Man dies from injuries sustained in Glacier National Park rockfall on Going-to-the-Sun Road
CHRIS PETERSON | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 month, 1 week AGO
Glacier Park plows clear snow at Rimrocks in this file photo.
Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News. He covers Columbia Falls, the Canyon, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. All told, about 4 million acres of the best parts of the planet. He can be reached at [email protected] or 406-892-2151. | July 24, 2026 7:00 AM
The man who was struck by a rock that went through the roof of his vehicle on July 11 in Glacier National Park has died from his injuries, park officials confirmed this week.
He has been identified by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office as Rex Schowengerdt, 73, of Missouri.
According to the Park Service, the incident happened about 1:40 p.m. as a rock fell off the cliffs at Rimrocks on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Schowengerdt, a passenger in the rig, suffered massive head trauma and other injuries. His family took him off life support on July 16.
Rimrocks is a big cliff face just west of Logan Pass. The popular Highline Trail runs across it and it is not only traveled by humans, but also by animals like mountain goats and bighorn sheep.
The Park Service did not release any further details on the circumstances of the accident or how the rock became dislodged from the face.
The road was closed for about two hours as rangers and the Park’s Advanced Life-Support and Emergency Rescue Team attended to the man.
The ALERT helicopter flew to the scene and made a heroic landing on the road just below the accident location to fly the man to the hospital, according to video posts on social media at the time.
Rockfall off the cliffs above the Sun Road is not uncommon, though when the road was reconstructed several years ago, crews put in massive bolts in some areas to further stabilize the cliff faces above the road.
In 2019 a 14-year-old Utah girl was killed and her family members were injured after rocks fell off the road near the east side tunnel.
On Sept. 10, 1986, Hungry Horse News editor Brian Kennedy and his wife, Carol, were injured when a rock fell on the trunk of their car. They were injured by shattered glass.
In June of 1962, a huge rock fell on a Volkswagen killing a woman passenger in the back seat, but leaving her husband and daughter in the front of the car alive.
On June 23, 1996, Tsuyochi Kamochi, 30, was killed when a rock struck his vehicle. His wife, a passenger, was not severely injured.
This story was updated with more information on July 29.
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