Glacier Institute Takes Reins of Le Grizz Ultramarathon

Polebridge Mercantile donates Montana’s oldest 50-mile footrace to support the nonprofit education partner of Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest.
On the second Saturday of October, when legendary race director Pat Caffrey pulls the trigger of his ceremonial single-barrel starting shotgun and dozens of shivering runners trot off the start line at the Polebridge Mercantile, where they’ll later return to inhale heaps of fried chicken and huckleberry bear claws, the Le Grizz 50-mile Ultramarathon will commence its 41st running under a newly minted owner from just down the road.

As is the case with all things Le Grizz, however, “just down the road” assumes a distinct meaning.

In this case, it means 15 miles of rutted two-lane gravel leading due south along the North Fork of the Flathead River to the Big Creek Outdoor Education Center, where the Glacier Institute, the nonprofit educational partner to both Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest, has operated its youth programs since 1983 — just one year younger than the race it’s set to inherit. With its headquarters based in Columbia Falls, the Glacier Institute has served more than 30,000 kids over four decades out of the historic ranger station up the North Fork, educating them on environmental stewardship through backpacking trips, orienteering, tracking, and winter ecology courses. The programs annually serve more than 3,300 people including over 1,500 local children at Big Creek alone.