Snow 15 deep in some places will keep the road to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park closed until later this week.

Park road crews are working to clear the snow that came down in 10 natural avalanches and one created by avalanche control explosives.

“We’ve had so much snow in the past few weeks that we’ve seen snow slide in areas where it hasn’t released in years,” said park information officer Lee Taylor.

“This is not a normal plowing operation,” said Michael Ray, who supervises park snow removal operations. “The avalanche debris is as heavy as concrete and can only be removed by bulldozer or blower. It’s going to take us a number of days to clear the road.”

The road has been closed since Feb. 5 due to heavy snow and extreme avalanche danger. More than 14 feet of snow has fallen at Paradise in the last two weeks. As of this morning there are 196 inches on the ground at Paradise.

Although visitors may not be able to get to Paradise for sledding this weekend, there are snowshoe walks at Longmire, and there is good trail access for snowshoeing and cross country skiing from there.

To check the status of road conditions and weather information at the park, call 360-569-2211 and then select 1 or check the park’s Web site at www.nps.gov/mora.