Following are three informative tributes to Joe Dodge from the AMC Archives, Dartmouth College, and the Boston Globe (see editors note below). While Joe was not technically the founder, he was the dynamo that expanded, organized, and shaped the huts into a system, and who took the huts to a whole new levels of operational effectiveness and hospitality. For more on Joe, see William Lowell Putnam’s affectionate, informal biography Joe Dodge: “One New Hampshire Institution”
Tag Archives: Hut systems
Founder Profile: Fritz Benedict 10th Mountain Division
Frederick “Fritz” Allen Benedict, 1914 – 1995, founded the 10th Mountain Division Hut in the early 1980’s. It has grown into the largest hut system in the USA. His vision, energy and experience were key ingredients in this remarkable story. It is in part a tale of a young man’s formative dreams coming after a lifetime of preparation.
[Louis Dawson has lived and studied the history of 10th Mountain Division and their website includes a history of the hut system and a separate history of the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division (about which many books have been written). The following notes are intended to supplement Mr. Dawson’s history.]
Trip Report: Maine Huts and Trails
Date: 01.09.15 – 01.11.15
Submitted by: Sam Demas
Location: Maine Huts and Trails, Kingfield, Maine
Website: http://www.mainehuts.org
Names of huts visited: Stratton Brook and Poplar
New model emerging in Adirondacks
Planning is underway for an integrated trails and lodging system in the nation’s largest park and largest state-level protected area . The Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System (ACTLS) has received a $220,000 grant from the New York State Department of State, with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund Act. This grant will be matched by ACTLS’s. ALCTS home page states:
the unique assets and amenities of the Adirondack Park can be leveraged to attract a global marked of outdoor recreators and provide recreation opportunities that improve the quality of life for Adirondack residents. We hope you will join us in planning a world-class trail and lodging system.
Colorado Hut and Yurt Alliance
Colorado is on a roll! With about 130 huts and yurts statewide, the owners formed an alliance (the first of its kind in the USA) in 2014 to exchange information and explore common cause. The alliance has developed a website and meets periodically to work towards increased visibility for the nation’s largest grouping of huts and yurts. The home page of the Colorado Hut and Yurt Alliance provides a summary statement of the two year old group’s purpose:
Book Review: Huts of the Swiss Alpine Club
The Huts of the Swiss Alpine Club
by Marco Volken and Remo Kundert
AS Verlag, 2013.
WOW.…a comprehensive view of the world’s premier hut-to-hut hiking systems! This is a luscious feast for trip planners, armchair trekkers, architecture mavens, and dreamers and designers of future hut systems in America and elsewhere!
Founder Profile: Larry Warren — Maine Huts and Trails
FROM HERE ON, YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME: LARRY WARREN’S BIG IDEAS
Profile by Sarah Braunstein Photographs by Matt Cosby
Larry Warren arrived in Maine expecting a weekend away; he ended up shaping the region in innumerable ways.
I HAVE HEARD FROM VARIOUS PEOPLE THAT LARRY WARREN IS A VISIONARY.
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Trip Report: Mont Megantic National Park, Quebec Canada
Huts of Mont Megantic National Park, Quebec
Date: 02.02.15—02.04.15
Submitted by: Rob Stenger, Hutmaster, Maine Huts and Trails
Location: Mont Megantic National Park, Quebec Province, Canada
Website: http://www.sepaq.com/pq/mme/index.dot
Names of Huts visited: La Voie Lactee, Col-des-Trois-Sommets, La Grande Ourse, La Petite Ourse, Pelerins, Le Mont-Saint-Joseph
The Diverse Huts of the Swiss Alpine Club — essay by Marco Volken and Remo Kundert
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- Remo Kundert
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- Marco Volken
“The SAC huts are open to all and serve as a meeting place for a variety of outdoor enthusiasts. They are both objects of identification for members and an important infrastructure for alpine tourism.” This is how the Swiss Alpine Club summarizes the purpose of its huts in its 2006 hut regulations.