Behind the headlines--Glacier National Park Going to the Sun Road opens to visitors

June 28, 11:35 AMNational Parks Travel ExaminerMarilyn Crain

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May 21, 2009 Plowing the Big Bend  Photo Credit: NPS Staff

WEST GLACIER, MONTANA – At 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 26, 2009, Glacier National Park personnel swung open the gates at Logan Pass and Jackson Glacier Overlook, thereby opening the entire Going- to-the-Sun Road (Sun Road) for vehicle access across Logan Pass. This was announced by park officials who also report that this is the earliest opening of Logan Pass since 2006 when the pass opened on June 23.

This announcement sounds very much like dozens of others from across the national parks. It's good news for visitors with immediate plans to visit Glacier National Park. But there is much more to the story--this opening is the result of a massive amount of work, especially snow removal.

What did the crew at Glacier face as they went to work getting ready for the park's first visitors waiting to travel the Going-to-the-Sun Road? The National Park Service tells us, "This spring’s operation included routine snow removal, routine clearing of rock debris and installation of several thousand feet of removable guardrail and jersey barrier and numerous signs as well as a considerable about of additional work clearing avalanche debris on two separate locations on the road’s west side below Logan Pass. In January 2009, an historic Class V avalanche swept down 4,000 vertical feet from near the Continental Divide and traveled nearly two linear miles. This spring, park road personnel encountered 35-foot-high debris across approximately 500 feet of the Sun Road in two separate locations on the west side below Logan Pass and two sites to the east."

When Glacier National Park officials talk about "routine" snow removal, they may not mean exactly what the average park visitor envisions. Here's what "routine" looked like along Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road in June 2009. See slide show below.

See the vintage red buses that roam Going-to-the-Sun Road:

Glacier National Park--take a red bus road trip

For more info: Glacier National Park