Re: Tioga Road Plowing 2006

They plowing has finally started and they've made it to Gin Flat. The wet and heavy snow is about 5 feet deep and they are finding lots of buried trees.

Snow is now 7' deep and they are still finding buried tree up to 2 feet in diameter. They hope to make it to the South Fork of the Tuolumne River by Thursay.

Glacier point plowing made it to 1 mile from Badger Pass with 7 feet of snow and no problems so far.

Plowing has reached the first avalanche zone near South Fork and they're hoping to plow through it today if it doesn't get too warm. Snow is 8 feet deep.

Tioga Road: middle of avalanche zone 1 with 6' of snow and lots of rocks and trees in the snow.

Glacier Point Road: no progress due to rotary plow needing repairs.

Tioga: about 10 miles in, 6 feet of snow and only 2 trees for the day

Glacier: no work done

Tioga: plowed 3.3 miles with snow 10 feet deep at the 8000' level. Five trees were encountered.

Glacier point: plowed half a mile with snow 6 feet deep.

Tioga Road: 1.5 miles from White Wolf with snow running 10 feet deep.

Glacier Point Road: 2.3 miles in with 5 feet of snow.

Tioga Road: Made it to White Wolf. Snow is 10 feet deep.

Glacier Point Road: 3.2 miles from Badger Pass. Snow is 4 feet deep.

Tioga Road: Plowed only a half mile. Snow is 10 feet deep and very hard.

Glacier Point Road: Crews had to go work on highway 41 potholes instead of plowing.

Tioga Road: 16 miles from Crane Flat with 11 feet of very heavy snow.

Glacier Point Road: no work until Monday

Tioga Road: Plow 1/2 mile and had to stop for the day at the Yosemite Creek avalanche zone.

Glacier Point Road: Now at the Sentinel Dome parking area 8.5 miles from Badger Pass. That should leave about 2 miles to go.

Tioga Road: 21.1 miles from Crane Flat

Glacier Point: at Washburn Point and expect to make it to Glacier Point today (5/18)

As of May 17th Caltrans plowing has reached Ellery Lake.

Tioga Road: 22.4 miles from Crane Flat (nearing Porcupine Flat Campground) with 8 feet of snow.

Glacier Point Road: plowed through to Glacier Point and now working on cleanup and repairs.

Tioga Road: 1/2 mile from Olmsted but dealing with the avalanche zone is going to take some time.

Still stuck at the Olmsted Point avalanche zone. They are hoping to plow throught it early this morning.

The road may open up to Yosemite Creek by this Saturday.

The plowing crew has reached the west end of Tuolumne Meadows with about 4 feet of snow.

They should have the road plowed through to the Tioga gate sometime today. Opening will depend on when the avalanche zones are judged safe enough.

Still no word on when the pass will open. Rumors indicate there are sill avalanche issues at Olmsted Point and Spring Hill.

A friend of mine hiked into Tuolumne Meadows last week and said there's no reason they couldn't open the road from the east to there.

According to the park website, it opens June 17th!