Park works to open Sunrise earlier

Mount Rainier National Park reportedly plans to open Sunrise by July 1, if not sooner.

Local businesses, lawmakers and community leaders have been pressuring park officials all week to open Sunrise earlier than the planned July 8. They said delaying opening until after the long Fourth of July weekend would hurt them economically.

Park road crews, using bulldozers and a rotary snow blower, are working daily to remove snow from the road and expect to reach the parking area at Sunrise early next week. Once access is available, additional park and Washington Conservation
Corps crews will be brought in to shovel out buildings and activate the power and water systems.

Since July 1, 2010, a total of 907 inches of snow has fallen at Paradise. The record is 1,122 inches during 1971-72. Cool and wet temperatures have persisted into June, delaying snowmelt in the upperelevations and slowing snow removal operations that began in March.

Vivian Cadematori of Alta Crystal Resort has been pushing for an exact opening date because she wants to use social networking such as Facebook and Twitter to get the word out as soon as possible.

Steve Cadematori pitched in: “So, right now the whole world who plans ahead still sees July 8th as the opening date and are as a result are busy making plans to go elsewhere, including Paradise where parking lots will fill up and folks will be turned away by the rangers at the toll booths.  And everyone will go home disappointed until we finally make an announcement that we will actually try to accommodate them.”

It took a community effort to get Sunrise opened earlier.

Vivan Cadematori  got the ball rolling with an email to state Sen. Pam Roach of the 36th District. Cadematori took pictures of a hike June 19 showing clear roads at
Sunrise. She explained that volunteers could easily help the park get the job done, and she even issued a challenge.

“I'd be happy to go up to Sunrise with our maintenance guy and my husband and the three of us could shovel out those toilets in a couple of hours.  If we couldn't do it, I'd be willing to make a $500 donation to the National Park.  That's how convinced I am.  There are also portable toilets that could be delivered with one day's notice. The Park has used these before at Chinook Pass so why not at Sunrise?”

She went on to say that she knows it would take other amenities longer to open.

“Yes, the Visitors Center will take a little longer, but we understand that.  But don't forget, the National Park has reams of volunteers at their disposal who would be happy to go up and shovel.  All they have to do is put out the call!”

Crystal Mountain Ski Resort also joined in on the battle. Tiana Enger, director of Sales and Marketing, in an email to park Superintendant Dave Uberuaga, emphasized the investment that business has made in the area.

“Not opening Sunrise by July, during the start of peak tourist season, is not only detrimental to all the small businesses in our area but it will significantly lessen the amount of traffic seen at Crystal Mountain.  As you know, we just invested
significantly in a new gondola and are banking on visitors to the east side of Mount
Rainier as our main source of traffic during the summer.  The longer Sunrise stays closed, the more traffic Paradise will see, and we will all suffer” on this side of the
mountain, her email says.

Some of the attacks on the park were a little personal

Vivian Cadematori brought up that Uberuaga is leaving Mount Rainier in mid-July to become superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park.

“So maybe this is not a big deal for him.  But July and August are two critical months for businesses surrounding the mountain. Do the state and county really want to lose all that tax revenue?  Without Sunrise, I very much doubt we’ll sell
out July 4th weekend for the first time in the 14 years we’ve been here.   The loss of business at this critical time is sad for everyone out here, particularly when it’s just one person deciding to keep a gate closed,” her email says.

She also was upset with some of the reasons for not opening up Sunrise earlier. One was the need to locate critical valves.

“My reaction, quite honestly, is that the lack of planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on my part," her email says.

Another reason Uberuaga gave for not opening earlier was the park does leave the road open after everything closes in September, but it's never done the reverse and opened it before facilities were ready. But she replied that is exactly what the park did just last year.

The final reason was people coming to the park this time of year expect to have a summer experience, not one with so much snow.

“If this is the case, the Park should close Paradise tomorrow, since it has a lot more snow than Sunrise and is far from a summer experience,” her email says.

Bob Grubb of Wapiti Woolies in Greenwater joined the cause and became concerned when U.S. lawmaker Dave Reichert would not help.

“Shame on Dave Reichert for telling us that he doesn’t want to hurt his relationship with Dave (Uberuaga) by helping. I, too, am a friend of Dave's, and we have worked together on many issues in the past. This is nothing personal, just business, doing the right thing for the public that we all serve.”

Rehne Vanek of Crystal Mountain Lodging probably wrapped up the community effort best.

“As the saying goes, one loud voice is better than many quiet ones!” her email says.