Bummer. My wife is stuck at the summit of Snoqualmie pass

Barb left Moscow this morning to visit me at my super secret hardened bunker in the Seattle area. Traffic stopped moving when she reached the very top of Snoqualmie summit at about 3:15 PM. I’ve been watching the web cam and getting updates via the web. The latest story is that she has been stopped for two hours now and the pass is now closed in both directions. The latest word from WSDOT:

Restrictions Eastbound:
Pass Closed

 

Restrictions Westbound:
Pass Closed

 

Conditions & Weather:
Westbound traffic is stopped at milepost 106 near Ellensburg due to a natural slide that occurred earlier blocking the westbound lanes at milepost 51. The eastbound lanes are closed at milepost 34 near North Bend due to worsening snow conditions. Because the westbound lanes are blocked, snow removal equipment cannot make the necessary circuits to keep the eastbound lanes open. This is estimated to last until early Thursday morning due to the amount of material and debris at road level. // Snowing with areas of poor visibility

She may be spending the night in the Jeep. She has blankets, sleeping bag, and food. She’ll survive just fine but it won’t be fun.

If she had left 10 minutes earlier she would be here by now.

Heavy sigh….

Update: 6:32 PM. She is off the freeway now on a side road near the ski lodge. They are not allowed to travel in either direction.

She went inside the lodge and found “about a 100 people in the lobby”. They had 19 rooms available. She is settling in for the night in her Jeep.

There is a small store open and people are stocking up on supplies. Barb is in a better situation than some. There is one woman there with several small kids. There are also some cars trapped in the slide area. The low tonight is supposed be 26oF so she shouldn’t have any problem staying warm and she has about 3/4 of a tank of gas.

Assuming she can travel tomorrow morning it will just be one of those “interesting stories” you have to tell your grandkids.

Update2: 7:55 PM. Barb says, “This is a very boring adventure. You can put that on your damn blog.”

A police car drove by announcing the westbound on ramp will be opening soon. She may make it over here yet!

Update3: 8:15 PM. A police car drove by again. This time the officer said there was a short delay, “But you guys are going to make it.”

Update4: 8:23 PM. They are taking westbound traffic out in convoys. She should make it to my bunker within a couple hours.

Update5: 8:48 PM. One convoy per hour until 10:00 PM and she apparently missed the first one. But she is moving again now.

Update6: 8:59 PM. No further word from Barb but KIRO has a story and pictures of the avalanche. There were two cars caught in the avalanche but no one was hurt. The video is more impressive.

Update7: 9:23 PM. She made it to North Bend which is out of the snow. She should be here in 45 minutes or so.

Update8: 10:02 PM. She made it to my bunker. All is well.

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4 thoughts on “Bummer. My wife is stuck at the summit of Snoqualmie pass

  1. 1) Obviously – Thank goodness all is well.

    2) “She has blankets, sleeping bag, and food”
    What do you keep for emergency provisions in your vehicles? Just wondering…

  2. “She has blankets, sleeping bag, and food.”

    Ya but what was she packing? :-p

  3. guy, she also had spare clothes, cell phone (obviously), some “defensive tools”. We deliberately don’t give out the details of those defensive tools. I carry quite a bit of water. Barb only had a little bit of coffee for extra fluids. She figured she could melt snow if she had to. I frequently also carry extra gas during the winter.

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