Glacier Park, Inc. Announces Purchase of Property in West Glacier and Apgar

Viad Corp, parent company of Glacier Park, Inc., announced last week that it had completed its acquisition of the West Glacier Motel & Cabins, the Apgar Village Lodge and related land, food and beverage services and retail operations.

Paul B. Dykstra, Viad's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "This transaction represents an important addition to our Glacier Park business as it expands our share of rooms in the Glacier National Park area, making us the largest provider of overnight accommodations, food and beverage services and retail operations in that market. The acquired assets are uniquely positioned at the heavily trafficked West entrance to the park and inside the park itself. We are committed to expanding our high-margin hospitality and recreational attractions portfolio."

The West Glacier Motel & Cabins is a 32-room property situated on approximately 200 acres at the West entrance of Glacier National Park, along the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road and adjacent to the West Glacier Amtrak station. Full-service amenities include the West Glacier Restaurant, West Glacier Mercantile, West Glacier Gift Shop, West Glacier Shirt Company, a gas station and employee housing.

The Apgar Village Lodge is a 48-room property situated on a 3.8 acre private inholding inside Glacier National Park along McDonald Creek near Lake McDonald. In addition to overnight accommodations, the Apgar assets also include the Cedar Tree Gift Shop and employee housing.

Cindy Ognjanov president of Glacier Park, Inc., said, "We are honored and excited to add the West Glacier and Apgar properties to our operations in the Glacier National Park area. They complement our existing assets by adding scale and additional location options that will enhance our guests' enjoyment of this majestic area and reinforce our position as the Gateway to Glacier. This acquisition also extends the reach of our environmental stewardship programs further into the community, and it broadens our position as a hospitality employer of choice in Glacier County and in the state of Montana. We are committed to the community and to delivering top-notch guest services."

In addition to the West Glacier and Apgar assets, Glacier Park, Inc. owns and operates the St. Mary Lodge (located at the East entrance of the park, along Going to the Sun Road), Motel Lake McDonald (an inholding within Glacier National Park), Glacier Park Lodge, Grouse Mountain Lodge and the Prince of Wales Hotel, which are located in and around Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Additionally, more than 150 undeveloped acres were included in this purchase. This has many in the area concerned as to what will become of this land.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

National Weather Service Creates Recreation Forecast Website for Glacier

Great news for Glacier National Park visitors and weather buffs alike. The National Weather Service has recently rolled-out a new "Recreation Safety Forecast" website specifically for Glacier Park.

The purpose of the new website is to allow people to obtain forecasts for a specific location within the park.

Due to its varying terrain, weather can vary dramatically from one side of the Continental Divide to the other, or even from one valley to the next.

So lets say you plan to go hiking up to Swiftcurrent Pass out of Many Glacier. This new website will provide you with a 7-day forecast, hourly forecast data, and even a hazardous weather outlook, specifically for Swiftcurrent Pass. You can even get weather data for the prior 3 days if need be.

As of right now, the website provides pinpoint weather forecasts for 46 locations within Glacier National Park.

If you wish to check out the new NWS website, we've linked to the page on our weather page. Just click on the link for "Pinpoint Forecasts".


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Avalanche danger rated as high for Glacier Park and Flathead and Kootenai National Forests

Tony Willits of the U.S. Forest Service issued a special backcountry avalanche bulletin last night for the Glacier Park and Flathead and Kootenai National Forest areas:

Between the elevations of 4,500 and 7,500 ft. the avalanche danger is currently rated HIGH on all steep and open terrain, on all aspects. A warm plume of moisture, with rising freezing levels has brought rain to the elevations of 5,500 to 5,800 feet. Overnight freezing (Friday night) will be short lived. Saturday will experience warmer temperatures and rain with freezing levels climbing to and above 6,500 feet, which will likely allow for a natural cycle of avalanche activity.

It is strongly advised to curtail back country travel until our region experiences some significant refreezing of the surface snow pack.

The weather forecast is predicting good confidence in a cold front moving into our region late Saturday night which could cause a stabilizing effect to the surface snow pack. The return of cooler temperatures on Sunday will be accompanied with moderate SW winds which will likely load NE-E aspects. Stay off of wind loaded terrain until time has passed to allow for stabilization of the potential weak interface.

Because of the general nature of this advisory message, each backcountry party will always need to make their own time and site specific avalanche hazard evaluations. This advisory best describes conditions at the time of its issuance. As time passes avalanche and snow conditions may change, sometimes quite rapidly. Elevation and geographic distinctions used are approximate and transition zones between hazards exist.

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Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com