Accidents, Avalanches and Apathy

So today is my birthday and we had the great idea that we could go skiing. Stevens Pass offers a free lift ticket on your birthday, so how could I pass up that big, birthday benefit?

Well, I will tell you how.

This morning, we departed from our humble home in the early morning with my husband, his brother and father. We left a little later than we would have liked; unbeknownst to us, this would play a key role in the later developments of our day.

Because traffic was horrendous going north on I-5, we took a detour via Highway 9 and caught up with Highway 2 through Snohomish. As we drove, we talked about the fun day ahead and that abundant, glorious snow. Over the previous days, the mountains had been pounded by storms; the forecast for today predicted 8-12 additional inches. While I am a novice skier, I could still appreciate the idea of fluffy, new snow; the other three were giddy at the thought of cutting through fresh powder on double diamond runs.

A short way up the highway, the snow started to fall heavy and fast. This trip was going to be exciting, indeed! As we blissfully dreamt of our imminent adventures, we edged up the mountain towards the pass. About 10 miles from the summit, we suddenly came to a screeching (well, slow and slippery) halt just short of Tunnel Creek. As we sat and watched the snow cover the windshield, police and tow trucks ambled up the road. We soon learned that a semi had jack-knifed at Tunnel Creek. To make matters worse, three other choice individuals, who thought they could circumvent the accident by passing alongside, quickly piled up with the truck and we had a multi-vehicle pileup on our hands.

Nice.

Within ten minutes were were restless; an hour and a half later, we were tired, hungry and growing claustrophobic in our makeshift igloo. After three hours in the car, the carefree thoughts of swishing down the slopes had turned to apathy and I could care less about skiing. My father-in-law walked over to a state patroller and his report back was not good. While the accident had just cleared, the WSDOT decided avalanche danger was very high and they would need to do some control work before opening Stevens Pass. (Translation: 4-5 hours of additional closure.) This news sealed the deal for us. As we made our slow descent down the mountain, I looked at the tired faces of the people in cars who were still waiting... and I sighed.

Mother Nature was obviously no respecter of birthdays.

(Update: We left our waiting area around 11:30am and the pass did not open to traffic until 5:30pm. I'm glad we left.)