Big Four Ice Caves Will Close This Weekend For Training

GRANITE FALLS, WA — The Big Four Ice Caves east of Granite Falls will be closed on June 8 for a training exercise. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Forest Service will conduct incident response training at the caves.

The caves are an extremely popular local destination for hikers and families, but have been the scene of several accidents involved falling ice and snow. In 2015, an 11-year-old was killed and five others injured in a collapse at the caves.

Here's more from the sheriff's office:

Access to the Ice Caves’ west and east parking lots will be limited and/or restricted from the afternoon of Friday, June 7 through 6 p.m. Saturday, June 8. Visitors in the area may see and hear a large response of first responder vehicles and aircraft.

The exercise will take place at the Ice Caves between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and will include participants from USFS, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, five Snohomish County Fire agencies, Snohomish County Fire Technical Rescue Team, Airlift Northwest, and Sno911. There will be several aircraft in the area, including SnoHAWK10, SnoHAWK1, and Airlift 6, from Airlift Northwest, for the exercise.

The main goal of the exercise is to coordinate and rehearse a multi-agency response to injuries and/or fatalities at the Big Four Ice Caves while maintaining the safety of responding personnel for both air and ground operations with limited communications. Benefits to all participating agencies and volunteers include better preparedness and coordination during emergency events or critical incidents in the area.