Washington Mountain Passes

**Yonder_River** · 01-01-2009, 01:39 PM

Sure is fun waking up hungover all early and shit and looking forward to the 2ft+ on top of Alpy and getting assed out by road closures.

Avy danger must be horrendous right now. Who thinks I-90 will be open tomorrow?

**TyeStick** · 01-01-2009, 01:50 PM

With the high amount of precip, and spiking freezing levels... Im not holding my breath for anything being open tomorrow.

**SeatownSlackey** · 01-01-2009, 01:53 PM

yeah same boat......

i think it gonna be entirely dependent on if/when and how much rain or sleet comes down on all this new snow.

it we get minimal rain up there i think we'll be ok for tomorrow. i sure hope so.

**RyanPete81** · 01-01-2009, 02:05 PM

I was all packed up, had my hangover cure all brewed up, and just making a last minute check of roads/conditions to find out the pass is closed...glad I checked before I left, but damn...I'd rather be skiing right now than watching football. Here's to hoping temps stay low and the rain stays away!

**rbtree** · 01-01-2009, 02:25 PM

Due to there being less snow at Stevens, and the forecast calling for much less warming there, we headed up at 6:30 am. Caught near Scenic with the road closure, dang it.....Back home now and restless.

It warmed 7 degrees at the top of Alpy from 10 to 11 am.....and is already 32 at 5500 feet at Paradise. Hopefully this spike won't last long...but they were calling for 2-3" of precip....and much of it could be rain. Remember 2 yrs ago, when the passes were closed for a week....

If that is the case, I highly doubt the passes affected will open even tomorrow. If the warming gets no worse, the top of Xtal will be good. (Telemetry is out there for 18 hours now, which sucks....)

**spindrift** · 01-01-2009, 03:09 PM

Turned around near scenic. 5+ hours in the car. Back home now. Epic.

Especially gratifying after lapping Daisy w/ Praxis Powders & full avy gear yesterday AM. At least it was kind of funny. (OK, with a few ceremonial laps on Hogsback w/ half hour plus liftlines & one good one on Chief right as it opened).

**3pin** · 01-01-2009, 03:37 PM

We sat at North Bend for 90 minutes before the State Patrol came through and told everyone I90 wouldn't be opening at all today. Sucks. At least Crystal was off the hook yesterday.

**The AD** · 01-01-2009, 03:45 PM

Is Crystal open? There website seems to indicate they are, but the WDOT site says "State Route 410 from Mud Mountain Dam, milepost 29 to Crystal Mountain Boulevard, milepost 57, near Enumclaw is closed due to fallen trees."

I guess I'm glad I stayed home...

**corn dog** · 01-01-2009, 03:50 PM

Bwah. Skibowl website was claiming 13 inches and 26 deg at 6.15am this morning. The 13 inches was right but it was pissing rain, which continued as long as I was there, kind of a let down. Was pretty nice last night though.

**Mofro261** · 01-01-2009, 04:11 PM

Yeah it sucked to wake up to 22" of blower in the driveway and a pass closure and find none of the lifts running.

I was all set to skin up the area (naturals coming down everywhere this am off Guye Peak and across the valley) but after seeing the fracture lines skiers left of chair three and on the last roller on chair one I figured I'd give the patrollers a break by not hiking.

Well, that and seeing it turn to freezing rain around 10:30 kinda sapped my enthusiam.
There is a ~1 inch crust on all that damn fine snow now.

**Yonder_River** · 01-01-2009, 04:16 PM

That's unfortunate to hear.

**SorryBro** · 01-01-2009, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Mofro261

Well, that and seeing it turn to freezing rain around 10:30 kinda sapped my enthusiasm.
There is a ~1 inch crust on all that damn fine snow now.

That is VERY disappointing to hear. I guess tomorrow morning will not be worth the drive up.

**nutcase** · 01-01-2009, 04:54 PM

same boat. all packed up, hungover and awake after 4 hours of sleep and still stoked about the 20 inches over night. At least I checked the pass conditions before leaving.

I wonder where the cutoff elevation was for the rain. The telemetry data for crystal is not up to date

**Emerson Biggin's** · 01-01-2009, 05:05 PM

Not to rub it in anyone's face or anything, but access to Steven's was open this morning from this side of the mountains....one of the best pow day's I've had in a long fuckin' time. They kicked us out of the backside at 11:15, but skiing Southern Cross before it closed made me cum all over thermals.

The coverage is getting surprisingly good fast back there too. Hwy 2 is now closed from Coles Corner to L-Town, so tomorrow is a crap shoot, but if any of you are planning on going to Steven's tomorrow, send me a PM and maybe we can meet up.

**TyeStick** · 01-01-2009, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Emerson Biggin's

Not to rub it in anyone's face or anything, but access to Steven's was open this morning from this side of the mountains....one of the best pow day's I've had in a long fuckin' time. They kicked us out of the backside at 11:15, but skiing Southern Cross before it closed made me cum all over thermals.

The coverage is getting surprisingly good fast back there too. Hwy 2 is now closed from Coles Corner to L-Town, so tomorrow is a crap shoot, but if any of you are planning on going to Steven's tomorrow, send me a PM and maybe we can meet up.

At least someone got some of this before it warms up to much..

If the pass is open tomorrow, and it doesnt get to warm up there, Ill be there.

**Kyle Miller** · 01-01-2009, 05:51 PM

410 was open this morning but it was a classic shitshow. Drivers were going 20 mph as trees were falling all around us. It was nice in the morning but mank by noon and raining so I made a quick escape before the weekend crowd.

**Emerson Biggin's** · 01-01-2009, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Kyle Miller

410 was open this morning but it was a classic shitshow. Drivers were going 20 mph as trees were falling all around us. It was nice in the morning but mank by noon and raining so I made a quick escape before the weekend crowd.

The weather and snow stayed cold @ Steven's this morning, and it's still snowing (lightly) here in Leavenworth, so let's hope that the forcast for a 3000' snow level is incorrect.

**nutcase** · 01-01-2009, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by Kyle Miller

410 was open this morning but it was a classic shitshow. Drivers were going 20 mph as trees were falling all around us. It was nice in the morning but mank by noon and raining so I made a quick escape before the weekend crowd.

was it raining above the base of rex?

**KIRinPNW** · 01-01-2009, 07:28 PM

Got skunked yesterday at Stevens w/the wind. Had one less beer last nite and drove to Baker in the early AM.....mmm mmmm money.

**altasnob** · 01-01-2009, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by nutcase

was it raining above the base of rex?

It was just barely snowing at Green Valley all morning before turning to more rain like. The good thing is precip seemed to let up as the freezing level spiked around noon. Hopefully it will come back down and we'll get another six inches to freshen things up. I don't think it rained enough to form any kind of crust.

**altasnob** · 01-01-2009, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by KIRinPNW

Got skunked yesterday at Stevens w/the wind. Had one less beer last nite and drove to Baker in the early AM.....mmm mmmm money.

Based on the telemetry, Baker looked like the place to be (as usual).

**greenmachine** · 01-01-2009, 08:41 PM

so are we screwed for tomorrow?

**Emerson Biggin's** · 01-01-2009, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by greenmachine

so are we screwed for tomorrow?

Absolutely not!! Still snowing and cold here in LW at 7 pm. Temps were supposed to climb sky high this evening and then drop again tomorrow....still cold and snowing here at 1200' in LW. Tomorrow should be golden.

**bedoe** · 01-01-2009, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Emerson Biggin's

Not to rub it in anyone's face or anything, but access to Steven's was open this morning from this side of the mountains....one of the best pow day's I've had in a long fuckin' time. They kicked us out of the backside at 11:15, but skiing Southern Cross before it closed made me cum all over thermals.

The coverage is getting surprisingly good fast back there too. Hwy 2 is now closed from Coles Corner to L-Town, so tomorrow is a crap shoot, but if any of you are planning on going to Steven's tomorrow, send me a PM and maybe we can meet up.

We have to meet up sometime, just noticed your "1964" tag, me too!

**rbtree** · 01-01-2009, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by greenmachine

so are we screwed for tomorrow?

Prolly...with the avy danger still extreme,and 8-18 new predicted for tonite, just because it is cooling (as of a few hours ago) doesn't mean the danger will lessen.

My guess is, Snoqualmie Pass will stay closed.....hoping Stevens will open, but dunno....

Hood Meadows is looking grim...4.9" of precip today, most all frz rain.....ugggh.

long term is scary, too...
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/get.php?...il=AFD&sid=SEW

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