Pass Conditions

Feb. 28, 2005
Crews started the snow removal process today.

A snow assessment by the WSDOT North Central Region Avalanche Control team, completed earlier this month, found little snow and low avalanche threats. There were only four slides over the road through the Cutthroat Ridge section, above the Silver Star Gate, and those are only about 10-feet wide. Slides over the roadway below the Liberty Bell Mountain avalanche chutes, just east of Washington Pass, are only a dozen feet deep, compared to past years when they have been 70-feet deep. Much of the roadway is only covered with snow and ice measuring a foot or less. 7 to 9-feet are typical for this time of year. As a result, Becker was optimistic that the reopening effort “might be the shortest ever, if the weather cooperates.”

March 02, 2005
Almost immediately the optimism for a quick opening was dashed when the 7" to 14" of snow turned out to be nearly solid ice. Crews juggled around some equipment and brought in a D-5 cat and have a couple road graders with ice blades coming. The pass won't be open by this weekend (March 5-6). Crews will be working through the weekend and next week too until they can break through the ice and get the highway open.

Since we started using the liquid anti icer five years ago, they've had great results with the treatments before the winter closure causing the snow to not freeze to the pavement. This winter had so little snow that the pavement was exposed several times and the melt coupled with the rain (instead of snow) that fell washed the anti icer off and what's up there now is frozen solid to the pavement.

Right now, they've cut a single lane to the Liberty Bell avalanche chutes and expect they'll be able to have a lane open through to Washington Pass by tomorrow. That will allow equipment to work the entire closure zone.

The v-plow has been cutting the single lane. The Piston Bully has been knocking down avalanche accumulations at Cutthroat Ridge and Liberty Bell for the V-Plow. The Front End Loader has been clearing the Cutthroat avalanches down to the ice. The Grader and plow truck equipped with a belly plow are scraping to the ice layer and the Kodiak Snow blower is clearing off what they have scraped up.

Crystal deicer will be applied on the ice layer as it's exposed to assist the D-5 Cat to clear the ice to the pavement.

March 04, 2005
After the initial disappointment on Monday, encountering solid ice instead of easy-to-clear snow, WSDOT maintenance crewmembers quickly recovered their optimism. The work may take a week longer than hoped for, but will still likely beat the previous earliest opening date of March 22, 2001.

"We are using different techniques and different equipment to deal with the dramatically different conditions," said Twisp Supervisor Don Becker.

A pair of road graders with special ice bits are the key to getting the highway open, along with deicer crystals to help break up the ice.
"We are working to clear the road down to the ice floor from guardrail to guardrail, then weekend crews will apply the deicer and we'll hit it with the ice bits again on Monday," said Becker, "A lot can still knock us off schedule: illness, equipment breakdown, unexpected weather, but if everything works well, I'm still optimistic for an early opening."

By Thursday afternoon the highway was cleared from guardrail to guardrail, down to the 2" to 14" ice floor, from the east closure gate (Silver Star) west, beyond Washington Pass. It was in the same condition from nearly the top of Rainy Pass west to that closure gate. Crews encountered deeper snow than expected just east of Rainy Pass and found the thickest ice at Washington. By the end of the day only a few miles between Rainy and Washington remained to be "blown" and cleared to the guardrails.

March 08, 2005
March 10th marks the earliest-ever spring reopening of the North Cascades Highway. “While it never closed during the ’76-’77 drought,” said WSDOT Twisp Maintenance Supervisor Don Becker, “The crew is very pleased to beat the old record by nearly two weeks.”

The previous earliest opening was March 22nd, 2001. Ten days from start to finish is a new record for clearing the highway. “Travelers will find bare and dry or bare and wet pavement over the entire route,” said Becker.

Crews have been working continuously since Monday, February 28th to remove layers of ice that covered most of the 34-mile closure zone. “Usually, it’s a giant snow removal effort below avalanche zones,” said Becker, “This year, that was the easy part due to the small amount of snow.

The challenge turned out to be breaking through miles of ice that was 2 to 14 deep and firmly bonded to the pavement. A combination of equipment fitted with special ice-cutting bits, use of crystalline deicer applications and warm temperatures are all aiding the effort. This is the first time we’ve been able to set a reopening time this far in advance, but with no avalanche threat, it’s predictable.”