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August 28, 2025 \u2014 2:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got itThis article is part of Traveller\u2019s Holiday Guide to Adventure & Outdoors. See all stories.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere are only two rules today,\u201d says guide Dave Moench during the pre-tour safety briefing. \u201cWe can\u2019t bike past 3pm and no one can die.\u201d<\/p>\n If I hadn\u2019t already read the advice on the National Park Service website about cycling the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana\u2019s Glacier National Park, I would have thought he was joking. But it seems there\u2019s an alarming number of ways in which we could potentially perish.<\/p>\n Thanks to Glacier\u2019s \u201crapidly variable\u201d weather, the temperature at Logan Pass, the ride\u2019s 2025-metre summit can be 10 degrees cooler than where we\u2019ll start, so cyclists sometimes catch hypothermia during the long, chilling descent. Other challenges include slippery road conditions, rock falls and plunging 600-metre drop-offs. Oh, and did I mention the bears? Glacier has the highest density of grizzlies outside Alaska.<\/p>\n But we\u2019re in safe hands. This is Moench\u2019s sixth season in Glacier and our other guide, Tom Matelich, grew up here. \u201cI love being in the park,\u201d he says, grinning. \u201cEvery day is different.\u201d<\/p>\n That the Going-to-the-Sun Road even exists is frankly astonishing. Snaking east to west for 80 kilometres through the heart of the park, it snakes up and over the Continental Divide, squirming through an Alps-like scrum of soaring peaks and steep-sided glacial valleys. It took 11 years to build in the early 1900s; much of it hand-excavated by Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n Every winter the pass has to be cleared of 20 metres of snow, a 10-week process that begins in April. During this time, cars aren\u2019t allowed on the upper sections of the road but bikes are \u2013 a precious window of glorious, vehicle-free cycling. Unfortunately, due to an unseasonably warm spring, the road opened earlier than normal this year and I missed it.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Glacier Guides has a plan B. Rather than start on the west side of the park and cycle east, we\u2019ll do it in reverse, beginning on the less-visited east side and cycling west. Not only does the eastern section have more pull-outs to let cars pass, we\u2019ll be on the opposite side from all those nerve-fraying drop-offs. The only restriction is that we have to finish by 3pm as that\u2019s when the park\u2019s vehicle reservation system ends and there\u2019s a surge in traffic.<\/p>\n To reach the eastern side, we drive the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road first, an unexpected bonus that allows us to admire Glacier\u2019s dangerously distracting scenery without worrying about cycling off a cliff or being chased by a bear.<\/p>\n From our start point at the Saint Mary Visitor Centre, the road climbs almost 700 metres during the 29-kilometre ascent to Logan Pass. Ordinarily, this would be a concern, but all three of us on today\u2019s tour have opted for high-spec e-bikes. \u201cYour butt will probably be the sorest thing after the ride,\u201d quips Moench.<\/p>\n We depart under grey skies with a splattering of rain skirting Saint Mary Lake before we stop at Sun Point to visit the remnants of one of the park\u2019s historic chalets.<\/p>\n As the road climbs, the cloud descends, and we\u2019re soon engulfed by a bank of swirling mist. Cars appear eerily out of the gloom, passengers shaking their heads in disbelief at the three rain-soaked cyclists taking selfies by the roadside snow drifts.<\/p>\n Eventually, we reach Logan Pass, where on a clear day we would have been treated to a mesmerising montage of sky-piercing mountains, cascading waterfalls and snaking glaciers. Instead, we warm up in the gift shop until a woman inadvertently sets off a can of bear repellent, accidentally spraying her young son in the process (\u201cNo Johnny, you can\u2019t have a souvenir\u201d).<\/p>\n The original plan was to cycle down, but because of the deteriorating weather, Moench suggests we jump in the van instead. The relief is palpable. No one fancies flirting with rule two today.<\/p>\n Related Article TOUR STAY FLY The writer was a guest of Western Montana\u2019s Glacier Country. See glaciermt.com<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter<\/p>\n Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Into](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/613a5d6731a37ad2c2778cc20b983f47ce5c1d7c.jpeg\")
Into the mountains on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, Montana.iStock<\/p>\n![\"Riding](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/a04911cddfb7655e38101b0d4cc3d5e5cfecdcfa.jpeg\")
Riding the Going-to-the-Sun Road.Eric Matt<\/p>\n![\"Watch](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/b8f9eb0903140075dbb04e1acae18937f1c24bb0.jpeg\")
Watch the drop-off \u2013 roadside on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/7b1586270e8263fe3d92d76b1bfc55bc60cdf432.jpeg\")
<\/a>THE DETAILS<\/p>\n
Glacier Guides\u2019 Going-to-the-Sun Road e-bike tour costs $US290 ($445) and normally runs from early May until late June. Park entry is an additional $US35 ($55). See glacierguides.com<\/a><\/p>\n
A former railway hotel, Belton Chalet, in West Glacier, has characterful accommodation and a fabulous restaurant. Rooms from $US180 ($275) a night. See glacierparkcollection.com<\/a><\/p>\n
United Airlines flies to Glacier Park International Airport via San Francisco. See united.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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After abandoning a sensible career in IT,