PORT ANGELES — A cadre of Hurricane Ridge boosters has six weeks to raise $75,000.
The $75,000 the Park Service says it needs to keep the road open with a second snow-removal crew is due by Aug. 15, or the money is available no more.
That amount would supplement $250,000 the National Park Service is making available to keep Olympic National Park’s Hurricane Ridge Road open all of winter 2011 — except for the approximately 20 percent of the time when avalanche dangers and other insurmountable weather factors keep the road shut down.
The $250,000 was secured after a delegation of city residents including City Council member Cherie Kidd visited Washington with a list of funding priorities, including full utilization of Hurricane Ridge Road.
“The community sent us to Washington to get their road open,” Kidd said Thursday. “We all have a personal responsibility to make it happen this year. It’s doable, and we will do it.”
Others driving the effort to raise the final allotment include City Council member Don Perry, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russ Veenema, Port Angeles City Manager Kent Myers and Port Angeles real estate appraiser Greg Halberg, who grew up on the North Olympic Peninsula, then left for a time.
Dead of winter
When he returned, it hit him: There wasn’t much happening in Port Angeles during the colder months.
“What you realize when you come back is that it’s kind of a dead place in the wintertime,” he said Thursday.
“You look around, and you see things that are not properly utilized. Access to Hurricane Ridge Road is one. Having the road closed during the week is a huge disincentive for people to come here.”
The Port Angeles Forward Committee met Thursday to kick off the fundraising effort in conjunction with the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Information on the drive will be included on the city of Port Angeles’ home page, www.cityofpa.us,, and in the Chamber of Commerce July newsletter.
The 17-mile road is open full-time in summer months but just Friday through Sunday from November through March, weather permitting.
Will it help?
The National Park Service is making available $250,000 in each of at least the next two years in a cost-sharing experiment with the North Olympic Peninsula community to determine if Port Angeles restaurants, hotels and other businesses that suffer during winter realize an increase in traffic with an open road.
“This is a question that is included in that two- to three-year trail period that we will be addressing,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
“We can certainly say that we are petty confident that if the road is open additional days, we would certainly see additional visitors at the gate.”
But there’s a caveat, Maynes said.
“We need to recognize that weather closures are still going to happen, and [visitors] will still be disappointed.”
Proponents of keeping the road open just want a chance.
Hurricane Ridge offers a winter experience that’s unique among other recreation areas, one that’s brought the area positive reviews from the Winter Wildlands Alliance, Halberg said.
The organization bills itself as “the first and only national organization of its kind for human-powered snow sport enthusiasts and winter wildland conservationists,” according to its website, www.winterwildlands.org.
Its slogan is “giving solitude a voice.”
“Our aim is to ensure a safe, quiet, tranquil experience for every winter wildlands adventurer, now and always.”
Ridge is good fit
The Boise, Idaho-based group believes Hurricane Ridge could be more than it is and fits in perfectly with the group’s mission.
Unlike many other Puget Sound winter recreation areas, Hurricane Ridge prohibits skimobiles yet has steep slopes for skiers and snowboarders. A rope tow and Poma lift pull them to their destinations.
Executive Director Mark Manlove suggested that wintertime Hurricane Ridge could become an ecotourism destination for more skiers, snowshoers, cross-country skiers — even snow-campers.
“It’s got elevation and snow quality that certainly are unique on the Peninsula and the greater area there,” Manlove said.
“That’s an area where certainly there’s more demand than there are facilities to accommodate that demand,” he added.
“It makes perfect sense to try to get year-round access.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
