UPDATE Massive avalanche slides down east side of Snoqualmie summit

YAKIMA, Wash. —  A massive avalanche of dirt, snow and trees slammed debris into about eight houses and took out power lines and at least one ski lift on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass summit Wednesday.

Two people were rescued from a home that was severely damaged in the slide. But there were otherwise no reports of serious injuries.

The slide, estimated at several hundred feet wide, occurred about 11:30 a.m. in the Summit East ski area in Hyak.

“It happened right outside our front door,” Don Whitehouse, a regional administrator with the state Department of Transportation, told The Seattle Times. He was inside the department’s Hyak maintenance facility, on the east side of the summit. “There was snow, but it’s mostly dirt that slid down the ski slope.”

It’s believed that a landslide triggered the avalanche, which covered most of the ski hill, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

At least two houses were significantly damaged while the others saw relatively minor damage, according to Matt Cowan, fire chief for Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue.

By about 1:20 p.m., around 20 people gathered at the Red Mountain Coffee shop, which had been converted into an emergency shelter for evacuated residents. It was not immediately clear how many of the pass’ 350 full-time residents were evacuated.

“Three-quarters of the face has slid down the mountain,” said shop owner Terri Harcus.

“It took out a dear friend’s home and destroyed the house, a beautiful cabin on the slopes. The whole thing is knocked off, the only thing remaining was the garage. Nobody was hurt,” Harcus said.

One of the damaged houses is believed to belong to Norm Craven, who is probably in his early 80s and “has lived up there forever,” said Chris Schuler, an avid snowboarder who owns a Hyak condo but lives in Tacoma.

The Northwest Avalanche Center had forecast extreme avalanche danger Wednesday for below 7,000 feet on the Cascade slopes.

The avalanche risk is expected to decline today, but will remain considerable below 6,000 feet, according to the forecast. The pass is at 3,022 feet.

Schuler said he’d been calling friends and scanning an online message board for hours “just like everyone else,” to assess the damage.

Schuler said he had recently been talking with friends about the possibility of an avalanche at Hyak, which he’s been visiting regularly since 1981.

Asked whether he was worried, he recalled responding, “No way. It’s not steep enough.”

Online:
After learning of the avalanche, dozens of regular skiers and snowboarders turned to online forums to ask about damage to their homes and whether friends were OK. For comments and photographs visit www.network54.com/Forum/43339/
or www.flickr.com/photos/misha-stack/