Speaking of Parks and rock and glaciers, there is some sad news from Glacier Park. Yesterday afternoon the historic and iconic Sperry Chalet burned down after high winds and flying embers overcame a Hotshot crew's efforts to save it. They had hose lines and pumps, three helicopters with a lake 7 miles away, but the wind won.
It's a damn shame.
Sperry Chalet was built along with a series of others through the Park by the Great Northern Railway in 1913 to promote tourism in the Park. Tourists from far away would ride GNR trains to East Glacier, then take pack trips into the stunning interior where these chalets would be one days ride apart. It was many people's first experience with raw wilderness and huge glaciers. Many of the lodges fell into disrepair after the Going-to-the-Sun pass was built in the 30s, were crushed by snow, or burned down over the years. Two are left, both built of heavy stone and timber, both way up almost at timberline on rock shelves - the Granite Park Chalet and the Sperry Chalet. Granite is a pack-your-own-food stay, where you use the commercial kitchen and bottled gas to make your meals and bring your own sleeping bag. Sperry is a full service lodge, where you are fed by the staff, with breakfast and trail lunches, linens cleaned - it's pretty posh for being almost on the top of a mountain. You sleep in a stone dorm building (the chalet) on comfy metal cots, creaky wood floors, no insulation. You walk down the clifftop a couple hundred yards to the dining hall for meals.
All supplies are brought in by pack mule trains up the hiking trail 6 miles.
It's 6+ miles on a map, but feels like 6 miles straight up as well - very steep, and pretty warm in the afternoon if you don't leave early enough.
My wife has been going up there since she was a little kid and it was $20/night for food and lodging. Dinner is in a big dining room on the cliff, with goats looking in the window, and the staff giving little talks or wildlife or geology lectures, or just ask everyone to say something about themselves. You meet people from all over the world and the next town over.
There may be a rule about 1 photo per post...? I forget. Forgive me if I give you a little taste of this place and what a loss it is.
None of these are my pics or family BTW
In April. These are the typical snow loads it handles.
They board it up for winter but sometimes winter comes in.
Spring thaw, which may be May June....July... The season is 3 to 4 months.
Here it is on the shelf, all buttoned up in the early fall. They take off the railings every fall as well.
We had reservations in mid-July one year and it looked like this, snow up to the eaves of the dining hall. The staff was there but snowed in, the pack trains couldn't make it through the drifts. We stayed anyway and had spaghetti on paper plates and played cards with the staff. In the morning, we hiked down and helped chop a path through drifts for the mules. It was a great trip
It's a damn shame.
Sperry Chalet was built along with a series of others through the Park by the Great Northern Railway in 1913 to promote tourism in the Park. Tourists from far away would ride GNR trains to East Glacier, then take pack trips into the stunning interior where these chalets would be one days ride apart. It was many people's first experience with raw wilderness and huge glaciers. Many of the lodges fell into disrepair after the Going-to-the-Sun pass was built in the 30s, were crushed by snow, or burned down over the years. Two are left, both built of heavy stone and timber, both way up almost at timberline on rock shelves - the Granite Park Chalet and the Sperry Chalet. Granite is a pack-your-own-food stay, where you use the commercial kitchen and bottled gas to make your meals and bring your own sleeping bag. Sperry is a full service lodge, where you are fed by the staff, with breakfast and trail lunches, linens cleaned - it's pretty posh for being almost on the top of a mountain. You sleep in a stone dorm building (the chalet) on comfy metal cots, creaky wood floors, no insulation. You walk down the clifftop a couple hundred yards to the dining hall for meals.
All supplies are brought in by pack mule trains up the hiking trail 6 miles.
It's 6+ miles on a map, but feels like 6 miles straight up as well - very steep, and pretty warm in the afternoon if you don't leave early enough.
My wife has been going up there since she was a little kid and it was $20/night for food and lodging. Dinner is in a big dining room on the cliff, with goats looking in the window, and the staff giving little talks or wildlife or geology lectures, or just ask everyone to say something about themselves. You meet people from all over the world and the next town over.
There may be a rule about 1 photo per post...? I forget. Forgive me if I give you a little taste of this place and what a loss it is.
None of these are my pics or family BTW
In April. These are the typical snow loads it handles.
They board it up for winter but sometimes winter comes in.
Spring thaw, which may be May June....July... The season is 3 to 4 months.
Here it is on the shelf, all buttoned up in the early fall. They take off the railings every fall as well.
We had reservations in mid-July one year and it looked like this, snow up to the eaves of the dining hall. The staff was there but snowed in, the pack trains couldn't make it through the drifts. We stayed anyway and had spaghetti on paper plates and played cards with the staff. In the morning, we hiked down and helped chop a path through drifts for the mules. It was a great trip
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