What's in a Name?

Introducing Humbird - Schweitzer's New Hotel 

Since the spring of 2019, the Schweitzer team has been busy working on our latest project, the new hotel in the village. Once complete, Schweitzer will have an additional 31-unit boutique hotel offering some of the most comfortable ski-in/ski-out accommodations in the Pacific Northwest. The new hotel will also feature a restaurant and bar with outdoor seating facing the village core. It has been several years since we started crafting plans and looking over renderings, but once we finally broke ground, it felt great to start building this newest chapter in our Schweitzer story. 

As it goes with any addition to a family, deciding on a name is tough. Looking around Schweitzer, you’ll find names that represent the area, like our Selkirk Lodge or Cabinet Mountain Coffee, referencing the two mountain ranges around us. We have other names that recall the experience of Schweitzer - Sky House or the Great Escape Quad for example. We have chosen names that ground us in our physical space like the Lakeview Lodge and Cedar Park Express. Schweitzer has also used names to share the historical importance of the people and place that make Schweitzer, Schweitzer. The Colburn Triple, Idyle-Our-T-Bar, and Basin Express Quad celebrate the old town of Colburn (located near the base of the mountain), its infamous bar, and the large basin that cradled these places and the people who called it home. 

Back in the late 1800s, intrepid loggers arrived in the area, working hard and long days for the local mills. One particular logging enterprise, the Humbird Lumber Company, became the economic lifeblood of the area providing steady work and an all-encompassing community for its workers. These loggers lived out of logging camps for months at a time, a motley collection of young and old men, enduring raw days in the forest, earning what money they could. The camps were remote and when the loggers came to town, they were easy to spot wearing their flannels over long underwear, dirty logging jeans and suspenders.

Fast forward to 2021 and you may have just described half the people who have a ski pass to the mountain. Just replace the dirty jeans with Carhartt’s and the suspenders with Kinko gloves. Of course, the flannels remain along with the "work hard, play hard" mentality. 

There is a connection to those men that resonates today. The local mills of the Humbird Lumber Company transformed Sandpoint in the early 1900s from a male dominated logging settlement of 400 people to a bustling small town of 3,500 brimming with families. We may live more comfortable lives, escaping the risk of losing life and limb on the job, but the spirit of Sandpoint and Schweitzer has grown from the foundations laid by these persevering characters.

In tribute to the logging history and the legacy left to us, the Schweitzer family will see to it that the history and character of one of the area’s largest mills lives on. Our new hotel, Humbird, may not look like any logging camp would have looked like, but the energy and vibrance of those men and their hard line of work are celebrated in the choice of materials and simplicity of design. The new Humbird will feature cross laminated timber in the primary gathering spaces, metal panels, board formed concrete, and large expanses of glass beckoning you to take in the views as you take in our history.   

The Humbird logo draws inspiration from the stacks of skis around us, strong Bavarian themes, and our own historical logos. It's our unique interpretation of the rhythm of Schweitzer's past, present, and future.     

We invite you to discover Humbird, Schweitzer’s newest, most unique lodging property to date. The place where you will experience the incomparable Schweitzer life firsthand. Work hard, play hard, and rest well.  


Coming Winter 2021/22