Park plows pioneer to Big Drift; Many Glacier Road opening delayed

Despite a stormy week in the high country, Glacier National Park plow crews pioneered to Logan Pass and the Big Drift last week.

A video on the Park’s Facebook shows a bulldozer pioneering a route over the pass to the drift, despite blowing snow on the divide.

The Big Drift, as its name implies, is a huge drift of snow just east of the pass. It’s typically 80 to 100 feet deep.

Clearing the Big Drift is usually one of the last hurdles in plowing the road.

Last week snow hit the high country and east side of the park, though Monday was seeing rain, with more snow above 5,500 feet.

Logan Pass is just over 6,600 feet.

The Sun Road is closed at Avalanche Creek to motor vehicles and Jackson Glacier Overlook on the east side.

Hiker and biker access on the west side is to the Loop and Siyeh Bend on the east side.

The Many Glacier Road opening has been delayed until June 3. The road was expected to open May 28, but bad weather has caused delays in construction, preventing the road from reopening to traffic in time for the holiday weekend, the Park said in a release.

The road is now projected to open June 3.  

After its opening visitors should expect travel delays up to 40 minutes each way from Babb, to the Many Glacier Hotel. The road opening postponement will not affect scheduled openings of services at Many Glacier. 

This week is calling for mostly rain on and off through the week, fairly typical for late May.

This story has been updated to include information on the Many Glacier Road.