peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
FYI, The price to stay a night at Gray Knob or Crag Camp is now up to $50 a night for non members and $30 a night for members (Hint, become a member before staying there )
Pretty simple, the costs to fully staff a caretaker over the winter has gone up as they now have to pay higher wages to compete. They also need to fly up tons of biobricks to Gray Knob to heat the building as they no longer can cut wood in the woods around the huts per their forest service permit. I think they also had to institute a new heating policy at Gray Knob a few years ago to keep the building interior over freezing 24/7 as the former approach of only heating it in the evening was causing damage to the building. (Hikers covered with snow come in after day of hiking, they hang up their clothes to dry them out, the humidity level in the building goes up and then it condenses inside the walls and freezes during the day). In addition to the biobricks they also need to fly in bark chips to run the composting toilets.
In general, it is a small club that choses to support a paid seasonal skilled trail crew that is more than a paint and brush crew, they do serious trail hardening and rebuild work. It does a lot without full time staff and are very low key at fundraising.
The most recent newsletter describes a rescue of a Canadian Hiker with hypothermia this summer that did not make the news but very easily could have as a fatality. If there is accident in the northern presidentials, the caretaker is most likely to be in or near the lead either solo or eventually backed up several hours later by F&G SAR.
Pretty simple, the costs to fully staff a caretaker over the winter has gone up as they now have to pay higher wages to compete. They also need to fly up tons of biobricks to Gray Knob to heat the building as they no longer can cut wood in the woods around the huts per their forest service permit. I think they also had to institute a new heating policy at Gray Knob a few years ago to keep the building interior over freezing 24/7 as the former approach of only heating it in the evening was causing damage to the building. (Hikers covered with snow come in after day of hiking, they hang up their clothes to dry them out, the humidity level in the building goes up and then it condenses inside the walls and freezes during the day). In addition to the biobricks they also need to fly in bark chips to run the composting toilets.
In general, it is a small club that choses to support a paid seasonal skilled trail crew that is more than a paint and brush crew, they do serious trail hardening and rebuild work. It does a lot without full time staff and are very low key at fundraising.
The most recent newsletter describes a rescue of a Canadian Hiker with hypothermia this summer that did not make the news but very easily could have as a fatality. If there is accident in the northern presidentials, the caretaker is most likely to be in or near the lead either solo or eventually backed up several hours later by F&G SAR.
Last edited: