Sperry Chalet Rising from the Ashes

Immediately after the 2017 Sprague Fire reduced the 106-year-old Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park from an iconic backcountry destination to a smoldering ruin, the ambitious race to rebuild the historic structure began in earnest.

“Rebuilding Sperry Chalet is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the partner engagement has been remarkable,” Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow said, adding that he received a call from the Glacier National Park Conservancy, the park’s fundraising partner, the morning after the chalet was overrun by wildfire.

Donations began pouring in to the Conservancy’s coffers, with contributions coming from citizens of every state in the U.S. and nine other countries.

Soon after Sperry Chalet was lost on Aug. 31, 2017 after the 17,000-acre wildfire doubled in size in a matter of hours, destroying its fir-and-lodgepole framework and leaving behind only the native-rock shell hewed from a nearby mountain quarry by Italian stone masons more than a century ago, former Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke announced that he wanted the historic wilderness chalet to be rebuilt as quickly as possible. That fall, Glacier employees conducted emergency stabilization work to ensure that the remaining stonewalls would survive the winter.

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/02/20/sperry-chalet-rising-ashes/