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Don’t Get Stuck on I-90…for hours!
The other day, I decided to head up to Snoqualmie Pass for a couple of hours of snow boarding. I made it to within one mile of the Denny Creek exit where the traffic was stopped, before we were forced to park on the highway for avalance control. We sat on the highway for 3.5 hours….. and by the time the roads were re-opened, our window of opportunity had expired, and we simply turned around and headed back to Seattle. Now this is the one time in quite awhile, that I did not call ahead to the Department of Transportation to check the report prior to departure.
The safest procedure is to call the Ski Report hotline at Snoqualmie Pass, as well as the DOT, as most of the time following a large dumpage of fresh powder, there will be avalanche control. You can access both of these phone numbers, as well as both Snow Cams and Road Cams on my website at: www.snoqualmiepassliving.com.
I have also found that if you get out of town early (which you should be doing anyway if you want to be “gettin the fresheees”) you will ususally just miss the avalance control on the way up. Also, make sure that you check the reports on your way back down, as rather than sitting in the “I-90 Parking lot”, you could get a few more runs in and have an effortless commute home.
Now, a more advanced method of dealing with this continuous challenge is to own a home in Snoqualmie Pass. If I anticipate that we are going to have an epic powder day, I may decide to head up to Snoqalmie Pass the night before and stay at our home in Hyak, and be fully prepared for a memorable powder day without any commuting challenges. With property values at an all time low, there are some exceptional mountain homes available right now. See the ”Homes for Sale” link from the website: www.snoqualmiepassliving.com.
