Rescue Operation on Pine Ridge

One of my readers, Cara Nason on Chews Ridge, reports rescue operations have been going on this afternoon for 4 hikers. Two have been recovered, but rescue is returning for the other two. The following two photos are by Cara Nason taken on Bruce Flat.

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Helicopter

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Ground support

Defective signals at Bixby Bridge?

Well, that makes no sense, as there are no signals at Bixby Bridge, so I am assuming … Rightly or wrongly .. That the CHP website means Rocky Creek. Are they again? Or did someone run the light, or someone fail to trigger the sensor? Only the Shadow knows …

Details 00556 5:03 PM Defective Traffic Signals Sr1 / Bixby Brdg 36.372222 -121.902500 Monterey

A light dusting …

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From Chews Ridge this morning. Photo by Cara Nason

8:00 am – I woke at three am – and saw this on the satellite, note blue denotes snow. I looked outside with my flashlight, but couldn’t see any.

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This morning, I saw a light dusting on the ground here, across the canyon north on Prewitt Ridge, and at the base of Cone Peak, even more. The clouds cover the peaks, so no photo. If it clears later, I will see about getting one. It is still only 32 degrees. Three dogs outside, but my older blind dog came right back in. Smart dog.

Stay safe, stay warm, and stay happy!

While CalTrans says the road is open this weekend, Mother Nature may have other plans

Here it comes, here it comes …

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NOAA is expecting most of this to remain off shore, which would help keep the road open.

An inch of snow is is expected on my mountain tonight, most of you will just get rain. Rainfall is expected to be rather light, around .25-.50 of an inch, but up to an inch in coastal mountains. Temps are dropping rapidly after sunset, and I may sleep through the snow. Darn, I left my camera in the car, again! If worth reporting in the morning, my iPad has a camera and I will take a photo or two.

It may be that we luck out and rainfall will not be significant enough to cause troubles on the highway. BTW, went south today, and while I see a couple potential trouble spots – Mud Creek is moving and Alder Creek is oozing under the netting put up to protect the road, all-in-all, it is looking good. Maybe we are getting it all over with early in the slip and slide season? One can only hope, as March is typically our worse month.

Highway One to remain open all weekend!

*Update #5*
HIGHWAY 1 SOUTH OF BIG SUR WILL BE OPEN TO UNRESTRICTED WEEKEND TRAFFIC TONIGHT AT PARTINGTON RIDGE ROAD; ONE-WAY TRAFFIC CONTROLS TO RESUME ON MONDAY, DEC. 31

MONTEREY COUNTY – Highway 1 will be open to unrestricted, two-way traffic this weekend a few miles south of Big Sur where a major rock slide occurred on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 23, Caltrans District 5 has announced.

Caltrans has mobilized an emergency contractor to assist state crews in clearing the large debris field, repairing a 60-foot section of the damaged roadway and stabilizing the slide area above Highway 1 at Partington Ridge Road.

As a result, crews will open the roadway with no restrictions at 5 pm this afternoon, Friday, Dec. 28. At 7 am on Monday, Dec. 31, one-way traffic controls with flaggers will be in effect through the slide area, which remains a very active repair/ cleanup zone. Motorists can expect 20 minute delays during this daytime roadwork.

Again, Highway 1 will remain open 24/7 for the entire weekend beginning tonight at 5 pm for motorists and cyclists, who are advised to use extra caution when traveling through this roadway section. There is some rough pavement and loose gravel still present near the slide area.

Huge backup NB highway one

Incident: 00512 Type: Defective Traffic Signals Location: Sr1 N / Rocky Creek TBM/LatLon: 36.378889 -121.902500
Detail Information
6:07 PM 6 [10] 1039 MONT COM / FOR SO UNIT TO ASSIST
6:06 PM 5 [8] B27-022 22B VIA LL NO CALTRANS NEEDS ASSIST WITH 1184, TRAFFIC IS REALLY BACKED UP
6:00 PM 4 [7] B27-022 MORE TRAFFIC HEADING NB THAN SB
6:00 PM 3 [6] B27-022 LIGHTS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY TRAFFIC BACKED UP
5:15 PM 2 [2] RP THINKS DUE TO THE TEMPORARY SIGNAL AT ROCKY CREEK BRIDGE
5:15 PM 1 [1] TRAFFIC BACKED UP TO LITTLE SUR RIVER
Unit Information
5:24 PM 2 Unit Assigned
6:00 PM 1 Unit At Scen

Partington Slide Update – highway open

Today’s Date: Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 4:45 pm
District:05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*Update #4*
HIGHWAY 1 SOUTH OF BIG SUR IS NOW OPEN TO UNRESTRICTED TRAFFIC TONIGHT AT PARTINGTON RIDGE ROAD; ONE-WAY TRAFFIC CONTROLS TOMORROW, DEC. 28

MONTEREY COUNTY – Highway 1 is open to unrestricted, two-way traffic tonight a few miles south of Big Sur where a major rock slide that occurred on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 23, Caltrans District 5 has announced.

Caltrans has mobilized an emergency contractor to assist state crews and clear the large debris field, repair a 60-foot section of the damaged roadway and stabilize the slide area above Highway 1 at Partington Ridge Road.

As a result, crews opened the roadway at 4 pm this afternoon. At 7 am tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 28, one-way traffic controls with flaggers will be in effect through the slide area, which remains a very active repair/cleanup zone. Motorists can expect 20 minute delays during this time.

Highway 1 will remain open 24/7 for the weekend beginning tomorrow night at 5 pm for motorists and cyclists, who are advised to use caution when traveling through this roadway section. There is some rough pavement and loose gravel still on the highway near the slide area.

The highway had been shut down just south of Deetjens Big Sur Inn (Mile Marker 42) and at Lucia (Mile Marker 23) since Sunday afternoon. Our contractor and crews will resume roadwork on Monday then again on Wednesday after New Year’s Day from dawn until dusk until final repairs are made.

Highway closure update, and plans

From CalTrans this evening:

HIGHWAY 1 SOUTH OF BIG SUR TO REMAIN CLOSED OVERNIGHT AT PARTINGTON RIDGE ROAD DUE TO A ROCK SLIDE; ONE LANE TO OPEN TOMORROW, DEC. 27

MONTEREY COUNTY – Highway 1 remains CLOSED overnight a few miles south of Big Sur due to a major rock slide that occurred on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 23.

Caltrans has mobilized an emergency contractor to clear the large debris field and to repair a 60-foot section of the damaged roadway at Partington Ridge Road.

As a result, crews will open ONE LANE at 8 am, noon and 4 pm tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 27 to allow vehicular and bicycle traffic through the slide area, which remains a very active and dynamic repair/cleanup zone. So traffic flow will be strictly controlled during these times.

2d Partington Slide, 12/26/12

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These first two photos are CalTrans photos, this is what it looked like BEFORE RK got there. the next six are by Rock Knocker, and you can see the “after” of the first CT photo is number 6 in RK’s. (okay, CT photos not loading right away, so be back in a bit.)

This gives you an idea of what is going on …

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This shows what is on the verge on coming down, and helps to show why CT needs to keep this closed while they figure out how to deal with this.

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It takes a village to keep THIS ROAD open … And geologists, and engineers, and heavy equipment operators, and machines!

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All Photos by Rock Knocker