olyclimber Posted September 11, 2005 Posted September 11, 2005 Rock Slide Kills 3, Closes Westbound I-90 September 11, 2005 KING COUNTY - Three people were killed early Sunday morning in a rock slide that has shut down westbound Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass. Washington State Patrol Trooper Kelly Spangler said a large section of a rock wall broke off the hillside and fell on a car just after 1 a.m., crushing the three people who were inside. "These are very, very large rocks," she said. No other cars were hit. Department of transportation engineers are working to stabilize the hillside where the rock broke free about two miles west of Snoqualmie Pass. Westbound traffic on I-90 is being stopped at Easton near milepost 70, Spangler said. Troopers expect the interstate to remain closed to westbound traffic until at least 12 p.m so a state geologist can inspect the area. The names of the three people who were killed have not been released Quote
EWolfe Posted September 11, 2005 Posted September 11, 2005 That sucks. Probably be down to one lane for a while to retro-fit walls with steel mesh a la Skykomish. "These were very large rocks." Bouldering anyone? Quote
Gary_Yngve Posted September 11, 2005 Posted September 11, 2005 Damn, their car was exposed for only a few seconds. Talk about bad luck. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 11, 2005 Author Posted September 11, 2005 When driving out toward Port Townsend, going about 60mph, I saw some branches falling down towards my windshield...which I thought was odd because there was no wind...and then I looked in the rearview mirror and there was an alder tree, about a foot and 1/2 in diameter lying across the road just behind me. I have no idea why it fell, but less than a second made the difference for me. Quote
Billygoat Posted September 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 I almost got dusted by a rock avalanche on the SW side of Liberty Bell on a climb with DaveA, GregW and VegetableBelay. YA never know when...yar gonna get the CHOP! Quote
archenemy Posted September 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 It is too bad that those people got killed in an avalanch on the road--hope it was a least painless for them. Very sad. I got caught in the traffic heading back from Index--all the folks who turned around due to the rockfall compounded the traffic problem. It was a bit of a wait. On the radio, they kept saying that the 90 is still a safe road--like they were trying to convince people to not change their driving habits in the future. Duh, with so few choices to get back into Seattle, what do they think people are going to do? Quote
spicoli11 Posted September 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 I think this is alarming because people assume snoqualmie is the least prone to these types of events because the pass elevation is so low and the terrain is so mellow. The average commuter that goes over the pass rarely makes it out the car or even up to snow lake. An event like this might make someone without much knowledge on how loose the cascades are, re-consider there choice to and from grandma's house over in roslyn. I would think taking 97 and then stevens would be a greater threat for rockfall. Quote
archenemy Posted September 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 The chance of being crushed by a falling object is probably less than being killed by a driver who is too drunk or too tired to be paying attention to what he is doing. I think sometimes we focus our fear on the wrong things. Quote
catbirdseat Posted September 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 Check out the slide show. http://www.kirotv.com/news/4959012/detail.html Quote
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