Crews removing remaining snow from Hood’s Adams stage

May 29, 2010 by editor

TROUT LAKE, Wash. — Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Race Director Chad Sperry said Thursday that Forest Service crews are punching through the snowpack to clear roads for the Stage 2 Mt. Adams Road Race north of White Salmon, Wash.

“The Forest Service is working to remove the remaining two miles of snow on Road 23 this week,” Sperry announced on the race’s website.

The June 3 stage on the western flanks of 12,250 foot Mt. Adams rolls over Forest Service roads deep into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and features two significant climbs that ascend to 4,000 feet and 3,000 feet of elevation. A deep layer of hard-packed snow still covered the upper reaches of the Adams course last week, but the clearing crews have been working with front-end loaders and snowplows to free Forest Service roads 23 and 88 in time for the race.

The effort is reminiscent of the Giro d’Italia’s Stage 20 over the Gavia Pass, which just recently opened to vehicular traffic. The Gavia Pass road cuts through 12-feet-high walls of snow before descending back into the warmer temps of the valley below. Hood’s second stage won’t be quite that dramatic, but riders could see significant snowpack bordering the route in some higher-elevation sections. The Stage 4 Wy’East route on Mt. Hood is reportedly snow-free.

Racing starts June 1 with the PIR prologue and continues Wednesday at Mt. Tabor before heading to the Gorge for the remaining four stages.