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Politics & Government

Locals fight to open Sunrise

A late opening hurts the economy, area residents say.

Tuesday is the first day of summer, and to celebrate, visitors will be able to get into Mount Rainier National Park for free.

But one place visitors won’t be able to get to is Sunrise, and that has some local folks up in arms.

Chinook Pass still is scheduled to reopen Thursday at 10 a.m.  State Department of Transportation crews are doing final cleanup, widening snowbanks and installing signs. The opening was delayed due to large quantities of late-season snow, unseasonably low temperatures and high avalanche danger.

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But Sunrise, which had been scheduled to open Friday, now won’t open until July 8 at the earliest, and that upsets many area residents.

Chief among them are Vivian and Steven Cadematori, who operate the Alta Crystal Resort out of Greenwater. They said they hiked up the Wonderland Trail to Sunrise over the weekend and saw parking lots cleared, and the day lodge and pit toilets easily accessible with a little bit of shoveling. 

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“Having Sunrise closed is the kiss of death to those of us who depend on Mount Rainier traffic for our livelihoods,” they said in an email to the park.

Timothy Pierick, president of the , agreed.

“Tourism is very important to Enumclaw economically, and we fully support Sunrise to be open this weekend. Every weekend that it is closed is lost dollars for our local merchants.”

The Cadematoris also are pushing for the national park to open the day lodge and Visitors Center on or before July 1, in time for the busy July 4 weekend.

Bob Grubb, of Wapiti Woolies in Greenwater, also is mad.

“For years we have listened to WSDOT and National Park people tell us why they can't do their jobs. Just once it would be nice for them to get it done right and on time. They tell us why they can't open Chinook Pass, yet the North Cascades pass has been opened for weeks under very similar circumstances,” he said.

Mary Kay Nelson of Chehalis, executive director of Visit Rainier, said: “Having Sunrise closed on the one major summer holiday is troublesome indeed. We are concerned for our businesses that have waited patiently for ‘Mother
Nature’ to cooperate this year, only to then have the park service choose not
to open as scheduled.”

State Sen. Pam Roach of the 31st District has even gotten involved. She contacted park superintendent Dave Uberuaga on Monday and was told there would be a meeting Tuesday morning to discuss the opening. Uberuaga believes that there are safety issues if it doesn't open with full water, electrical and food services, Roach said.

“I encouraged him to consider opening without full services,” Roach said.

Grubb said that in the past the park has left Sunrise open late into the fall while cutting off full services, so he wonders why it can’t happen now.

“People just want to be at Sunrise,” he said.

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