On Tuesday, Washington State DOT avalanche control specialists from Stevens Pass ventured up and over the North Cascades from the Early Winters closure point on the east side as far as Rainy Pass on the west.
Avalanche control chief Mike Stanford and forecaster/technician Harlan Sheppard stopped their snowmobiles to measure depths below more than two dozen avalanche chutes and other sites. "There's still more winter coming," said Stanford, "So, I expect we'll have more snow by the end of March, but what we found this week was less than we had at this time the last two years, and at some locations, almost half as much." Besides finding most of the highway covered with 3 to 5 feet of snow, Stanford said the snow piles below the avalanche chutes "had less rocks and trees in them."
Snow at the summit of Washington Pass measured about 5 feet deep compared to 7 and a half feet last year, while snow was 5 and a half feet deep at Rainy Pass, compared to 8 feet last year. Snow piles in the Liberty Bell avalanche zone ranged from 25 to almost 40 feet compared to 35 to nearly 60 feet in 2012.
The highway closed for the winter Nov. 20. It typically opens by early May. The earliest opening ever was March 10, 2005. One drought year, four years after the highway first opened in 1976, it remained open all winter. In 2011, clearing couldn't start until April 11, due to avalanches, and it didn't open until May 25. Last year work started March 26 and the highway opened May 10.