Local firm helped Efron brothers with safety on commercial shot in Glacier

A Columbia Falls firm helped in the production of a commercial that was released last week that featured Zac and Dylan Efron in Glacier National Park.

Greg Fortin of Glacier Adventure Guides and his staff in Columbia Falls did safety and scouting for the Columbia Sportswear commercial that was shot last June in and around Glacier National Park.

The commercial, which runs about a minute and a half features the actors traveling around the Park, including a traverse of the Big Drift on the Going-to-the-Sun Road prior to the drift being plowed.

Teen heartthrobs, Zac is best known for starring in The High School Musical and the Baywatch movie. Dylan is his younger brother and has worked on films as well.

Movie stars or not, they were easy to work with, Fortin said.

“They were awesome,” Fortin said. “Really nice guys. Down to Earth.”

All told, the cast and crew were about 25 people. In the commercial, the brothers apply to be “gear testers” for Columbia Sportwear.

“If you succeed, we might have something for you. If you fail, at least you won’t freeze to death,” Gert Boyle, chairman of Columbia Sportswer tells the two.

And off they go to Glacier Park where they fish in Duck Lake, hike in the woods near John’s Lake, swim in Lake McDonald and cross the above mentioned Big Drift, ice axes in hand.

Fortin’s business has been growing steadily over the years, he guides locally in the Flathead and Kootenai National Forests in the summertime, including rock climbing, and guides in skiing and snowshoe excursions in Glacier during the winter. His company is expanding, too. They recently received permits to guide both summer and winter excursions in Olympic National Park on the coast.

The Columbia Sportwear video is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHDJ2_hsKE and already has more than 261,000 views.