Glacier chalets a hot ticket

As thousands of prospective vacationers found out last week, nabbing a room at one of Glacier National Park’s rustic backcountry chalets isn’t a walk in the park.

On Jan. 11 at 8 a.m., the online reservation system opened up for the renowned Sperry and Granite Park chalets, and within 10 minutes, users were reporting a queue of more than 500 on the website. One user wrote on Trip Advisor that she was in line behind nearly 1,000 other would-be chalet guests by 8:14 a.m.

Dana Aulton and her husband live in Mebane, North Carolina. The couple typically spends their vacations touring national parks and had planned a 10-day trip to Glacier this summer.

“I was quite surprised when I put my reservation in online, when I submitted it I got a kickback saying there were 228 requests in front of mine,” she said in a phone interview. “When I got in I got a couple server errors and I couldn’t get to the form. But I sort of anticipated that, knowing there would be a lot of people trying to get that.”

On the other end of the system, Sperry Chalet concessioner Kevin Warrington and his staff were also anticipating the rush. He and his four-person team worked a small bank of computers as the reservation requests poured in. He said the requests numbered in the thousands within the first two hours.

“This year our big change was to funnel all the reservations requested into that same [online] queue to strictly enforce the first-come, first-served policy,” he said.

They processed about 200 reservations per day, booking all of the chalet’s summer calendar by the end of the week.

Aulton said she was relieved by a notification at the end of the day that she had secured a two-night stay at Sperry Chalet.

For local Michelle Martino, it took three days to get her confirmation.

She’s the owner of the Dreamcatcher Lodge, a bed and breakfast east of Creston.

“I learned from some guests last year that got a reservation how difficult it was, and they just couldn’t get a low enough number to get their dates booked,” she said. “I got on there promptly at 8 o’clock and it took about four tries to access the reservations page and another five attempts to submit it.”

Still, both Martino and Aulton said they understood the massive strain on the websites’ servers, and complimented the staff for being available to answer questions over the phone.

“It was really easy once you get to the reservation page,” Martino said. “Get yourself set up, so all you have to do is hit the button to take you to that link. And type fast.”

As with all things Glacier, the vast majority of visitors are funneled into a condensed summer season.

Often reached via the 7-mile Sperry Trail that begins near Lake McDonald Lodge, Sperry Chalet lies 3,300 feet above the trailhead and rewards its guests with vistas of the park’s ice-carved peaks, along with three meals served daily and rooms in the historic stone structure.

The cost for two guests staying in a double room is $370 per day.

With 17 rooms, the chalet sleeps 45 guests per night through its two-month season from July 10 to Sept. 10. It can serve 2,790 guests each season.

Granite Park Chalet, a 4-mile hike from the Loop or 7-mile hike from Logan Pass, is described by the operators as more of a “hiker’s hostel,” where guests cook their own meals and are encouraged to bring sleeping bags. At $185 per double room, it’s significantly cheaper but provides no less of an awe-inspiring view.

It’s also slightly smaller, but a longer summer season allows it to provide up to 2,590 stays per year.

Still, that’s a small fraction of the more than 2.3 million visitors who entered the park during each of the last two years.

Both of the historic structures are remnants of a bygone era, built more than a century ago and the only survivors among the nine chalets that once populated the park.

Their popularity is nothing new, Warrington said.

“There are stories from our history going all the way into the ’70s, when we started taking reservations, and there have been people we’ve always had to turn away because of all the demand,” he said. “It does grow some every year. We get more popular. The best-kept secret has been let out.”

Those who missed opening day for reservations might still get lucky, however. Cancellations aren’t uncommon, and those willing to diligently check the two reservation websites — www.graniteparkchalet.com and www.sperrychalet.com — might still be able to reserve one of the chalets’ highly sought-after rooms.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 768-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.