[Kim Brown]

17 years...!

[Anne Elk]

Why so long? Failure to fund? It only took 10 years or less to put a man on the moon from the date of the JFK speech! It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Blanca. Sorry to know it’s so overrun. I used to go up there on rainy weekdays to my “sekrit” huckleberry patch and not see a soul - though some conscientious ranger braved the rain once & ticketed my truck for not having a permit.

[timberghost]

Curios as to why it's closed to the public after the construction for year has stopped for the winter. Guess there might be potential for vandalism.

[Randito]

I'm just glad that the Middle Fork Snoqualmie washout repair was made in a single season instead of the predictions by some that now that the road was paved, repairs would take as long as Index-Galena. Thank you King County road department.

[Schroder]

[Anne Elk]

Thanks Schroder. I was vaguely aware of some objections to repair but can’t believe it’s taken that long. It’s rare that environmentalists’ objections can hold off a project that long. Fighting a project when corporations are involved, they tend to lose much faster. The road closure I’m most familiar with is Dosewallips. Keep thinking/hoping that will get fixed one day.

[Kim Brown]

I don’t know that any lawsuit threats was the sole delay. (the Dose issue was not only enviromental, but funding. The USFS signed it for repair, but NPS refused to kick in any funding) Getting it right environmentally even without a lawsuit threat takes a lot of time for a road like this. This road corridor has a lot of environmental considerations, more strict than federal, because the county is involved; Snohomish Co is very strict. I think also, the location of the new roadbed was a time-delay. The geology of the site hasn’t been cooperating for the last phase of the construction, requiring a lot of work; studies, re-studies-re-re-re studies, relocation, and more studies. And my knee-jerk reaction (if one can have a knee-jerk reaction on a 17-years project) is that I’m not all that sure the final design is on stable ground even now, as they keep pushing the date of expected opening. If the geology wasn’t suitable in past years, unless Jesus came and made it a solid rock for the road, how did it suddenly become solid? And I wonder if they had to get new funding or re-apply for existing sources. Some of it may have expired. So I think the whole process is a giant Confusing Goo of Delay.

[Gil]

Well, when it's rebuilt, we can see if it washes out again so we can get this again!

Washed-out Index-Galena road near the Wild Sky Wilderness in Washington state. Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-35mm f2.8.

[Anne Elk]

[timberghost]

Funding for this was in part FEMA.lider did his best to delay this many times .

[ale_capone]

Blanca lake is probably looking gorgeous for a ski today! Too bad the road isn't finished. I went up to blanca lake during a weather period much like now (squeaked over jack pass). The lake had a chance to completely freeze before it was covered by snow. As I was making my way from Virgini to Blanca, I heard the strangest noise. It sounded something like the biggest grouse I ever heard. As I got closer to the lake, it got louder and louder. It was making me kind of scared. Turns out, the ice was doing that thing where it gets a shooting crack, then that star wars shooting noise. I've heard it tons of times. I've never heard it followed by the sub sonic whoomp whooomp whoooooomp. I've always wanted to hit them in the same conditions, but take a good audio recorder.

[Anne Elk]

[zimmertr]

My recent REI avalanche awareness class told me that the "whumpf" noise is an indication of avalanche conditions.

https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/whumpf/

[ale_capone]

You aren't pronouncing it right. It was a very loud aquatic whoomp. Not a snow collapse whoomph. Avi danger was low that day. Acrtic freeze after a slow start to the season. Mostly dust on crust type skiing, but probably wind slabs on east slopes. Its called singing ice.. here is a cool video explaining it.

[philfort]

This is pretty common in the eastern part of the country where lakes often freeze without snow on them. Pew pew pew.