Avalanches set back Park plows

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Mother Nature is King in Glacier National Park and as of late she's been acting one of the more famous ones — King Kong.

Last week there was heavy snow in high country of Glacier — two feet in many places. Put heavy snow on top of old hard snow and you get avalanches. All told, park plow crews have had to work through 12 avalanche slides that came down through the weekend onto the highway.

On Tuesday, crews on the west side were working their way back down the highway to clean up a large slide below them at Triple Arches.

From Triples Arches to Rimrock, slides were anywhere from 10 to 30 feet deep.

Rimrock is an area just below Logan Pass where the cliffs of Mount Pollock drop straight down to the road surface.

On the east side, crews were working past the east side tunnel toward Lunch Creek. They still have to get through an area known as the Big Drift — a drift of snow about 80 to 100 feet deep, before they reach Logan Pass.

In short, there's still a lot of snow left to gnaw through. Park spokeswoman Melissa Wilson was making no predictions as to when the road would completely open.

"We're looking at how we can best achieve safe public access," she said.

Last year Glacier opened higher further up to Big Bend before Logan Pass opened. Big Bend still offers great views, though there is little parking.

Wilson said park staffers were having a meeting on the Sun Road Wednesday after the newspaper's presstime to develop a strategy for getting the highway open. This has been a tough spring for plowing the road.

Up until about a week ago, it has been abnormally cold and wet. Plus, the winter snowpack, while about average, didn't melt. That meant even more snow was on the road.

Hikers and bikers on the road are, however, enjoying an extended season. Hikers on the west side can go to Packer's Roost on weekdays and Saturdays, but the entire length has been open to biking and hiking on Sundays.

On the east side, hikers and bikers can go to Siyeh Bend Tuesday through Friday, but on weekends and Mondays, the entire road is open.

All other Park roads are open, save for a section of the Inside North Fork Road, which has slump damage.