East county merchants lose money while snow slows efforts to clear North Cascades Highway.

By Jason Miller
(posted 5.17.11)

East county merchants have a literal “make hay while the sun shines” approach to business. Most make the majority of their annual revenue during the summer months, relying heavily on the tourist dollars that flow when Washington Pass opens each spring.

This year, that stream of tourism dollars is slow to come, because of heavy March snowfalls that dumped upwards of 15 feet of snow on the North Cascades Highway, greatly increasing the avalanche danger and forcing efforts to reopen the pass to begin later than normal.

On April 11, WSDOT crews began the weeks-long process of clearing the highway and digging out the avalanche chutes that line portions of the road. Almost a month into the task, they’re not able to make even an educated guess as to when the pass will be open.

“I’ve gotten lots of ‘when will it open’ e-mails. Truthfully, we really don’t know,” wrote WSDOT road employee Jeff Adamson in an April 26 e-mail. “If the weather, equipment, and crew health all cooperate, it will open before Memorial Day. If not, it won’t. It’s just entirely too early to make a dependable prediction.”

Adams’ words aren’t much comfort to east county business owners who depend on an influx of travelers to keep them in the black each year.

“From mid-April to mid-May, I will lose $30,000 to $40,000,” said Marshall Cooper, who, with Candi, his wife, owns the Buffalo Run Inn and Restaurant in Marblemount. On April 30 Cooper told Concrete Herald via e-mail that he’d “already had several cancellations to the hotel, and the restaurant will only be open on Saturdays and Sundays until the pass opens. Our summer normal day averages $2,500.”

In Concrete, Annie’s Pizza Station owner Anne Bussiere said she doesn’t feel the sting of a late pass opening quite as much as other businesses.

“One thing I’ve noticed over the years when the pass opens is that until the weather warms up and school is out, you really don’t get the higher business volumes,” Bussiere wrote in an e-mail. “Many people heading to Eastern Washington are on a mission to get there, and they really hate to get out of the traffic line unless they are starving, need gas, or have to stretch their legs. They panic a bit in Marblemount and stop, but Concrete is still not so much on their radar.”

State Route 20’s route was a problem even before it opened. In the May 27, 1971, issue of Concrete Herald, on the eve of the highway opening in 1972, publisher Robert Fader wrote that “severe snow and avalanche conditions may cause closure of the highway in winter months,” and referenced consultant Edward LaChapelle, who said there were at least 76 potential avalanche areas along the highway.

We’re still living with the problem. Looks like Tootsie’s rolls will have to wait.