Washington Pass Closed Due to Wildfire

As of 8/15/23, Washington Pass is closed due to the Blue Lake Fire until further notice. I'll share here when the area reopens.

Total bummer. Hoping it gets contained quickly. 

And HWY20 now closed from Silver Star Creek to Newhalem. Unfortunately I don't expect we'll have access to WA Pass climbing anytime soon.

Super shitty. Hope it gets under control soon

It seems like a really hard to contain area. Like it's next to the road, but the terrain is so steep there. Many thanks to the folks working to limit the damage, it sounds like one of the hardest jobs there is.

Yea mega respect to any crew out there or involved in addressing the fires. I did appreciate this article it sounds like they’re utilizing creative  approaches to containment

https://www.kuow.org/stories/sourdough-fire-consumes-another-1-000-acres-cuts-dam-power-to-seattle#

“In other areas, a drone has been dropping incendiary devices known as “Dragon Eggs” to ignite vegetation between the edge of the wildfire and a control line established by firefighting crews. The controlled burns use up vegetative fuel so the burned-over area serves as a kind of fireproof barrier.”

Big ups to all the fire crews working out there, stay safe!

For easy reference here's the WSDOT page with the road closure https://wsdot.com/Travel/Real-time/Map/?featuretype=alert&featureid=561368 & the relevant twitter twitter.com/wsdot_north

Inciweb for Sourdough Fire (5997 Acres / 12% Contained) https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/warlp-sourdough-fire 

Inciweb for Blue Lake Fire (290 Acres / 5% Contained) https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/waowf-blue-lake

Here's the map (8/22) for Blue Lake - wouldn't make any plans for WA Pass climbing any time soon...

All the best to everyone working these fires!

Pass is reopening at 8am but no stopping/recreation between current closures. Pilot car at Blue lake fire (rainy pass to Blue lake TH) 

The fire closure at Washington Pass due to the Blue Lake Fire has been reduced. Some areas remain closed, so it's important to understand the new closure and make sure to plan accordingly.

A couple spots that didn't make the poster: Black Peak and Cutthroat Peak standard routes remain closed. Supercave, Cutthroat Wall, and Hairpin Crags are open.

Effective 9/7/23.

Official order will be posted here soon: fs.usda.gov/alerts/okawen/a…

Questions, contact: zachary.winters@usda.gov

This PDF has an updated map at the end - as long as we don't stop in the closure area, the highway remains open? 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1137363.pdf

Stever wrote:

This PDF has an updated map at the end - as long as we don't stop in the closure area, the highway remains open? 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1137363.pdf

The Highway is definitely open, I drove through on September 5th, with no pilot cars. Quite smoky on the west side of Washington Pass but Mazama was clear.  Looks like some climbing can be done in the Washington Pass area now, but not the main Liberty Bell group, unless you approach from the east and only climb specific routes listed in the post above.

Thanks for the confirmation!

Can't speak to the conditions otherwise but looks like Liberty Group is fully open again if anyone is optimistic about end of season climbs. 

Updated/reduced closure (as of 9/22) via https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/okawen/alerts-notices/?aid=83522 

Correct! Pretty much all of the climbing has reopened. Unfortunately the weather looks like yuck, but hopefully we get a late season window!