In Glacier, Two Medicine, Chief Mountain, Camas roads plowed, Sun Road underway

Despite a snowy spring, Glacier National Park plow crews have been making progress in the past couple of weeks. The Two Medicine Road is plowed into the valley to the camp store and the Chief Mountain Road is plowed as well.

Crews on the east side are now working on the Many Glacier Road and on the west side they’ve plowed the Camas Road and started on the Going-to-the-Sun Road Monday.

Because of recent snowfall in the Park, they’ve also had to stop occasionally and plow roads that are still open to vehicles, most notably the Going-to-the-Sun Road from West Glacier to Lake McDonald Lodge.

The Park at West Glacier had seen about 7 inches of snow last week. An annual manual snow survey conducted near Logan Creek in late February showed more snow than has been recorded anytime over the last 30 years, including years of heavy snow like the winter of 1997. In Two Medicine, drifts were in the 14 to 20 foot range. Normally they’re 7 to 10 feet. The bathroom near the camp store was completely under snow.

The Flattop Mountain SNOTEL station shows observations that are about 125 percent of a 30-year average. According to data recorded at the Flattop SNOTEL station, this is the most significant snow year since 2011. The West Glacier weather station is showing approximately 127 percent of a 30-year average as of March 30, with this winter (in West Glacier) thus far being the eighth highest snowfall year since 1964, the Park said in a release.

The Two Medicine Road and the Chief Mountain Road aren’t open to vehicles, though people can hike them.

As plowing progresses, people are urged to be cautious about avalanches. While the region is experiencing a deep snowpack, most large chutes haven’t slid yet — they’ll come down eventually as the weather warms.

Rainy days and days that warm up quickly are prime time for avalanches and hikers and bikers are urged to use caution, as the road crosses numerous avalanche chutes.

Big snow years can also mean a later opening of the Sun Road to vehicles. In 2011, the road opened fully on July 12. In 2014, another big snow year, the road opened July 2. Last year was a snowy winter, too, but a rainy April and pleasant May saw the road opened by June 28.