Page 12 - Flathead Beacon // 9.7.16

NEWS
Three Decades of Park Service Remembered Former Glacier Superintendent Phillip Iversen recounts national park career in new book
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
Every spring, before a parade of vehicles roars up Gla- cier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road, an equally impressive procession of bikes climbs the iconic highway.
But that favorite spring pastime was almost outlawed in the spring of 1974, had it not been for former Superin- tendent Phillip Iversen. Iversen’s predecessor, Bill Brig- gle, had closed biker access to the road a few months ear- lier, arguing that the mountain road was too narrow for bikes and cars to pass safely. When Iversen learned of Briggle’s decision, he initially thought little of it—“Who in their right mind would want to ride a bicycle on such a steeply elevated road anyway?”
But as the snow melted and local bikers learned of the decision, the park began to get calls from angry and disappointed recreationalists. Iversen decided to meet with some of the bikers and quickly hashed out a solution where bikers would be able to ride during certain hours of the day, a schedule that remains in place to this day.
That is just one of the dozens of stories that Iversen retells in his new book, The Centennial of a Great Idea, which recounts his 30-year career at 10 di erent national parks. Iversen published the book earlier this summer, just before the National Park Service’s centennial.
“I lived through some of the National Park Service’s history and so I thought I should record some of it,”
Former Glacier National Park Superintendent Phillip Iversen shows his new book.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Iversen said recently from his home in Kalispell. Iversen was born in Oregon but grew up in the Mid- west. In the late 1940s, he studied architecture in Nebraska, and during his time there he had to take a public speaking course. One of his classmates spoke about his time as a seasonal ranger in Zion National Park in Utah. Iversen found the talk so exciting that he immediately applied for a job at the park and became a seasonal ranger in 1948. Iversen fell in love with the outdoors that summer and he never went back to school
for architecture, instead choosing to start a career with the Park Service.
“That class changed my whole life,” he said.
Iversen spent the next two decades jumping around the park system, serving at Grand Canyon National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park, among others. He was the rst ranger assigned to C&O National Historic Park when it was created in 1959.
“I was the lone ranger on a 180-mile canal from Wash- ington D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland,” he said.
Iversen ended up at Glacier Park in 1974 and spent the next six years there until he retired in 1980. Besides dealing with bikes on the Sun Road, Iversen was super- intendent when park o cials decided to prohibit snow- mobiling in the park. Iversen recalls a “hot debate” sur- rounding that episode.
Although he said Zion might be his favorite park, if only because it was his rst, Glacier will always hold a special place in his heart, a love that began on the Feb- ruary day he arrived in West Glacier in 1974.
“I was so amazed by the fresh air and beauty of the place,” he said. “Every time I turned around I saw some- thing new and spectacular.”
Iversen’s new book can be found at local bookstores
and Amazon.com.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
NPS Identi es Hiker Killed on Mount Jackson 56-year-old Indiana man died from a fall while hiking with son in Glacier Park
BY BEACON STAFF
The National Park Service has iden- ti ed the climber who died in a fall on Mount Jackson earlier last week in Gla- cier National Park.
Dann R. Pilipow, 56, of Indiana, was reportedly descending the park’s fourth-highest peak Aug. 30 when he slipped on a snow eld and fell approxi- mately 100 feet.
Pilipow was hiking with his son, who also fell but was able to stop himself by self-arresting on the snow eld. He sus- tained minor injuries.
Unable to locate his father, the son hiked down the mountain to Gunsight Camp- ground where the incident was reported to park dispatch at 11:08 p.m. He was later transported via helicopter to West Glacier and then transported via Three Rivers Ambulance to North Valley Hospital.
Park rangers worked with Two Bear Air and Minutemen Aviation to locate the body of the father on Aug. 31. A techni- cal rescue team worked with Minutemen Aviation to recover the body on Sept. 1.
The incident remains under investigation.
Jackson Peak is one of the tallest peaks in Glacier National Park at 10,052 feet, and the climbing route varies from Class 3 to Class 4 depending on the route and
the amount of snow and ice. The climb- ing routes are considered arduous with an approximate elevation gain of 4,800 vertical feet, high amounts of loose scree, and a signi cant amount of exposure on narrow ledges with steep drop o s.
Falls are one of the leading causes of death in the park.
news@ atheadbeacon.com
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SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM