Road to Paradise: Here we go again

Business as usual at the southern volcano. I would presume the full-time winter crew isn't yet working as they've basically shut down all the roads in the park except access to Longmire. It was almost better when the government was shut-down and you knew you couldn't get there...

I does look like a bit of snow predicted up there for the next few days.

"Business as usual at the southern volcano. I would presume the full-time winter crew isn't yet working as they've basically shut down all the roads in the park except access to Longmire. It was almost better when the government was shut-down and you knew you couldn't get there..."

The Mowich & Sunrise closures are pretty typical with the seasonal staff gone; Stevens Canyon has to be closed when the Paradise road is closed.  Cayuse & Chinook Passes are maintained by WA DOT and remain open for now:
www.wsdot.com/traffic/passes/passinforma...chinookpasssr410link

I believe the hard-working NPS road crew is mostly permanent employees and near full strength; it's the Ranger Division that makes the Paradise road-opening & communication decisions.  LEO ranks may be thinned by hunting season, also by leave & training not feasible when supervising summer seasonals:
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Background for NW newbies or skiers unfamiliar with Paradise winter access:
www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=26113.0

Expect another long government shutdown if Congress can't get their feces consolidated by Thanksgiving.

On the MRNP website is a link to the road opening decision matrix. It's detailed enough to see how the decision on road travel is arrived at. Does have some wiggle room for things like adequate staffing available and "other" considerations. Good to understand it and I kinda agree that early snowfalls can catch them at less than full momentum.

IME: Whenever there any sort of "storm warning" getting to Paradise is going to be unlikely, at least before noon.