Road Conditions

Submitted by kmcteague on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 10:42
How's the road looking for this upcoming week? We're heading over from Boise tomorrow - hoping the road stays open all week.

The road is still in great shape. It's of course icy in spots so you should drive carefully but you can make it to the trailhead in a small car. Alex

We need to beat that road into submission. If you can, drive outside the ruts as much as you are comfortable/capable. Bust any drifts and push that snow around and widen the road and pullouts as much as possible. Remember, as soon as it gets too squirrly or tricky, the Forest Service will gate it at the bottom. Drive safe and be smart!

The road still looks good as of the 15th. People have been doing a good job of not driving in the ruts which makes it easier to pass when necessary.

Since the last post there have been MANY inches of snow that have fallen. Who has been up there recently and what is the driving like? Cheers, Et

Hello Climbers, Speaking for Jim Earl, our trusty montanaice proprietor who is currently 5,000 feet down at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the web server has been down for a few days. Hence the lack of posts. Indeed, Hyalite has gotten a fair bit of snow. The road is still open but is challenging driving for sure. We've made a request to plow the road again but it remains to be seen if it will happen again. Stay posted and be safe out there. Cheers, Joe

Went up in to the canyon yesterday, the road was decent, though I would call it solid PG13 at times in a subaru forester.

on the way out sunday afternoon, around 3pm ish, i would say it would be pretty hard for any NON truck/SUV vehicle to make it past the snow drifts by the dam. And after today, not at all. Please use your best judgement and catch a ride with someone who has the proper vehicle to be able to pull off to the side to let others pass.

Was able to get in and out Sunday in our AWD SUV/Crossover, but got shut down Monday morning - stuck twice at the start of the dam. One 4-Runner with big tires got in ahead of us, but not sure how they did getting out. I expect the road into the trailhead from the dam is pretty much done for anything but a serious 4x4. Ice Sunday was awesome though!

hello all. just tried to get in this AM, but it was a no go with chains on. The dam is like 5 foot high drifts now. Even had a hard time getting to the dam with chains on. Had to floor it many many times. Snowmachine here I come.

We were up in Hyalite today and the road was in fairly good shape. At least two pickup trucks had driven past the dam to the trail head at Grotto Falls. Most of the road was one huge rut but the snow was so hard it was easy to drive on The road across the Dam wasn't to bad either. Lots of snowmobile traffic as well. The Forest Service was also parked at the end of the road checking on snowmobile stickers and people driving to fast. :)

The Gallatin National Forest recently gave Gallatin County permission to plow the Hyalite Road two more times this winter, prior to March 31 (on April 1 the road is closed to all motor vehicles). There is no word on when the miracle plowing might happen but it could be any day.

By the time you read this, the Hyalite Road will have been plowed by Gallatin County Crews. They are up there right now (Wednesday the 27th). Hopefully no one is up there getting in the way of the plow. Enjoy!

Anyone know if they plowed all the way to Grotto Falls? Would like to know before Saturday as we are coming from Idaho and don't want to bring sleds if not necessary. Thanks

We tried to get up the road this morning but the FS had it gated at the lower fishing access... They are going to open the road to the Blackmore parking lot today and by tomorow, everything will be plowed to Grotto Falls... Enjoy!!!!

Steve and I snowmobiled passed the plows this afternoon, they never made it to Grotto Falls and stopped short about 200 yards from the parking lot. Some yahoo, alone in his exploder, got stuck near the end of the reservoir, which may have slowed the plowers progress this afternoon. Anyway, as of 7pm on Feb. 29th, the road is only partially plowed, wide enough for a single car, soft and deep in places and there is a sign at the beginning of the dam. I would only recommend snowmobiles beyond the dam at this point. They may finish up tomorrow and then all is well, but I'm not sure what they plan to do. FYI, there is now a packed trail up to G1, G2 and then over to Hangover. Jonathan

Please don't open any gates and drive through and stay on roads with your snowmobiles. Today some ice climbers took it upon themselves to open the gate closing the road at the dam and drove through, compromising our relationship with the Forest Service and 20 years striving to get the road plowed. Please know that your actions matter and you are part of a larger community who really does care to maintain our positive relationship with the FS and each other. Don't spoil it for ice climbers, skiers, snowmobilers, skiers and the 8 other user groups. The road is plowed to right under Greensleeves and plowing will resume on Monday, let's be patient and think beyond ourselves. We still have plenty of time to climb. Thanks!

went up today and the road was plowed to the dam then closed to all vehicles except snowmobiles after that until they finish plowing

Now that the road is plowed, how does everybody feel about it? Now those of us with snowmobiles can't ride them for access. If you want to climb up E. Fork you have to hoof it in from the main road. And you can't ride across the lake or the USFS will ticket you.

OK, let's bump this thread!!  Anyone been up there more recently than last March!  We are getting a bit of snow, so I was just wondering if they are plowing????   anyone?

The reason this thread is dead is that the plowing is ongoing this season. It could be used for a Flanders Road Report however. The main road is in spectacular shape all the way to Grotto Falls. It's super icy, however, so you have do need to go slow and be careful of other rigs.

On Christmas Day I was able to drive the unplowed East Fork Road all the way to the Flanders parking lot in my low clearance Volvo. Thank Santa for Blizzaks. Some others went all the way to the Emerald Lake parking lot in a truck with chains. Too much more snow and it'll shut down. I urge anyone looking for a last of the season Flanders Fix to get after it soon. Unless you want to ski into the climbs of course.

Sunday Dec. 28: Abundant traffic all the way to the dam made the road passable for small cars.  There are snow drifts on the far-side of the dam that mandate high clearance (or a lot of shoveling?).  But...  It has been a while since the last storm so the plow will probably make it up there soon.  The east fork road (which is not maintained) is soft with deep ruts but passable with 4WD.

This morning I got up in east hyalite. Parked at the nice pullout thats all plowed out down in the campground area. There was a truck parked at the (closed) gate. Situation normal. However at the Palisade parking lot there was two vehicles. Hoping to maximize our climbing my friend and I spent the day at the Alpha/Omega area. Upon returning there was like 5 different vehicles in the parkinglot, to include a snowmobiler trying to unload right in the middle of the intersection. on the way out the gate was opened...

Is the road closed? personally I'm all for it being open. But why wasn't the gate locked and why is there no sign posting USE restrictions. I have a hard time seeing how the Forest service expects anybody to know anything if there is nothing posted. Is it gonna be like that dumb cone last year that people just kept moving? Travel at your own risk? Should we just write down licence plate #'s ?

Hyalite Road Conditions Forum