Slide blocks Mount Baker Highway amid heavy snow

A slide has blocked Mount Baker Highway just below the summit, the Washington State Department of Transportation said.

“It’s up there a ways,” WSDOT spokeswoman R.B. McKeon told The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday, April 18.

“Our crews are up there. They’ll need to bring in a loader. Winter’s not over,” McKeon said in a telephone interview.

It was uncertain when the road would be cleared, McKeon said.

WSDOT tweeted a photo that showed a pile of trees, rocks and snow blocking the road.

Road conditions were reported as slushy at the WSDOT website, and the Mt. Baker Ski Area said at its website that 23 inches of snow had fallen in the past 48 hours.

The ski area is closed until Friday, April 21, according to its website.

Mount Baker Highway ends at milepost 58, Artist Point.

But there’s a seasonal closure at Heather Meadows, about milepost 55.