Visitor dies after being hit by falling rock at Glacier National Park

A visitor to Glacier National Park has died after they suffered injuries from a rockfall earlier this month, according to National Park Service spokesperson Autumn Sifuentes.

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The visitor was on the famed Going-to-the Sun Road July 11, in the Rimrocks area, when a rock tumbled down and crashed through the roof of the vehicle they were traveling in, as SFGATE previously reported. The road was then closed for around two hours as park rangers and rescue teams responded to the scene. The injured person was taken to the Logan Health hospital in Kalispell, Montana, for treatment. 

Sifuentes said the injured person “later died from their injuries” but referred follow-up questions to the Flathead County Coroner’s Office in an email Friday. Calls and emails to the Flathead County Coroner and Sheriff’s Department were not returned by publication time. 

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is an iconic attraction at Glacier National Park that spans 50 miles, where visitors can catch glimpses of a glacier from the road, as well as wildlife like bears and bighorn sheep. The road goes through steep rocky terrain, and the area had seen heavy rainfall shortly before the fatal rockfall. Rockfalls can be triggered by moisture in the ground.

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The road has been the site of fatal rockfalls before. In 2019, a 14-year-old girl was killed near the East Tunnel area of the road, after rocks hit the top of the vehicle she and her family were traveling in and shattered the back window. The girl’s parents and two other children experienced non-life-threatening injuries in the incident. 

Prior to 2019, the last fatal rockfall occurred in 1996, also in the Rimrocks area.