Chinook Pass closed for the season
Target reopening date is May 22, 2008 (continued cold weather may delay the opening date).
Updated May 8, 2008
Contact WSDOT Communications: Mike Westbay 509.728.4712 (Yakima) or
Greg Phipps 206.949.8078 (Seattle)
YAKIMA – Continued cold temperatures, additional snow accumulations, and snow drifts as deep as fifty feet, could delay the opening of Chinook Pass until after Memorial Day weekend.
SR 410 (Chinook Pass) and SR 123 (Cayuse Pass) Closed Until Spring.
More snow and continued cold temperatures were encountered this week. The dozer and maintenance photos, on the Flickr site, show the progress crews are making through the deep snow in the avalanche zones. The avalanche crew still needs warm weather to trigger larger avalanches.
The target date of reopening both passes is May 22, 2008 (continued cold weather may delay the opening date).
At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27, crews temporarily closed the SR 410 gates at Morse Creek (five miles east of the summit) and at Crystal Mountain Boulevard (eight miles northwest of the summit) until Thursday’s decision to close for the season. Access to the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort from SR 410 remains open.
Additionally, WSDOT and Mount Rainier National Park staff agreed to close SR 123 (Cayuse Pass) for the season. SR 123 is closed within Mount Rainier National Park from the 4,675-foot Cayuse Pass summit at the junction of SR 410 and SR 123 to Steven Canyon Road.
WSDOT closes each pass for the winter due to high avalanche risk and hazardous driving conditions. Both passes have numerous slide areas that pose significant danger to travelers, WSDOT maintenance crews and park staff.
The combination of avalanche danger, mountainous terrain, lack of cell phone service, inclement weather, and the low number of vehicles, make driving these passes in the winter a potentially hazardous endeavor. If someone had a problem, such as going off the road, it could be many hours, or days, before anyone could find them, which could be fatal in winter conditions.
For information on these and other mountain passes call 511 or visit:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/.
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