Winter 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada
Winter 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada
Winter 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada
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<strong>Alpine</strong> <strong>Club</strong> huts receive summer renovations<br />
by Lynn Martel<br />
Visitors staying at the <strong>Alpine</strong> <strong>Club</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Canada</strong>’s Stanley Mitchell and<br />
Elizabeth Parker Huts will be<br />
happy to know they’ve got a new ro<strong>of</strong> and<br />
some new logs and chinking in the hut<br />
walls keeping them warm and dry this<br />
winter.<br />
A new snap lock metal ro<strong>of</strong>, which<br />
was installed at Stanley Mitchell Hut in<br />
Little Yoho Valley, and eight new base<br />
logs, which were installed to replace older<br />
degraded logs at Elizabeth Parker Hut<br />
at Lake O’Hara, were two major projects<br />
along with several smaller maintenance<br />
jobs undertaken at more than half a<br />
dozen <strong>of</strong> the ACC’s backcountry huts<br />
over the summer season.<br />
With 25 huts located in the Canadian<br />
Rockies and in the mountains <strong>of</strong> BC,<br />
regular maintenance is an ongoing concern,<br />
said Rick Gardiner, facilities director<br />
for the ACC.<br />
But having two major projects, each<br />
costing approximately $20,000 carried out<br />
during a single summer season made this<br />
year an especially busy one, he said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> last couple <strong>of</strong> years, we’ve had<br />
a major project per year. Last summer<br />
Stanley Mitchell Hut got some new<br />
logs, and Wheeler Hut got a new ro<strong>of</strong>,”<br />
Gardiner said. “But this was a big one.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> extensive program included<br />
a fresh coat <strong>of</strong> oil on the exterior <strong>of</strong><br />
Elizabeth Parker Hut, replacement <strong>of</strong><br />
25 glass window panes, installing a new<br />
kitchen complete with a new stove and<br />
oven, and chimney re-pointing to replace<br />
sections <strong>of</strong> mortar that had dried out and<br />
fallen <strong>of</strong>f. Adjacent to the main cabin,<br />
the smaller Wiwaxy Cabin had its logs<br />
re-chinked, its interior and exterior oiled<br />
and stone work done on its foundation.<br />
To carry out the technically exacting<br />
log work, the ACC hired Edmonton<br />
area log-builder Dan Strand. <strong>The</strong> entire<br />
cabin had to be jacked up to facilitate the<br />
removal <strong>of</strong> old logs and installation <strong>of</strong> the<br />
new ones.<br />
“That’s a major undertaking,”<br />
Gardiner said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 10-day project also included the<br />
placement <strong>of</strong> new stones to improve the<br />
pathways in the immediate vicinity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
hut.<br />
In addition to the new ro<strong>of</strong>, which<br />
was installed in June over a two-week<br />
period during which the hut was closed<br />
to guests, SM Hut also had new oil<br />
applied to its exterior and a “very large<br />
looming tree” was removed.<br />
As national class II heritage sites,<br />
Stanley Mitchell, which was built in 1939,<br />
and Elizabeth Parker, constructed in 1919<br />
by the CPR, require adherence to stringent<br />
guidelines when any structural work<br />
is carried out.<br />
Another substantial project this<br />
summer was the replacement <strong>of</strong> the floor<br />
at Bow Hut with a durable recycled<br />
rubber-tiled floor.<br />
“It just keeps getting busier and<br />
busier up there every year,” Gardiner said.<br />
Currently, Bow Hut sees 3,200 visitor<br />
nights per year, while Stanley Mitchell<br />
hosts 2,500 overnight stays per year, the<br />
majority during the summer when the<br />
hut is easier to access. Elizabeth Parker,<br />
among the ACC’s most accessible huts<br />
year-round, welcomes 4,400 overnight<br />
stays annually.<br />
Maintenance work is carried out by<br />
a full-time staff <strong>of</strong> three people with the<br />
help <strong>of</strong> a dedicated and skilled roster <strong>of</strong><br />
volunteers.<br />
“We do have a core <strong>of</strong> about a dozen<br />
Stanley Mitchell Hut.<br />
photo by Darren Rudy.<br />
volunteers who come up for just about<br />
every work party,” Gardiner said. “We<br />
couldn’t do it without them.”<br />
Other work projects completed<br />
over the summer include a new metal<br />
ro<strong>of</strong> installed on the basic four-person<br />
Castle Mountain climbers’ shelter, and<br />
a new coat <strong>of</strong> paint applied to the walls<br />
and floor <strong>of</strong> the Peter and Catharine<br />
Whyte (Peyto) Hut at the north end <strong>of</strong><br />
the Wapta Icefield. In September the<br />
Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow) Hut was<br />
outfitted with a new recycled rubber-tiled<br />
floor, and the 12-person Asulkan Hut in<br />
BC’s Glacier National Park is scheduled<br />
to receive a new outhouse barrel deck, a<br />
new furnace and new sleeping pads. In<br />
Canmore, the ACC <strong>Club</strong>house’s kitchen<br />
was renovated, new energy efficient<br />
windows installed and solar panels added<br />
to heat water.<br />
With hut visitors increasing every<br />
year, including many who are new to<br />
backcountry huts or unaware <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ACC’s role as <strong>Canada</strong>’s climbing club, the<br />
ACC is planning to hire roving custodians<br />
to help welcome visitors and provide<br />
guidance on proper hut etiquette.<br />
“We’re seeing more and more people<br />
not used to hut life like our members are,”<br />
Gardiner said. “We want to help point<br />
out many things they might not know if<br />
it’s their first visit, and show people how<br />
significant these huts are.”<br />
Reprinted with permission from the<br />
Rocky Mountain Outlook.<br />
Recycle this Gazette<br />
Leave it in your<br />
mechanic’s washroom<br />
18 <strong>Alpine</strong> <strong>Club</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Canada</strong> Gazette <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2010</strong>