PORT ANGELES — Olympic National Park officials reported a 23.6 percent spike in January visits to Hurricane Ridge.
The popular snowplay area 17 miles south of Port Angeles had 9,933 visits in January, compared to 8,039 in January 2009. A landslide north of Heart O’ the Hills campground closed Hurricane Ridge Road for half of January in 2010.
Hurricane Ridge Road is open seven days a week when weather and safety conditions allow.
“After the last few weeks of wintry weather, and with snow continuing to fall over Hurricane Ridge, we think this is an appropriate time to share information on the first two-and-a-half months of weekday winter access to the ridge,” Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin said in a news release.
A fundraising effort spearheaded by the city of Port Angeles and the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce raised more than $75,000 from local business, civic organizations and individuals to keep the road open on weekdays.
Contributions included $20,000 from the city of Port Angeles, $20,000 from Clallam County and $5,000 from the city of Sequim,
The Department of Interior is providing $250,000 in matching funds on a trial basis for up to three years.
Olympic National Park hired and trained an additional four-person plowing crew to restore daily access to the 12-mile stretch of Hurricane Ridge Road from the Heart O’ the Hills campground to 5,242-foot high Hurricane Ridge.
The road, which provides the only paved access to the subalpine zone of the Olympic Mountains, was open Friday through Sunday in previous winters.
Since the weekday schedule began Dec. 17, the road has been open on 66 out of 84 possible days.
“Hurricane Ridge is named for the extreme force of its winds, but it’s also home to severe winter weather conditions including white-outs, drifting snow and avalanche danger,” Gustin said.
“Throughout the planning and implementation of seven-day access, ‘weather permitting’ has been the operative phrase — the safety of the road crew and our visitors continues to be the most important consideration in determining whether the road will open.”
While scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. until dusk, the road may close on short notice due to sudden severe weather, unsafe conditions or a full parking lot at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center.
As of Sunday, there were 145 inches of snow at Hurricane Ridge. Plowing crews have had to contend with massive snowdrifts ranging from 10 feet to 25 feet tall.
Last month, a sanding truck veered off the paved surface of the road, stopping short of tipping over. Park officials said low visibility contributed to the near miss.
A traffic counter at the Heart O’ the Hills entrance station counted an average of 127 non-park vehicles using the road on the weekends.
Park officials said an average of 41 vehicles used the road from Monday to Thursday between Jan. 24 and Feb. 22.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.