Sun Road not open to vehicles this weekend

Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road will remain gated to motor vehicles at Avalanche Creek this weekend but remain open to hikers and bicyclists.

No opening date has been set for allowing vehicles to travel to Logan Pass. Glacier Park assistant public affairs officer Katie Liming said the opening day for west-side motorists is unknown and is weather-dependent.

During weekday work hours, Glacier Park snowplow crews are still clearing the Big Drift east of Logan Pass, while other crews are clearing the Logan Pass parking lot and installing the last of the 400 removable guardrails along the alpine highway.

Heavy rains earlier this week had not created more rock slides than usual along the Sun Road, Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said, but bad weather forced crews to stop working temporarily because visibility suffered.

A significant setback has been the destruction of about 170 feet of stone guardwall near Dead Horse Point and the Golden Staircase, which was hit by avalanches.

“They just vaporized, you can’t even see the rocks,” Park landscape architect Jack Gordon said

Park staff are still considering how best to repair the damage, including replacing the masonry with more removable guardrails. Gordon said some sections of the Sun Road have avalanche-proof rock walls that cost about a million dollars per section.

The full length of the Sun Road between West Glacier and St. Mary won’t open until June 19 at the earliest because of road reconstruction on the east side of Logan Pass.

For more information, visit online at www.nps.gov.glac.