Great Northern Resort has new owners

A little more than 20 years ago, Byron Beers and his brother, Lee, were guides at Glacier Raft Co. They always thought it would be cool to own a resort and rafting business.

The once distant thought is a reality today since the brothers bought Great Northern Resort in West Glacier from Nic and Victoria Lee and Carl Motes-Conners in February. Motes-Conners is staying on as a guide and instructor. A gifted guide, he also runs a guide and river school.

New Hampshire natives, the Beers brothers first approached the Lees about selling the place last fall, but at the time, the Lees weren’t interested, Byron said last week. But then one thing led to another and the deal closed. The Lees still own Glacier Distilling Co. They initially bought the resort in 2010 from Reno Baldwin. The resort is 39 years old.

Byron was a river guide in his 20s for four years with Glacier, but he went on to become an electrical engineer, working in Cannes, France, for the past five years on the Iridium Next Satellite Constellation — a new generation of communication satellites.

It was a drastic career change, but the reason was simple.

“I wanted to spend more time with my family,” Byron said.

Owning a raft company “was always something we’ve talked about.”

Byron and his wife, Catherine, have two children, ages 6 and 8. Lee and his wife, Sandi, have two children 8 and 13. Catherine does the marketing for the resort, while Sandi works for North Valley Hospital and also does the bookkeeping.

Lee has lived in Whitefish since the 1990s.

The resort has five rental cabins and hosts a wedding once a week throughout the summer. It also offers fishing and whitewater raft trips on the Middle Fork of the Flathead. So far, business has been brisk, Byron said. The cabins are nearly booked into October and in addition to the raft trips, they’ve had between three and five fishing trips daily as the fishing has been excellent this spring and summer.

All told the resort employs 42 people, including 23 to 25 guides. They’re currently working on renovating the caboose in front of the resort, which suffered water damage over the winter.

When complete, it will be a restaurant offering hamburgers and other quick meals.