Rainier access will be limited
ASHFORD, Wash. – Officials at Mount Rainier National Park say there should be limited access to Rainier in time for the Christmas holidays, but damage from last month’s floods will bar vehicle access to Paradise until at least March.
That means the popular Paradise snowplay area will be closed for the winter.
Officials closed the park Nov. 6, when 18 inches of rain fell in 36 hours, swamping roads and bridges, cutting power and sewer lines and forcing park officials to shut the gates to visitors for the first time since nearby Mount St. Helens’ massive May 18, 1980, eruption.
The shutdown marks the longest closure at Mount Rainier since all national parks were closed during World War II.
Park officials have estimated damages at nearly $30 million.
Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said it is still too soon to know when the park will reopen. The earliest road repairs can begin is early January, and when work begins it will take about eight weeks to complete. Power and sewer service have yet to be restored to Longmire, the park’s hub.
The park has already spent $791,000 on repairs and is waiting for Congress to approve a funding package to cover the rest of the damage.
Uberuaga says the park will lose an estimated $250,000 in entrance fees by the end of the year, but he also understands the pain local businesses are feeling.
“You can put extra pressure on me if you like,” Uberuaga told business owners in the gateway community of Ashford on Wednesday. “But no matter how much you do, it will not be more than the pressure I’m putting on myself.”
Uberuaga said several suggestions that could improve traffic for local businesses should be in effect by Dec. 15. The most promising ideas include enhanced guided tours of the flood damage and access to hiking, snowshoeing and Nordic skiing on the west side of the park. The park will also consider public access to Longmire via shuttles.
Business owners in Ashford hope even a sliver of access will bring visitors through town.
Jeff Harnish, owner of Alexander’s Country Inn for 34 years, said the inn is at about 25 percent occupancy, about half the winter norm.
“The good news is this is usually our slow season,” he said. “But now I’d say we’re about half of slow.”
Down the road at Painters Art Gallery, owner Joan Painter said she’s done less than $11 in business the last two weeks.
“Two postcards and maybe $10 in beads,” she said. “This has just absolutely killed us. We’re just holing up and waiting because it’s going to be a long winter.”
Jeremy Foust, president of the Mount Rainier Visitor Association, said those affected the most will be employees.
“Business owners are going to need one cook instead of three, one housekeeper instead of four,” Foust said. “It’s going to be very hard on these people. The businesses will find a way to get by.”
The Eatonville Community Center has offered food baskets for Ashford’s newly unemployed. As a symbolic gesture, Uberuaga also asked park staff to buy lunch in town and suggested they buy gas and holiday gift certificates in the gateway communities.