Tioga Pass Opening Is Still Two Weeks Away

June 10, 2005

By Bump Diamond
Man About Town

    While all the walkers, stalkers, Tuolumne trekkers and Cathedral climbers wait for snow to clear on Yosemite National Park’s trails, the motoized set—the drivers, motorbikers and RVers—got more bad news today regarding the Tioga Road (Rte. 120).
    Give it at least two more weeks, said the National Park Service in an update.
    “We are expecting, if all goes well, to have the road opened for the
weekend of the Fourth of July,” said Calvin Liu of the Park Service. He didn’t say if he had his fingers crossed.
    Of course, there are lots of people who are applauding the delayed opening, as it gives the overworked park (see Mammoth Monthly, May/June 2005) a much-need rest. Not that the road crews have a (snow)stake. They’re just doing their job, and what a celestial bitch it has been.
    Lieu, in an email distributed widely, said crews had punched through Marmot Dome to open a single lane through the heavy snow areas, but he said that’s only part of the situation.
    “This does not mean that the road is opened. From Olmsted  (Point) to Tuolumne Meadows, the road is plowed only a bit wider than one lane,” he said, adding, cryptically, that “equipment failures have led to this.”
    “We still need to widen this approximately 10-mile section of road,” said Liu. We still have three active avalanche zones.  In these areas, the road will remain only one lane wide until the zones are downgraded.  In talking with the avalanche team, today, they think that Olmsted will probably remain a zone for at least two more weeks. 
    “The road crews still need to plow out the administrative areas,
widen the roadway, do ditching, road repairs, sweeping, and most of the signs along the road will need to be replaced.”