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Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
#40967 11/12/14 08:10 PM
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I was on top of Whitney August 31 1956 and we slept overnight. At the time the summit hut was mostly demolished by weather and lightning. I slept on the big iron door which was the only level place. The metal sucked the warmth out of my thing cotton sleeping bag and me. I was 15.

Question: When was the hut restored to its current condition?

Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
BBA #40968 11/13/14 01:20 AM
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Welcome, BBA.

Your report is the first I have ever seen that the hut was in such disrepair. As far as we have seen, the hut's walls and roof, as they stand today, are the same that were built in 1909.

There have been times when the doors were left open which allowed the wind to rip them off, so they have been replaced, probably several times.

In July, 1990 people huddled inside the hut during a storm, and lightning struck, killing one and injuring the others. Since then, the National Park has installed lightning rods and a wooden floor to help protect people inside in case of lightning. (There is also a sign on the door warning that the hut is NOT safe during a lightning storm.)

Here is a report by Bob R, who climbed Whitney in 1952 at age 15, and he and his friends spent the night inside the hut. At that time it had no door.

Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
BBA #40971 11/13/14 08:33 AM
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I found a link which suggests the hut was repaired by a mason who worked for the USFS during summers for 50 yrs (third paragraph). The syntax makes it appear that the writing was that of a school age girl.

http://www.qsl.net/wb6ufx/HaleyFam1.html

The hut was in great disrepair in 1956. No roof, floor not level enough to sleep on due perhaps to parts of the walls falling inwards, etc. Then it was rededicated in the 70's. So it was more or less rebuilt or refurbished probably in late 50's to 70's. I was just curious.


Last edited by BBA; 11/13/14 08:38 AM.
Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
BBA #40974 11/13/14 10:34 AM
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BBA: thanks for the link. From that paragraph:

Quote:
He also repaired the Smithsonian hut on the very top of Mt. Whitney. The National Forest Service hired him because of his excellent reputation as a stone-worker and mountaineer. He had to haul supplies up there with a mule. The hut had originally been built in 1909.


It is quite possible that they replaced the roof about the time you were up there.

I was first there in the late 70s, and I too remember the rocky uneven floor. In fact, the one thing I especially recall was the stench. Apparently hikers at that time were using the inside to urinate. sick


BTW, here's an interesting bit of history about Outpost Camp from that document:
Quote:
My great-grandma ran a cook-tent at Outpost camp for two summers. She fed hikers that spent the night at Outpost Camp before they would head for the summit the next day. She even baked pies! Again, they had to bring the supplies in by mule. When my great-grandma was up there alone she would sleep with a hammer under her pillow so that she could protect herself if she ever needed to.

Great-grandma was Audrey King Prewitt. She was married at 20 in 1934, so I am guessing the Outpost Camp work was sometime between then and the 1950s.

Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
Steve C #40990 11/14/14 10:00 PM
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Some fascinating history here. Bob R: The White Tower, movie and book, was not only my first inspiration to climb, but the later work by its author James Ramsey Ullman - Americans on Everest - was published the year of my first Whitney attempt and inspired me to go back three years later. That first 1964 attempt ended at Trail Camp not as cold as yours at the hut but wet and with 6" of new snow in the morning, so every bit as miserable. In 1967, I summitted with my parents and in the summer of 1969 I made another ascent and witnessed an event somewhat akin to your view of the fox detonation. At Trail Camp, on July 20 1969, at 20:18 UTC, it was just after midnight (0018 July 21 local time), under a full moon as directly overhead as the moon can get, my girlfriend and I may have been the nearest people on the planet to Neill Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. I am sure one of us was looking up at them.


Wherever you go, there you are.
SPOTMe!
Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
saltydog #40994 11/15/14 12:00 PM
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Correction: Under a waxing crescent moon. Had the time wrong, too by about 12 hours. We weren't quite to TC by the time of the landing, but we were for that first step.


Wherever you go, there you are.
SPOTMe!
Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
Steve C #41039 11/20/14 08:46 PM
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On that fateful day in July of 1990 I couldn't get a Whitney permit and so my partner and I went over to Telescope Peak. As we summited we could see black swirling clouds over Whitney and thought: 'we could have been there'. A couple of days later we heard about the tragic consequences of that storm.

Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
Marty #41042 11/21/14 08:13 AM
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I just finished reading Bob Rockwell's story, for the second time. I couldn't stop reading it again. He really should write a book.

It occurred to me that he will be 80 yrs old next year 2015. The Whitney Hikers Association should do something to honor this legend.

Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
SierraNevada #41046 11/21/14 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted By: SierraNevada


It occurred to me that he will be 80 yrs old next year 2015. The Whitney Hikers Association should do something to honor this legend.


I can say with good authority that Bob would detest a conversation starting on a message board about honors, etc. If you plan something, I suggest a more discreet method of communtication.


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
Re: Summit Hut - When rebuilt?
Bee #41148 12/10/14 04:04 PM
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Originally Posted By: Bee


I can say with good authority that Bob would detest a conversation starting on a message board about honors, etc. If you plan something, I suggest a more discreet method of communtication.


A beer or three usually does the trick.

And here's another of Bob's gems:

Old Age and Trickery


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