sierra
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The internet is a wonderful place, you can sit in the comfort of your home and run your mouth with little or no consequence. See you on the trails *******.
AMC Action Plan for 2025-30
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DayTrip
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I've never heard of that expression either for what it's worth. Not sure how that make's someone's existence "sheltered". Seems like an odd, self serving comment.
Lone Stranger
Member
I asked because I didn't know the answer. You have now misinterpreted my words as an accusation. Some people can't read very well while others are just jerks. I was genuinely attempting to find out what the case was there by asking a simple question. I think you've cleared that up now, thanks!
Lone Stranger
Member
Poop Blossoms is the term I prefer, but fully grokked you
Good article on the AMC huts by Miles Howard, former hut croo, in Boston Globe Magazine this past Sunday. Unfortunately behind paywall, but those of you with subscriptions should be able to find it.
Here's the link to that:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/13/magazine/white-mountains-amc-huts/
I tried to open it and got the paywall; refreshed my browser a couple of times, and then I could see the article.
I read this article and think it (and the AMC staff interviewed) totally miss the point.
IMHO the huts exist for one simple reason: to enable hiking in the Whites, especially above tree line.
They should not be compared to any other traditional lodging facilities, including glamping, private cabins, motels, etc. Excluding Pinkham and Highland they are not front-country amenity providing facilities.
Rather than glamming them up the club should look at ways to make them more affordable for the average middle class family.
IMHO the huts exist for one simple reason: to enable hiking in the Whites, especially above tree line.
They should not be compared to any other traditional lodging facilities, including glamping, private cabins, motels, etc. Excluding Pinkham and Highland they are not front-country amenity providing facilities.
Rather than glamming them up the club should look at ways to make them more affordable for the average middle class family.
I found, based on info on a website (Give Freely), the AMC has 15 (+/-) staff with salaries of $100K or more.
Very well put and I agree. This article does a great job identifying the differences between the glamping crowd and the Hut folks. But does very little to identify any solutions to address the self perceived issues The AMC has and has going forward. Again as I have already mentioned numerous times The AMC is doing very little to adapt to current times. Their current model and the model they have been relying on for decades is failing. Much of the AMC is so drunk on their own ridged Koolaid they have lost site of the long term. Again IMO they need to start by downscaling as they have already stated themselves their revenue has been in decline. It’s a non-profit. Stop trying to line your pockets and create a balanced budget. As the article mentions The Pandemic effect has taken it’s toll and recovering from that is highly unlikely. Also The Boomer and or aging out effect is relevant also. They need to wake up and realize The Huts are not the Crown Jewel any longer.
ImYourHuckleberry
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If it's only around 15 in total over $100k, that is surprisingly low to me. Especially with their headquarters in Boston.
In other terms $1.5 million of over the $6.5 million in total salaries.
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AMC website financials state about $36 mil in operating expenses for 2023, with 53% for staffing, so closer to $19 mil for salaries?
ImYourHuckleberry
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Employees are expensive. Especially in Boston!
Employees in da huts (da croo) were not expensive in 1968 when my wages were $30.80/week (so, about $280/week in today’s dollars), which was essentially a six-day work week with about 12-16 hours work per day. So, if 14 hours work per day on average, that was equivalent to about 37 cents per hour. We supposedly worked 11 days on, three days off (aka, daze, as in, “where are going going for daze?”), but because we could not leave our hut until after cleaning was done following breakfast on our first daze and had to be back to help serve supper on our third daze, it was really only two days off. Nevertheless, not only the best job that I ever had, but also the hardest.
As one of my O.H. buddies noted after reading the B Globe article this week, we essentially were volunteer employees. I only could afford working in the huts because I lived at home in Durham while going to UNH so that my mother could collect veteran’s benefits for my recently deceased father who served in WWII, which more than covered my in-state tuition, fees, and lodging in my mother’s house.
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Original Woody
Member
Good Article! Haven't hiked in 6 years because of a torn ligament in my foot but brought back a lot of fond memories
helmethiker
Member
Hut croo are not the only employees who are vastly underpaid for a labor of love. For example, the dance community has employees with similar tasks and similar pay rates at similar facilities.
For me the huts have the problem that they do not easily support 12-14 hour hiking days. In the 1990s I spent a few days in each of 2 summers at Putnam Camp near (in?) St Huberts in the Adirondacks. The 12 hour Gothics Saddleback Basin Haystack Blake Colvin hike did NOT match their schedule, and starting at 9:30 after their breakfast did not really meet my schedule either, not that I understood my actual schedule when I started the hike. 2 years ago I hiked the Bonds in a day out and back from Zealand Rd. On the way out I went by Zealand Hut and they were eating breakfast, so not yet starting. On the way back I went by Zealand Hut and they were eating dinner, so their hike had to be over. I talked about this with some other dance friends who had tried to do the Bonds in a day from Zealand Hut and failed for this reason.
There are a lot of motel and airbnb rooms in the white mountains, and I can almost always find something not very expensive and not far from my intended starting point with only a few days notice. I even managed to do that for 4 people for 2 nights bracketing the eclipse 1 week in advance. And after COVID, many even if not most restaurants will sell me a takeout meal even if they have no seats. This way I can plan my trip after knowing about the probable weather.
The article seems to imply that you might be able to stay at a hut on relatively short notice; I believe that was not true pre-COVID.
For me the huts have the problem that they do not easily support 12-14 hour hiking days. In the 1990s I spent a few days in each of 2 summers at Putnam Camp near (in?) St Huberts in the Adirondacks. The 12 hour Gothics Saddleback Basin Haystack Blake Colvin hike did NOT match their schedule, and starting at 9:30 after their breakfast did not really meet my schedule either, not that I understood my actual schedule when I started the hike. 2 years ago I hiked the Bonds in a day out and back from Zealand Rd. On the way out I went by Zealand Hut and they were eating breakfast, so not yet starting. On the way back I went by Zealand Hut and they were eating dinner, so their hike had to be over. I talked about this with some other dance friends who had tried to do the Bonds in a day from Zealand Hut and failed for this reason.
There are a lot of motel and airbnb rooms in the white mountains, and I can almost always find something not very expensive and not far from my intended starting point with only a few days notice. I even managed to do that for 4 people for 2 nights bracketing the eclipse 1 week in advance. And after COVID, many even if not most restaurants will sell me a takeout meal even if they have no seats. This way I can plan my trip after knowing about the probable weather.
The article seems to imply that you might be able to stay at a hut on relatively short notice; I believe that was not true pre-COVID.
The 1968 summer was my last spent hiking in the Whites before college and the Navy. I would think that those hut jobs were highly sought after. I would have paid to have a job like that
. How were you able to swing such a gig?Good question, as I was not a legacy, which many of my fellow hut employees were then, less so now, I think. UNH began classes the third week of September back then and I was able to work a month on closing croo in 1967 when other hut employees had to return earlier for college classes. I guess that I must have proven myself worthy and got hired back for the next summer season.The 1968 summer was my last spent hiking in the Whites before college and the Navy. I would think that those hut jobs were highly sought after. I would have paid to have a job like that
A side note was that I caught a ride south with the Pinkham cook who was driving a daughter back to UNH the day of the Cog train wreck, 17 September 1967. Several of my newly found friends were up all night dealing with the blood and gore of the train wreck, which I was happy to miss as some still have lingering nightmares from that event.
Another vote for downscaling the huts to self service.
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