.