Snow slide strands students on field trip in North Cascades

DIABLO, Wash. -- Winter weather caused quite a mess in northern Washington state trapping high school students from Mill Creek.

An avalanche sparked a snow slide Friday afternoon blocking Highway 20 between Newhalem and Diablo. The road is still closed.

Officials with the Washington State Department of Transportation says the area is not safe for crews to begin clearing the snow. The next assessment will happen on Monday.

But that means 42 students and five chaperones will remain at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center near Diablo Lake. The group from Henry M. Jackson High school were supposed to head back to Mill Creek on Friday.

"It's not so much that we are desperate to leave because we're not having a good time or this wasn't a good experience," said 10th grader Lily Sager. "I think because people were not planning on this and it was just such a surprise that people were just so shocked that this has occurred.  I think a lot of it is the fact that it was an avalanche.  It’s such a crazy thing that you think that would never happen to me."