Book celebrates life at Sperry Chalet
She was lowered by rope into a glacier’s crevasse to gather insects for famed entomologist and climber G. Gordon Edwards. She got a penny apiece for each bug she collected. She knew the mountain goats and ground squirrels so well she gave them names, and she once went on an “iceberg” ride in a glacial pond when she didn’t know how to swim.
Those are just some of the stories in Beth Dunagan’s new book, “Welcome to Sperry Chalet.” Dunagan had one of the most unique childhoods in Montana — she worked at the chalet in Glacier National Park for her aunt Kay and uncle Ross Luding in 1954, from age nine until she was 19.
The Luding family took over operations of the ailing chalets in 1954 and, save for a few years when the chalets were closed by the National Park Service, the family has been running them ever since.
Dunagan’s book chronicles the early years and struggles the family went through to open the chalet after years of neglect during and after World War II.
Sperry Chalet was built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railroad at the base of Gunsight Peak, some 3,300 feet above the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Accessible only by trail, the railroad deemed the chalet unprofitable and gave it to the Park Service in 1953.
Ross Luding worked on construction of the Hungry Horse Dam but was out of work living in a tar-paper shack when he saw a story in the Hungry Horse News about the Park looking for someone to run the chalet.
It was a family operation from the start. Kay Luding’s sister Marge Somers and her husband Bill joined them, along with the Luding’s children, Lanny and Barb along with Beth and her little sister Marcia.
In the early years, Glacier Park was a much quieter place.
No reservations were required — guests just showed up, and if there wasn’t enough room, they doubled up. When the kids weren’t working, they were out exploring the nearby countryside, although always within yelling distance of the chalet. Since sounds carry a long way in the mountains, that could mean several miles.
That first year, the Ludings cleared $175 for a summer’s worth of work.
Dunagan’s book tells more than 44 stories of life at the chalet. It’s her first book and an easy read — the entire book can be read in a couple of hours.
“It’s also probably my last,” she quipped.
In her adult life, Dunagan worked as an interpretative ranger in Glacier Park for 24 years and then returned to work at Sperry Chalet in 1998.
The chalet was shut down from 1992 through 1998 for repairs to the water and sewer systems, and she chronicles the struggles of reopening the chalet in 1999, including lugging supplies through deep snow for a quarter mile because the packer at the time wouldn’t take the mule string any further.
Dunagan worked at the chalet until 2007 when she retired. But at 69, she still makes frequent visits each summer.
Sperry Chalet will be 100 years old this year, and guests need to make reservations nearly a year in advance to secure a room. But for Dunagan, it will be more than just a place to stay. It will be home.
“It’s the place I retreat to when the world gets overwhelming,” she said.