Led by Richard, the Kohnstamm family dramatically improved the Lodge both physically and as a business. The lodge had fallen into extensive disrepair, suffered from vandalism, its permit revoked by the U.S. Forest Service. Kohnstamm introduced essential infrastructure upgrades and lay the groundwork for ski education programs and events to attract a broader audience, mostly out of their own pocket. They preserved WPA-era art and craftsmanship, and in 1977, Timberline was declared a National Historic Landmark.

Why Timberline Lodge and the Kohnstamm family popped up in our radar was the other thing they did right. They didn’t break a tradition: The Timberline Saint Bernards.

The tradition of Saint Bernards at Timberline Lodge was established by original management soon after the lodge’s opening in 1937—not by the Kohnstamm family. The first Saint Bernards named Hansel and Gretel (followed by Lady and Bruel) were introduced during Timberline’s earliest years. Owned by the initial concessionaires tasked with making the new mountain hotel welcoming for guest, the Saints roamed the lodge to greet guests. When the Kohnstamm family took over the lodge, they briefly switched to Huskies but soon reintroduced Saint Bernards by popular demand. From the 1960s onward, Lodge Saints were typically named Heidi and Bruno and were such a hit that they were soon featured on brochures and souvenirs, and later even starred in a children’s book (“Heidi’s Rose”) published in the 1980s.

In the mid-1990s, Timberline adopted a plan that would be better for the dogs: the Saint Bernards would belong to employees as companions and only visit the lodge during work hours.

Just this month, Timberline introduced the newest generation of Lodge Saint Bernards, siblings Heidi the 10th and Bruno the 12th, each a registered pet of an employee.

Check out their introduction as it appeared on Instagram here.