Railroad Pass open?

[tobytortorelli]

Any info. on when?

[jordop]

Relatively cold temps recently have kept spring climax slides quite calm. Crews are apparently waiting until they slide before they do the big parts near the Pass. In normal years they aim for May long w/e (19/20th) for the open, but this year maybe not by then.

[jordop]

FYI. RR Pass usually open by Vic Day Long w/e. Not this year. From bivouac.com:

 

Safety considerations will not make it possible for the Forest Service to plow and open the Hurley Road through Railroad Pass from Pemberton to Goldbridge by the May 19 long weekend. The major problem area is below Green Mountain- the alpine starting zones are still loaded with snow and it is not possible to say with enough certainty that a wet snow avalanche cycle could not affect this area and cause slides to come down to the road once it is officially open to the public. There are two issues: direct impact on a vehicle (unlikely unless you decide to sunbath there during the hottest time of the day) and isolation- being cut-off by a slide. The branch road to Bralorne has a similar problem, although the total distance of slide paths that must be crossed is much shorter. When we did the snow avalanche risk assessment on May 4, there was about 13 km of snow-covered road across Railroad Pass. Some of that has since melted, but it is very unlikely that the road will be driveable by May 19 (there is currently no plan to try plowing it by that time).

[tobytortorelli]

Thanks a lot for the updates jordop.

[LeeLau]

I've now heard Hurley will be plowed early June timeframe. Snow level is 1300m or so on N slopes still in the chilcotin and bendor range

[MountaingirlBC]

Anyone have any recent updates on the road and snow levels in this area?

[MountaingirlBC]

update: As of this afternoon the road was not open. The cat was working on it and it should be open in two / three days. There are over "2" meters of snow at railroad pass now and ALL lakes will be frozen over for a long time yet.