Actions

Glacier National Park officials celebrate reopening of Sperry Chalet

Posted at 9:43 PM, Feb 27, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-27 23:43:04-05

Glacier National Park officials held a special event at the Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell Wednesday night celebrating the grand reopening of Sperry Chalet.

The chalet was mostly destroyed in the Sprague fire of 2017, which burned thousands of acres in Glacier National Park.

At around 6,000 feet of elevation, crews worked for more than two years to reconstruct the chalet.

Materials were flown in from helicopter or packed up by mule train and crews hiked up hill seven miles in order to work on the project.

Reservations were made open to the public in January with the first official day for guests set for July 18.

Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow was amazed how the community came together in such short time to support and help save the chalet.

“It’s pretty remarkable to look at where we were two years ago with just standing walls and what we’ve managed to accomplish in such a short amount of time," said Mow.

Weather permitting, Sperry Chalet will be in operation this summer from July 18 to Sept. 13.