Glacier Park plows start clearing roads of snow
A Glacier Park rotary plow clears the Logan Pass parking lot in this file photo. Work on west side roads starts next week, east side plowing is already underway.
Glacier National Park plow crews have begun clearing roads on the east side of the Park and will start plowing on the west side the first week in April.
Crews last week started plowing the Two Medicine Road and the Chief Mountain Road. Once those are done, they’ll then start on the Many Glacier Road.
The plowing effort this spring is likely to be a slow go. There’s substantial amounts of snow on both sides of the Park, with the snowpack about 139 percent of average in the Flathead River Basin and 132 percent of average in the St. Mary and Milk River Basins.
On the level, the snow on the Two Medicine Road was three to four feet deep. At Two Medicine Lake, drifts were in the 10 to 20 foot range, with the snow on the level about six to seven feet.
One drift reached the roof of the Two Medicine store.
None of the major avalanche chutes in the Two Medicine area have even slid yet — though no avalanche chutes actually cross the Two Medicine Road anyway.
On the west side, crews will start with the Camas Road April 2. Once that’s completed, they’ll transition to the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley said the Camas Road isn’t plowed right down to the pavement surface, so hikers and bikers can expect ice until it melts out. Even roads that are plowed down to the pavement typically have at least some ice.