Highway closed for season

The North Cascades Highway over Washington and Rainy passes has been closed for the season.

Officials from the Washington State Department of Transportation made the call to button up the highway for the season early Tuesday (Nov. 17) after a team went up to the pass to assess conditions, according to WSDOT spokesman Jeff Adamson.

Adamson said the team found 38 inches of snow at Washington Pass, and there was evidence of some slide activity, though no major avalanches had come onto the road at that time. They reported 20 inches of new snow at the Silver Star gate.

"That, coupled with the snow that's coming just made it ludicrous to try and open it again," Adamson said. "It's just not safe for anybody to be working up there."

–John Hanron