![]() ![]() While the Park is not yet sure when the Going to the Sun Road will open for the season, it’s a safe bet that the opening date will not break any records. Road Supervisor for the West Side, Stan Stahr, estimates there are now more than 425 sections of the railing that have to be installed along the road. ![]() It helps save the road from harm, but it’s also a labor-intensive process. They have an advantage because they can unbolt them in the fall, store them in a location safe from avalanches and then put them back up in the spring. The Park has gone to the rails in more and more alpine sections of the road. That seems like a small number, but you can only fit so many machines on this road at a time.Ĭrews are also busy putting up removable guardrails. “We do this work with crews of only 12 workers on each side of the pass. Patience and experience is what you need to do this kind of work,” Paul said. It usually takes about a week to get through it and is the last big obstacle in clearing the highway each spring, but the warm temperatures and low precipitation levels sped things up this season. Last year, it was about 70 to 90 feet deep. The Big Drift is a massive drift of snow that covers the highway just east of Logan Pass. “They are slower to clean up because we have to use the loader because of the trees in the slide.”Īccording to West Lakes Road Work Leader Brian Paul, the deepest drift his crews had to clear this season was 40-45 feet, the final Big Drift. The avalanches that we have encountered came down before we started working,” Lucke said. “We couldn’t have asked for better weather. There were avalanches, including some that did damage to the historic rock walls along the roadway, but those avalanches did not affect or slow down the plowing crews. It really made that snowpack disappear quickly,” USGS physical scientist Erich Peitzsch said.Īccording to Peitzsch and Lucke, avalanches – which are usually a problem to snow removal teams on the Going to the Sun Road – were not really an issue this year. Once we hit May, we hit a period of well above normal temperatures and well below average precipitation. Around the region, it was anywhere between 135-165 percent of normal, so well above average. “Most of this winter was characterized by above-average snowfall. So far this season, Mother Nature has set an accelerated pace, with record snowfall melting at an increased rate. We only assist in opening the road, it’s Mother Nature who sets the pace.” That determines our timeline more than anything else. “Weather is the key to everything up here. “There is still a significant amount of work to do, even after we have reached this point, to get ready to open this area to tourists,” Park Facilities Manager John Lucke said. While there is still considerable work to be done before the pass can be opened to vehicle traffic, it is a good sign that the work is nearing completion. Glacier Park plows crews from the east and west sides of Logan Pass met at Big Drift Thursday afternoon, making the first clear path across the extent of the Going to the Sun Road. West Lakes Road Work Leader Brian Paul takes a break from working along the Big Drift just west of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park Thursday.
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