38 Foot Drifts! Opening Up Beartooth Pass | Western Highway History 

I have driven over the Beartooth pass many times, I think it's the most beautiful drive in the lower 48-states. Thanks for sharing your videos.

Great story telling Mike! It is a story very few people have heard. People driving Beartooth highway don’t have a clue about what it takes to open this road by early summer. While backcountry skiing at Tioga Pass (CA 120), we watched the CALTRANS crews working to open the road by Memorial Day so the fishermen could fish the lakes at the top of the pass. One of their crew told me another danger they face is hitting avalanche debris -rocks, trees, etc-with a blower or cat. He said under certain conditions, that debris can be a stabilizing factor when on a steep slope and removing it can actually start a slide. Super job Mike and hats off to the Wyoming and Montana crews who make this happen!

I would give everything I own to have experienced a small fraction of what you know and have done in your life. What a resource and motivation you are Mike. Huge respect and admiration from an Iowa boy who only gets to vacation in our wonderful western US. Your generation has built upon and expanded the foundation of what makes our country so wonderful. ❤❤

Well thanks for taking the time to share this Mike, as a road maintenance operator myself there's little documentation of what all goes on which is okay as much of it is not greatly interesting. But, projects like this are a different category and for those operators to have their work and skill shown is very gratifying. There's a lot to it, it takes the right people to make it all work, and work safely. Very cool, and thanks again for sharing

I wish I would have documented more growing up. My great grandfather and grandfather ran polled herferds in the west edge of the trinity alps of n. Cal. just south of the Oregon border. The red woods are just a little bit to the west of us. When I was in high school during the summer, we checked the cattle weekly in the back country. Was so fun. Alot different then n. central AZ.

Great video Mike Photos are top on the line shots Thank you for sharing God's Blessings in his Great Outdoors

Thanks for sharing this story. I rode 212 on my motorcycle yesterday and a blower was parked at Top of the World. Certainly puts things into perspective.

I'm absolutely loving this. So cool! Great photos and video too. Keep the stories coming Mike!

Cool to see the WY side. I’ve been watching MT DOT’s videos for years.

My brother and I went on Beartooth Pass on September of 2021. We left from Red Lodge. What a gorgeous sight. Unbelievable the amount of snow on that pass in the winter. This was a very interesting video! So only one bedroom! Dang! 🤣😂

This is one of the most interesting videos I've ever watched,thank you Mike, happy for you having such an amazing life.

This was awesome Mike. Great job

Fantastic! Thanks for taking us along. 🇺🇸

Mike, you are a absolute perfect storyteller and photographer!!!!!! I love the scenery and the machines that make it happen. I have not forgotten about the hardworking men/ women that make are working the equipment they all need a lot of respect. Very nice story. Greetings from Sweden.

Amazing photos and video footage you captured for this podcast. Must have been some amazing views for you to have a front row seat for. Very much enjoyed your presentation!

Thank you for your service. Beartooth hwy- and the area, my favorite home away from home.

Thanks for sharing your stories and keep them coming please.

Great story! Amazing video! Thanks.🇺🇸

I am loving these stories!! Keep them coming, been a subscriber of your magazines for years!

Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience!!

Great job Mike!!!! I have ridden thru that exact area a bunch of times. It is far and away my favorite ride!!!

Wow I loved the footage. My family and I have driven bear tooth twice. We stayed at a lodge in Clyde Park, one day we drove to Yellowstone through Gardner. And at some point ended up in Cooke city. So we decided to just continue on and we would eventually be able to make our way back to the lodge. The whole time our GPS is telling us to turn around. We ignored it, It didn’t look to be that much further on the map. As you know It turned out to be a lot further. What an adventure! Beautiful. Terrifying, scary, switchbacks, cliffs, exhilarating, white knuckled driving. I was so focused on the road I missed most of the scenery. Which is why a year later my wife and I did the adventure again, from Red Lodge to Cooke City. I look at the Cooke city cams regularly, and the spring snow clearing. Thank you for the beautiful views and adventure. Be safe.

That is really neat. Mike if my father would be alive I think the two of you would have had a great time talking each other. Listening to you talk reminds me so much of my father.

Thanks for the nice video. Those crews definitely appreciated it. Working in the power generating industry can be similar. Everyone knows what you do, but in reality they don't have a clue. Years ago during an extended plant outage a few of us took quite a few pictures during teardowns and reassembly. Taking those photos were were able to have picture books made. The outage team received a book and boy were they appreciative. Thank you for bringing back that memory. I'm going to break out that book after I complete this midshift.

This was fascinating!! Really cool that you gave all the crew photos of their work and equipment. Thank you for sharing these great stories, Mike. I was born in Jackson and lived in Pinedale, so really interesting to hear about your adventures in these areas.

Man that was cool story , we appreciate it very much !!

So cool. Great video. Absolutely enjoyed it. Thanks

Really liked this. I love seeing how this stuff is done. People just don’t realize the work that it takes. Keep this stuff coming.

Great story video thanks for sharing and some of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen.

Thank you so much for sharing your life story’s.I very much enjoy them.

This is is Amazing!... and at the same time looks very dangerous...these crews from both the Montana & Wyoming sides have to have extreme patience and nerves of steel it was great of you to document and photograph their very hard work and very time consuming just so that the general public can go there to enjoy the views and this National Park safely, without the hard work and risks of these individuals many people would not be able to see this magnificent place.

This is amazing! I'm a transplant from Georgia working in Grand Teton's North Roads district, and this year marks my third spring opening blowing the road open to Yellowstone's South Gate and our part of Teton Park Road. I've ran the V-plow, the big snowblower, all that - but y'all get WAY more up there than we get here! Really cool to see how y'all handle it!

Absolutely incredible video, Mike. I loved the story. Hope to see more like this! The Cooke City area is great - hope to move out there someday. Drove the Beartooth last year and genuinely changed my life - heading back this year. As Charles Kuralt said, it’s “the most beautiful drive in America”.

thanks Mike for this reportage,i went thru beartooth in 2017 it was open around june 3 of that year and in 2015 i coud not go thru cause it was too early in the season and was close,now i understand all the work that as to be done to open it.I own a a snowremoving business in new brunswick canada and i really do understand the cost and the diesel which is very expensive,those machine are big and expensive to run. thanks again for sharing this video

Great video, thank you!

Howdy Mike. WOW. This really brought back some memories to me. About 40 or so years ago I was traveling west from Centennial on HWY 130 towards Saratoga. It was late May or early June and I had no idea what I was about to encounter. The area was called Snowy Mountain pass. As it turned out, I was the first vehicle to cross from the east to the west that spring. I arrived just in time to see the crews finish clearing the pass. I was amazed at the depth of the snow in the cut-through they made! Your video really gave me another level of appreciation of it all as I was coming from a flat-landers perspective. Relatives in Saratoga couldn't believe I went through that pass when I did. They all thought is would still be snowed in. Thanks again! Later on Sir .....

Nicely done amazing work those guys do not get the credit they deserve in extreme terrain. It's absolutely great that you were given the opportunity to document this. Great work thanks for sharing 👌👍

That was totally awesome and amazing

When I was a lot younger, we would go up there every 4th of July and spend the night so that we could ski over towards Wyoming. One guy would drive and the rest would ski. We would do this for the whole day. Thanks Mike for the story and documentary!

Mike, Great video & photos! Fall 2016 we asked Bozeman outfitter "Beartooth Highway open?" "No." We went anyway. Great Drive, even without snow. Adventure for a Rhode Island couple.

Love it!! Keep 'em coming!!

Thanks ... great video

My husband sent this to me to watch ,I love it so,so interesting. Great job I send it to a friend!!!!💘amazing!!!

I've plowed snow for 34 years, for the state of Connecticut. 3.5 ft tops. I'd absolutely love to experience that. Awesome pics.

Many trips across the pass; all in summer or fall. Greatest drive in US.

Ran across this by accident looking for diy sheds...lol Great story Mike loved it!

That would be great to see,thanks for the video,will drive that one day right when it opens

GREAT! Great story, Great pictures, a very interesting subject, with a nice personal introspective, Very Rare, this is subject matter that unfortunately I don't think many people have much interest in, but I'm sure if anyone found themselves with this in front of their eyes they would be happy they found it, especially with the thorough storytelling, and pictures. Thank You So very much, this made my day! Greetings from, "Lil Rhody"!

Great story Mike. We drive the Beartooth annually from Wilsall, Mt through RedLodge and then back up to Livingston. Always kinda wondered how they did this and what it looked like in May. Don’t think we will be able to do that loop this year because of the flooding. Love your stories.

Thank you….great Work…… Interestingly, We just decided to drive the BEARTOOTH Pass ( probably in August) for my “ Birthday *& experience…etc..

That is a long time ago I was through there with my parents, in 1978 with a 78 vintage one ton dually two wheel drive truck so no low range and a fairly large fifth wheel trailer and it hardly could make it to the top ( 4 speed manual trans in first gear ) as the 454 engine was choking on too rich a fuel ratio. We stopped at the pull out at the summit and remember I felt so light headed as I walked around. We were heading out of Yellowstone direction wise and the highest elevation I had been at that time. I'd love to drive over it again as an adult as it sure seemed like beautiful drive and a thrill as a kid. Of course it was in July so snow was not an issue but have always wondered how they went about cutting the very deep drifts down in such mountain passes and now you have answered that mystery !.

I lived in West Yellowstone for a decade and Ken is great guy and knows equipment like nobody else

Really interesting. Thanks.

Absolutely Awesome!!! I’m in

Dang cool video !

Wow, really neat!

Mike, I've out to Yellowstone National Park years ago as a kid. We may have went over Beartooth Pass there, but I don't remember. At the end of my writing I have some RU-vid videos you can look at as well other readers here and those snowplow drivers if they are still around that area. I seen videos of snowplowing "Going to Sun Road" in Glacier National Park. A man remarked that the Rim Rock known for drifting and avalanches has been to 90 feet deep there. I'm a Vietnam War Era USAF disabled veteran. My disability is not because of being in the military. I'm 69 years old now and I only see on RU-vid or Google search of things like snowplowing this pass and other places. Okay the winter of 2018-2019 brought that "Atmospheric Rivers" of snow to the Sierra Mountains of California. Snowstorms went from California southeasternly to the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. Also from Los Angels northeasterly to there. It was estimated up to 800 inches on highest peaks. People in Silverton, Colorado said they hadn't seen this amount of snow in 30/40 years. Colorado averages 500 avalanches a year statewide. According to the highway department they had 2,500 avalanches that season. Part of that is they set off avalanches on purpose. They closed down the highway and use WW2 howitzers to fire shells to avalanche peaks or flying by helicopter and they drop dynamite charges on the peaks. They call that Migration. Now you and readers live in western U.S. may already know that. Well in case of people who don't. Anyway they flew by helicopters and dropped those charges but it kept on snowing. So on Red Mountain Pass, Colorado also known as Million Dollar Highway and also known as part of U.S. Highway 550 the Colorado Department of Transportation(snowplowing, avalanche clearing, and road repair responsibility) closed down the highway. They keep this highway open yearlong because it's one of the north/south highways in southwestern Colorado. They closed the highway down for 17 days straight. Two snowplowing crews were working 12 hours a day/night 24/7 these 17 days. One area looked to about 20/25 deep. But this other area was 60 feet deep. Avalanches filled off the road into the gorge above the highway. The highway department filmed the highway from a helicopter flyover from Silverton to almost to Ouray(pronounced U-ray, named after a Ute Native American Indian Chief). This mountain pass highway has hardly any GUARDRAILS. Going southbound from Ouray where NO GUARDRAILS it drops off about 800 FEET DOWN to the river gorge below. This pass has the highest avalanche paths per mile in all of Canada and the United States. 8 % road increase going this road. There's rock and mud slides happen there. You have to avoid deer, mountain sheep or goats. Speed limit is as low as 15 MPH. All these factors make this the most dangerous paved mountain mountain Pass in all of North America. Videos speak for themselves below. 1. "Red Mountain Pass - extended closure (720p)" by Colorado Department of Transportation At 9:21 that's a snowshed for a known avalanche path. This is high enough off the road that two grocery semi-trucks like Safeway or Walmart can pass each other at the same time. But this is dwarf to 9:26 where actually the cat there is plowing over into the abyss or in the gorge itself. They need a snowshed there going around the corner. This is where 60 FEET deep of avalanche debris piled on the road. 2. Late August/early September video of part of Red Mountain Pass looking south to that snowshed. This is area of 65 to 70 degree angle downward to the river gorge below. "The Million Dollar Highway@ Ouray, CO" by Cenia Aerial Imagery Maybe was filmed by the semi-truck driver that had stopped. Aslso on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad a known avalanche path dropped 120 FEET DEEP of snow there. They used mainly a cat clearing these tracks. The thing is beside the tracks is the Animas River. 3. Video of Beartooth Pass. "Driving Montana and Wyoming's Beartooth Pass on June 16, 2011" by reflyerdude The pinkish glow is of sunrise to the east. 4. An American living in Japan, filmed in April, 2017. He took a train, then cable car, then bus. This was 19 METERS HIGH = OVER 62 FEET HIGH SNOW WALL. "Massive Snow Wall Walk: Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route" by WAO RYU! Only in Japan The reason they get so much snow is because storms traveling northeasterly from southeastern China towards Japan and on Japan's western area are mountains 9,000 feet. This area is called the Alps of Japan. It's normal for there to get 7/8 feet of snow in two days. 5. Snowplowing this area. At first snowplowing on a hillside about 5 feet deep after a storm. "Epic Snow Blower Removal Machines at Massive Snow Wall Walk in Japan" by Machinery Present

Nice that you made those pictures and this video of the work crews clearing the snow for the highway system. It reminds me of the days I was working civil service at Eielson A.F.B. in Alaska operating the Oshkosh snow blowers and rollover plows, snow brooms, road graders, and end dumps keeping the runway, taxiways, and parking lots clear of snow. These are excellent testimonies as well countering the nonsensical attitudes of "toxic masculinity" as men serve the nations call.

That was a neat story. Those crews deserve a great deal of thanks for what they do.

Atigun Pass or Turnagain Pass in Alaska are pretty deep too!

Awesome!

The 1 bedroom cabin couldn't keep us away!

Been over this pass a few times, earliest in the season was at the 3rd week of May... if you've never done it, I highly recommend it.

Awesome! I absolutely love it up there. Where else can you drive in the comfort of an automobile at 10,000' through some of the most beautiful country in the world?

Just mind blowing! Would love to see the Going over the sun road in Glacier National Park! The videography was epic here. Are you part of the Eastman hunting videos?

Lucky guy 💪💪

THESE GENTLEMEN HAVE KAHOOONAS!!!

More examples of the people that make America work.

Where does the crew stay each night while they're doing this?

That's a pile of globull warming.

Mike have you ever seen a Bigfoot, or one of those werewolf looking things that might be what was once called a "buffalo wolf"? I'm in Texas and one of those giant wolves, with hands, not paws, was hit on a highway down here about 20 years ago. The Bigfoot where you are follow the elk. Down here they aren't as big and they just eat deer and pigs, and eat people gardens. .

Wow some serious blows keep ur gun on hand at all times 😆

Why don't they have hydraulically lift (like a forklift) elevated blowers that can go higher up instead of just in front of the machine. Put them on a big hydraulic cylinder that can elevate, extend and swivel around like forklifts on jobsites that swivel the forks and such lifting up and able to extend outward. Only make them huge Build tunnels where it drifts all the time. 🤷 Put it on a big bud tractor or bigger one of those quad tractors. I'd almost bet you could sell at least 50 of them on this planet. If yer willing to sell to China and Russia over a hundred easy. Europe probably 50, U.S. probably 41 Make the blower an attachment with wheels or tracks on it so the tractor isn't a waste of money being one use.

Many people do not know what is meant by "piston bully". You should define your terminology.

Yea. But the amount of fuel and effort to just allow tourist come and help ruin the remote areas we cherish…… appreciate the skill and balls but I think it counterproductive