We were halfway up Glacier National Park’s Going to the Sun Road with skis, skins, boots and poles hung from our backpacks when all of a sudden we got a flat tire. The bike was a 29er with a tubeless setup so it wasn’t supposed to go flat. Plus, we were just pedaling on pavement.
Going to the Sun Road didn’t open to cars until June 20th this year. But two weeks earlier, the park gave cyclists and hikers early access. With Logan Pass full of ripe, spring corn snow, we took it as a sign from Ullr that we should do whatever it took to get up there and ski. That meant strapping our ski gear to our backpacks and riding from Avalanche Lake up to Logan Pass—16 of the most scenic miles in the United States.
But there we were. Stuck. Dreaming of corn, cursing our luck.
The man who saved us came hammering up the pavement. He was probably twice as old as all of us, but punishing the pedals like a pro. Sitting on the side of the road, our ski gear on the ground next to our bikes and the flat tire completely visible, I can only imagine how helpless we looked. He handed over his only spare tube—a 26”—and the tools we needed to change it. It doesn’t take a bike mechanic to know that a 26” tube on a 29” wheel is not ideal. But we made it work.
Snow under your bike tires is not something you normally appreciate. But in this case, it meant we had reached our destination. Eager to make turns, we transitioned quickly from bikes to skis and started skinning. In no time we’d finished the trek to the top of Logan Pass and turned north, with Mt. Clements and Oberland looming over us.
Dealing with the flat tire delayed our arrival enough for us to miss ideal corn conditions. But we were still greeted with soft, spring snow. We ripped skins in the afternoon shadow of Clements and carved fast, smooth turns toward the Logan Pass Visitor’s Center. When gravity finally brought us to a stop we skinned back up, this time in the direction of Oberland.
While Ripping skins for the final time, it was tough not to be distracted by the view. Going to the Sun Road stretched down the valley to our left. The iconic Highline Trail paralleled the road before climbing up and around Haystack Butte. Mt. Reynolds was to our right and Going to The Sun Peak directly in front of us.
At the bottom of the second run we traded our ski boots for bike shoes and ski pants for bike shorts. As we road down, water from the snow sprayed up from our tires and soaked us from head to toe.
We had accomplished what we set out to do. We had biked to ski in Glacier National Park. And damn it if it wasn’t one of the most fun days I’ve had in recent memory.
Oh, and before you start to think that the ride down was completely uneventful, another member of our group got a flat tire. That member rode the rim for two miles before being bailed out by another generous Montana resident.
