http://www.billingsgazette.com/index...tooth-hgwy.inc
Our annual trip on Memorial Day has been to ski Beartooth Pass for the last 20 years. It's not looking so good this year since the highway is sliding off the face of the mountain.
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http://www.billingsgazette.com/index...tooth-hgwy.inc
Our annual trip on Memorial Day has been to ski Beartooth Pass for the last 20 years. It's not looking so good this year since the highway is sliding off the face of the mountain.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/newga...abeartooth.jpg
Damn, I had no idea. There goes my plans, too. Will the Wyoming side be open? Could still access Gardiner and Reefer Ridge if you're coming from Utah.
Slippy,
I'm still checking on options. However, my parents cabin is in Red Lodge so it makes for a long trip around if we go through Wyoming. Also I am not sure the Wyoming highway crews will put out any effort to clear their side if the road wont go through all the way. So, its starting to look more like a flyfishing and drinking trip instead of skiing and drinking. :cussing:
stuff doesn't look good at all. we were the first people to come upon the slides on saturday morning on the lower road before the gate. glacier lake road is also a river and/or thick mud. couldn't get by in our 4x4. rock creek was raging too so crossing it was not an option further down if we got there.
Ouch. Yeah, I'd heard about the slides...and that it'd possibly taken out stretches of road. That pic sure brings the point home though.
Good luck getting the WY DOT guys out there to plow...lazy fuckers. Probably the only reason they'd get it going, would be from prodding from the Top of the World Inn family, or Cooke City's businesses.
I also heard that the slides are not so simple in and of themselves...a mixed composition of snow and mud, so basically a thick, oozy glop, with rocks mixed in for fun.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Cooke City businesses anxiously await Beartooth Highway repairs
By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
A team of engineers and a landslide expert plan to helicopter to the Beartooth Highway Thursday to inspect the heavy damages there, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.
A helicopter overflight located 12 damaged areas along the famous scenic route earlier this week, said Charity Watt Levis, spokeswoman for DOT.
Heavy rain and snow storms that swept the Beartooth Plateau last week caused the damage, which Watt Lewis said includes debris slides, stretches of road undermined by flowing water and stretches with "major damage, like missing road."
The road remains unreachable by vehicle and the damages cannot be assessed from the air, so the team of 10 experts hopes to fly to the area today.
"We hope to have a better plan and timeline (for repairs) by the end of next week," Watt Levis said Wednesday.
Meanwhile the highway -- once called "the most beautiful roadway in America" by the late journalist Charles Kuralt -- remains closed indefinitely.
Built in 1936, the road itself is a tourist destination. It winds among alpine peaks and lakes and crosses 10,947-foot Beartooth Pass.
It links the communities of Red Lodge and Cooke City, which is at the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and funnels tourists to those towns.
The highway traditionally opens in time for the Memorial Day weekend, but it won't this year. Accordingly, business owners in Cooke City are worried.
"It doesn't sound like good news at all," said Scott Denniston, manager of the Beartooth Cafe. "We're kind of worried about the whole thing."
He said he is rethinking his summer staffing requirements and may have to adjust supply orders and change the focus of his menu.
"It was devastating to hear the news about the highway," said Suzy Hahn, president of the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce.
She said her group is working with chambers in Red Lodge and Cody, Wyo., along with state and federal agencies to coordinate information and make sure travelers know they can still get to Cooke City and the northeast gate of the park.
The Chief Joseph Highway, also a designated scenic route, remains open and connects Cooke City and Red Lodge, though it adds about 20 miles to the trip. The chambers want to see road signs erected to let people know the alternate route is available.
All of the road damage is on the north side of the Beartooths, so people still might be able to drive to the top of the pass from Cooke City, Hahn said.
In addition, the 10-mile stretch of road from Cooke City to Long Lake opens Friday and more could be opened later once the road's stability has been evaluated, the National Park Service said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, repair costs for the damages, possible funding sources and availability of contractors are all unknown at this time, Watt Lewis said.
Several state and federal agencies share authority over the highway, which passes through parts of Montana and Wyoming, but Montana DOT is taking the lead on the project, Watt Lewis said.
"We're going to do whatever we can" to work with local communities, she said.
Holy Crap!!!!