Dozens of tourists lined the balcony of the Many Glacier Hotel, gazing in silence as the sun slipped behind Grinnell Point, its glow painting the mountain a hazy tangerine. It was the perfect ending to another perfect day amid the undeniably perfect scenery at Glacier National Park. Still beaming from their brush with nature, the visitors drifted back inside the hotel to settle in for the evening. Showers are moldy.
Rooms are too hot, or too cold.
The walls are so thin you actually can hear the guy down the hall snoring. There's no working elevator or handicapped access. And then there's that pesky problem with bats finding their way into the ceiling. At issue is whether to allow the hotel operator, Phoenix-based Glacier Park Inc., to pay for the repairs in exchange for loosened federal restrictions on rates, the length of the hotel season and the duration of its contract, or to use tax dollars to purchase and restore the buildings. Pacific northwest doug firs and cedar give the lodges an old-world feel.