Tracking Baltimore’s ‘Snow Everest’: Mountain of ice is almost gone, but debris remains

The snowcrete is almost gone.

For months, a mountain of ice, snow and dirt — which the internet dubbed Snow Everest — engulfed streetlights and towered over cars in the city’s Oldtown neighborhood. A flag, surrounded by trash, was planted at the top.

The massive eyesore was created as the city dumped piles of snow and ice in an abandoned parking lot in East Baltimore, near the former Old Town Mall. Almost a foot of snow and sleet fell across the city during a winter storm in late January, then froze solid.

City crews worked for over a week to clear streets and neighborhoods. Months later, most other piles of snow and ice around the city had melted. But Snow Everest remained.

As The Banner’s de facto ugly mound expert, I’m going to keep track of how long this mountain hangs around. Be sure to check back.

‘Snow Everest’ over time

Thursday, April 23

Baltimore’s own Everest is no more.

It was unseasonably warm in Baltimore on April 15 and 16, with record-breaking highs near 90, so the disappearance of most of the mound on Thursday morning was not surprising. Still, it felt oddly bittersweet.

For the first time since March 9, when I started tracking the mound, I could see the rest of the clock tower that looms near the mall, as well as some of the city’s skyline and the fence around the lot. City crews with the Department of Public Works had fixed the water main break, too, and Department of Transportation crews worked at the site daily for the past two weeks.

There’s still a hill on one side of the lot, but it’s only half as tall as a nearby street light, which can range from 10 to 20 feet, when the mound used to engulf it. To the right of the clock tower remains a small canyon of dirt and rotten ice — which is an actual term for melting, honeycombed ice that is often dark and slushy.

I learned about “rotten ice” from glaciologist Sinéad Louise Farrell, who visited the site in early April after I emailed her. Farrell said she was surprised that the mound was still around. The best thing the city could do, she said, was to spread the ice throughout the lot to help it melt faster.

I walked around the lot, rolling up the cuffs of my pants to my knees to make sure I didn’t get them dirty. I saw the usual suspects — logs, tires, scooters. After a four-door hatchback was found under a snow pile in Boston, I’m curious about what we might find buried beneath this snowcrete.

Thursday, April 2

It’s still here and looks dirtier than ever.

At least 20 tires have been dumped near the base of the mound. Large puddles have formed around it, but it’s hard to say if that’s due to rain, a recent water main break or melting ice (or some combination of all three). It looks about as tall as it did last week.

I asked transportation officials about the missing chunk. They’re “turning” snow so that sunlight will help melt the mound, said the department’s spokesperson Kathy Dominick.

Crews also moved snow on-site so that a Department of Public Works crew could investigate the water main break.

“The repair was scheduled to be fixed and finalized on March 26,” Mary Stewart, a spokesperson for DPW, said in an email Wednesday. “According to the Bureau of Water and Wastewater, it is a difficult repair, and the crew is still working to isolate the main.”

Wednesday, March 25

A big chunk of the mound was missing on Tuesday, cleared by (I assume) nearby heavy machinery that exposed layers and layers of frozen dirt. Overall, the mound appeared to be about the same height as when I visited last week.

Water was flowing nonstop from somewhere in the middle of the mound and into a nearby drain during another recent trip.

Crews from the Department of Public Works discovered a water main break on March 10, according to Jonas Poggi, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. The break is either under the snow mound or around it.

Public works and transportation officials are coordinating to identify the exact point of the leak and repair it. The department does not think the weight of the snow is the “proximate cause” of the break, Poggi said.

“At this time, the leak has only created a small amount of flow and has not caused any service disruptions or property damage,” Poggi said. “As such, DPW believes it to be a small leak.”

Steve Tsamouras, who owns buildings in the Old Town Mall, said water has been flowing from the mound since around Feb. 19. Poggi said the city already fixed a separate leak near the lot where the snow is piled.

The state of the lot and the mall is disappointing to Angela Showell, owner of The Thrifting Place, a shop that has gone viral on TikTok for selling everything for $10 or less. She does her part cleaning the street, she said, but trash has been an issue at the mall long before the mound. It has only gotten worse in the past several weeks, Showell said.

Dumping the snow in the vacant lot when the mall already faces issues with neglect and illegal dumping was “a bad idea,” she said.

“If you are going to put it there, help us keep it clean,” Showell said.

The city received a 311 request for illegal dumping at the site earlier this month, Poggi said.

Tuesday, March 17

Did it get taller? I thought for a second the mound had grown since I visited last week.

According to photos, the height seems about the same. It did, however, look dirtier. I spotted several flex posts, which are supposed to be visual cues for drivers, a tire and a beanie in the pile.

After talking with people who live nearby, I asked the city about potential environmental impacts.

In an emailed statement, a representative for the mayor’s office said officials don’t think sampling nearby soil for contaminants — think forever chemicals and oil — will be needed. Water quality monitoring stations across the city haven’t shown indications of impacts since Jan. 26.

Employees with the Department of Public Works’ Office of Research and Environmental Protection inspected the city-owned vacant lot on March 10 for the first time to assess the need for erosion and sediment control measures, said Poggi. The runoff appeared clear, he said, and the department will install protection measures until trash can be removed.

“To transport sediment, the velocity of the runoff from the snow melt would have to be between 2 to 5 feet per second,” Poggi said. “The current temperature and rate of snow melt has not created that type of velocity.”

I also asked: How did this mound get so tall?

“January’s snow event was uniquely challenging on many fronts, and finding a central location for snow removal was critical for the efficiency of the City’s operation,” he said.

Monday, March 9

Snow is clearly starting to melt, making large puddles of brown water that flow into a nearby drain. I placed my Skechers against the base of the mountain. It’s sturdy, but slippery from the rain we got over the weekend.

I began a mental list of trash among the snow: a plastic cup lid, protective gloves, coffee cups, pieces of clothing, a tire.

The snow mountain doesn’t bother Zenate and Zimmy Le, sisters who work at Nail Luv, one of the few open stores nearby. They don’t usually go that way, said Zenate, 23, while Zimmy, 24, did her nails. Zenate’s daughter clung to her legs as she talked about the mall.

Most of the storefronts along the former Old Town Mall — music stores, hair salons and a pawn shop — appear closed. There were plans to renovate the strip, Zenate said, but she doesn’t know if they will.

I talked to two men who stood across the street near a mini market. It’s an eyesore for sure, they agreed, but they understood the city had to dump snow somewhere.

As I was leaving the mall, Poggi texted me.

“We got your inquiry about the Old Town lot,” the message read. “We’re working on getting a response.”