Weather rules road-plowing progress

Torrents of rain and sleet would come and go Thursday, along with misty clouds that would obscure the view of plows on Going-to-the-Sun Road and the slopes above them.

That’s how the weather has behaved through most of May, frustrating the efforts of plow crews working their way toward Logan Pass.

As members of the media watched plows working just under a mile away Thursday, visibility on the road and the plows suddenly diminished in drifting clouds, emphasizing the critical responsibilities of avalanche spotters who keep an eye on the steep chutes above the plows.

Visibility is a major concern and a priority in the protocol for when plowing work can proceed.

“The way it’s looking, let’s wrap it up,” the voice of a spotter crackled over the radio. The clouds persisted for a few minutes, but then cleared and work resumed.

More clouds and the voice returned: “If it gets socked in one more time we’re calling it.”

The plows were working just beyond the Triple Arches in an area called the Slopes, where there were eight separate avalanches the previous weekend. It was a section of road that already had been plowed, so the crew spent most of the week clearing avalanche debris that was 15 feet deep in some places.

“If we have better luck today and tomorrow, we’ll be back to where we were last Friday,” said Stan Stahr, the park’s roads supervisor.

“It’s hit and miss,” he said. “We go like gangbusters and we get this inclement weather that pushes us back down.”

Erich Peitzsch, an avalanche specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said it has been an odd spring in Glacier.

When plowing started on April 1, the park’s mountain snowpack was at 77 percent of average.

Now, the snowpack is at 110 percent of average, largely because of slow snow melt and substantial precipitation since April.

“It’s been a pretty wet spring,” Peitzsch said. “The El Nino we had this winter just went away.”

A leading front-end loader has been chiseling away at deep snow in a narrow area just below Oberlin Bend. Once the plows reach that section, Stahr said, the crew typically makes swift work of cutting its way past Logan Pass and to the Big Drift, the final obstacle on the road.

An east-side crew has been working just below the East Tunnel but has encountered similar weather and visibility problems that have forced frequent retreats, Stahr said.

Because of contract terms with the park’s road construction contractor, the earliest the road can open over Logan Pass is June 18. That is to allow HK Contractors the ability to do construction work unimpaired by traffic in the Big Bend area and at the Logan Pass parking lot.

After June 18, the park can open the road to traffic through Logan Pass, weather conditions permitting.

Sun Road is currently open to vehicles as far as Avalanche Campground on the west side and Jackson Glacier Overlook on the east side. Beyond those points, the road is open to hikers and bikers, with restrictions farther up the road if there is construction activity.

All other park roads are open.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.