wsdot snoqualmie rant

I heard there was a state high school event of some sort in eastern WA which contributed greatly to the ordeal. I tried to leave Hyak at 5pm and couldn't get out of the parking lot. I then left at 6pm and it took me an hour to get to Franklin Falls then it finally started speeding up after that and ended up 1.5hrs to North Bend. They then closed the pass on me while I was heading down and had to sit on the freeway for 30 min for my return. Glad I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere.

My 27 year old ski vehicle begs for less salt, not more. You will too when you see the resale value on your future rust bucket in the year 2020.

My 27 year old ski vehicle begs for less salt, not more. You will too when you see the resale value on your future rust bucket in the year 2020.

I'd agree with you there. As the black ice can form anywhere at anytime for a short stretch, it would take guys standing on the side of the road with thermometers and shovels at the ready or heated stretches with sensors. Left NB for the pass at 10 a.m. Dash temp said 34. One mile out a 60 mph felt a little front wheel jump/slip on the wet road. Slowed. 3 miles up, I saw a car on  right eastbound shoulder pointed west. Slowed some more Another car 200 yds up on the right shoulder after a spin. It was light traffic at suggested 35 on the way up. Coming down was ice/snow to start. I did 35 ish and guessed a 60-100 foot stopping distance after a safe test. Some autos and rigs went by me at 45. If they had been in a pack at closing instead of spaced........

Let's see, it snows a bunch two weeks straight and every flatlander that thinks nobody can drive in the snow but them heads up here on top of the everyday traffic and you act surprised the road is one giant clusterf#*k?

I wasn't surprised in the least, though I was surprised with the severity of it. Last night was the perfect storm (bad pun intended) of factors. It really wasn't that bad weather wise, and the avy control didn't take long, but the freeway just became overwhelmed with the number of resort skiers departing at the exactly same time. This is the very reason that Crystal started doing weekend night skiing for a bit a few years ago, in an attempt to spread out the departing traffic. For the most part, it wasn't accidents, but there was the minority of people who were, as usual, driving up there in woefully under-equipped vehicles for the conditions.

Somebody else mentioned that the WSDOT must be getting sick of the ski resort managers. I'd have to agree. This season, perhaps because of the short window of good skiing, I have seen Stevens and Snoqualmie get more overwhelmed more often than usual. I don't go lift skiing on weekends but my resort rat friends have complained about being turned around at Stevens multiple times this winter due to full lots. I tell them it's their own fault for doing something as misguided as expecting to resort ski on a weekend , but alas, I digress... The point being, it seems the only solution would be to somehow throttle the number of skiers that can head up to the ski areas, but I see no way to solve this problem. The ski areas could care less that lift lines are ridiculously long, lots are full, traffic is terrible and it causes a problem for the DOT. They have made their money and they are happy because of it.

More than anything, it's an expected result of living in an increasingly crowded area of an increasingly crowded planet. There are simply more people wanting to get up there and do whatever it is they do than there was 10, 15, 20+ years ago. I have planned around the mess the weekends create for years now, but simply dropped the ball last night. Had I put a little more thought in to it we would have skied several more laps and hung out in the lodge with pizza like Chmnyboy did.

In the end, I was glad to have the company of good friends to pass the time, so the whole experience wasn't awful, just mind-boggling in how incredibly f@cked up it all was.

My 27 year old ski vehicle begs for less salt, not more. You will too when you see the resale value on your future rust bucket in the year 2020.

If you were a true American you would just take a loan out on a new ski vehicle and not worry about its resale, then we wouldn't have to worry about the salt...

I-90's occasional bad weekends can't compare to I-70 west of Denver - all the way to Vail; it's like that every weekend in the winter and more and more frequently in the summer.