Mt Whitney Zone
Tioga and Glacier Point Roads plowing update.

To the road crews: Great job and thank you very much. Be safe clearing the roads for us to enjoy when that time comes.

Have fun.
There's a bit more snow than usual this year, especially the further north you go. Yesterday I noticed that Lassen NP doesn't expect to open the road thru the park until mid- to late June, and this morning was reading the conditions report for Shasta which said that mountain was at 142% of normal. All good for the water supply, and will probably mean a fine climbing season once it starts.
Originally Posted By: KevinR
All good for the water supply, and will probably mean a fine climbing season once it starts.


Hey Kevin, don't you mean good for LA's water supply . . . ? smile

I guess it was 2005 when I recall the Tioga not being opened till the first week of July. We got out there at the end of June and had to wait till just before the 4th to drive to the eastside. There was still a lot of snow up high.
From that update page, it says:

Tioga Road:
Crew currently past Road Camp: 41.4 plowed miles of 42 miles. Plowing continues Monday - Saturday. Average Snow Depth is 4 to 6 feet. Plowing operation will continue today.


41.4 of 42? Does that mean only 0.6 mile left???
That sounds good, but don't they then have to blast out the avalanche zones and re-plow all over again?

That must be a fun job - firing howitzers at mountainsides all day!
Keep in mind that some years when the plowing is completed they still keep the road closed an extra week or two to the public until the danger of avy is past. I don't know if this will be one of those years as I haven't been following the conditions that closely. I live in the East Side ... rarely go to West smile
So you are an ESB?
Originally Posted By: wagga
So you are an ESB?


Kevin - brother, you walked right into that one!
ESB Unite!
Quote:
I guess it was 2005 when I recall the Tioga not being opened till the first week of July. We got out there at the end of June and had to wait till just before the 4th to drive to the eastside.

In 2005, it opened on June 24. When I was there in 1998, it didn't open until July 1, which put a crimp in our travel plans that year, as I recall.

CaT
Hmmmm . . . something had the road closed in very early July. I think it was the 1st that we tried to drive it but there were closed signs at the west junction (Big Oak?). Could have been any number of other things I suppose, like paving repair or a missed avy that decided to let go, or even a wreck. We revised our plans and pretty much spent the day exploring Glacier Point. We tried Tioga again on the 4th and got over to Mono Lake no problem.

Lesson learned that trip - stay the hell away from Yosemite Valley during a major summer holiday. Grand Central Station West.
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