I-90 Closed for Epic Snowfall!

....nice change of thread title....

During some of my downtime while the pass is closed I read " The White Cascade". An intresting account of the Wellington avalanche. One of the conclusions about the incident still rings true almost a 100 years later. Somtimes man and all his technology cannot overpower the forces of nature.

Agree! This is a great historical (local) read.

In case no one noticed yesterday, HWY 2 was closed from about 10am till 4pm, when they opened it to let people stuck in the closure get down. It didn't fully open until last evening. The initial reason for the closure was an accident involving a couple of semi's at the hairpin. Once it was already closed, DOT decided to do control since it was closed anyway.

18" to 3' crowns were visible on the road cuts during the drive back down. I was told they had one path leave 20-30 feet of debris on the highway.

Stevens cancelled night skiing knowing that people wouldn't be able to get there. Being stuck up there all day with about 300 of my closest friends and several feet of new snow sure was shitty!

Check out these photos and video of the slides posted by WSDOT. Pretty nifty.

www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157603661683249/

wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/avalanche-control.html

“I am seeing historical levels of avalanche risk along the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass corridor,” said Craig Wilbour, WSDOT avalanche expert. “The possibility exists of large destructive avalanches in areas with no history of avalanche activity.”

www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2008/02/01_snoqualmiepassclosed.htm

This map shows 77" in six days at Snoqualmie - getting close to a 100" week!