Yeouch!

[GreatDivide14]

The Beartooth Highway in Montana is in ruins, after a series of winter mudslides. With that many switchbacks, one mudslide can take out the road in several places. The repair job is going to last all summer. Here are some <A HREF=http://www.mdt.state.mt.us/travinfo/beartooth/>pictures.</A>

How'd they put a road there in the first place?

[NoKnees]

That's definitely an interesting stretch of road. One bad winter and they get 13 points of closure? Definitely makes you wonder about the route location and original engineering work that went into it.

Guess mother nature didn't like having that road there... Kinda puts us in our place..

[Hiker Boy]

That's too bad. That's a fun road to drive. Great ski hill at the top of that pass which was still in operation at this time of year the year I was down there....a long way to drive to get to some absolutely stunning Beartooth hiking now.

[sweetdaddy]

Early estimates are $20.4 million in damages, almost as much as it cost to build the whole road in the 1930's! I'd bet their repair finish date of Oct is a bit optimistic too. Pretty tough terrain up there, snows early and stays long and no trees to prevent drifting. Gonna be a tough year for the towns of Red Lodge and Cooke City, their path along a main artery to Yellowstone will likey be bypassed by many.

Bummer, 1st time in 4 yrs I haven't skied there for the Memorial Day opener. Some nice headwalls close to the road at Rock Creek, Gardiner Lake and Reefer Ridge. 50° chutes if youre daring, lots of friendly folks to give you a ride back up the road after skiing a line.