The Sasquatch of Sawtelle Mountain Resort

Sawtelle Mountain Resort has seen a lot of changes since it was built in 1993. The resort's newest addition? A sasquatch on a snowmobile.

Grover Chatterton built the Island Park resort in 1993 with the help of his son and daughter-in-law, Trisha Chatterton. At the time of opening the resort had a bunkhouse, RV park and 36 rooms. It was your basic hotel. 

Trisha worked at the resort until Grover sold it to Kris Wright in 1999. She became friends with Wright’s daughter and son-in-law and decided to come back to the resort. Today, 25 years after the original opening, she’s still there, working as an assistant.

Wright began making changes after taking over and things started looking different around Sawtelle. New buildings allowed for more tourists and growth. An indoor pool and hot tub give guests a chance to cool off in the summer and warm-up in the winter. A continental breakfast was added, the only one in the entire area. 

Of all these additions to Sawtelle, the newest and perhaps most out-of-the-box addition is a Sasquatch riding a snowmobile made completely out of snow set to make its appearance at the resort during the first week of February. 

Tye Tilt, a snow sculptor out of Driggs, was commissioned by Sawtelle to bring the snowmobile riding sasquatch to life.

“It’s amazing what you can do with snow,” Tilt said. “You can carve pretty much whatever you can think of.”

Driggs hosts Snowscapes, an annual snow sculpting competition first created to bring folks in after the busy holiday season. The competition, now in its ninth year,consists of 10 teams of up to five members.The artists have four days to create their masterpiece.

Tilt asked his friends, who started the competition, if he could join their team 10 years ago and has been hooked ever since. He has traveled to places like Colorado and Minnesota for competitions sculpting elephants, a full moon with ducks walking underneath, three full-sized giraffes, bears, a giant castle and more.

“I got hooked the first year and fell in love with the ephemeral art and all the tools.”

A snow sculpture can last anywhere from 2 days to 2 months or longer depending on the weather. In a place with cold weather like Island Park, Tilt’s Yeti on a snowmobile may last a while. Sawtelle hopes it will attract more guests during their slower winter months.

Thanks to Yellowstone National Park being so close, Sawtelle Mountain Resort usually finds itself booked up during the summer months.

“The area in general gets kinda of crazy,” Richard Turpin, manager of Sawtelle said. “Lots of people come from across the country, definitely a lot of foreigners.”

During the winter, Sawtelle gets involved with local events such as Winterfest and the annual American Dog Derby, Ashton’s famous dog sled race. 

For more information, visit www.sawtellemountainresort.com or call (208) 558-9366.

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