Hut Names
by Willy Hersman, Scree

History Corner.  September 1984 marked the twentieth anniversary of the construction of the Mountaineering Club's first mountain hut, Pichler's Perch.  Considering its location, atop an exposed ridge just above the Eklutna Glacier, and given the occasional severe winds and heavy snows which have passed in those twenty years it is a tribute to those early members of the club who participated in its construction that Pichler's original hut still stands ready to shelter the weary travelers and climbers who happen to pass by.

Pre-cut beams, plywood and joists were flown in during the summer before actual construction which took place over Labor Day weekend.  Joe Pichler supervised the work of Gregg Erickson, Dave DeVoe, Jim Fraser, Ron Linder, Dale Nienhueser, Dave Meyers, Shiro Nishimae and Helga Bading, who all made the A frame a reality.  A few weeks later Dave Meyers, Dave DeVoe, Nick Parker and Mike Judd cut out the door and piled on the many rocks which have kept the structure from blowing off the ridge.  Only two months after building the hut which now bears his name, Joe Pichler died.

The hut on the Whiteout Glacier was built over 4th of July weekend in 1968.  Lumber was pre cut by Tony Bockstahler, and driven up the Eklutna Road (which was open all the way), where it was then helicoptered to the glacier.  Lowell Thomas flew most of the club members who participated in the construction into the location site.  The work party included John Samuelson, Dave Meyers, Gary Hansen, Diddle Van Der Pant, Roelf Van Der Laan, Hans Van Der Laan, Jim Betty, Frank Nosek, Lowell Thomas, Jr. and Paul Crews, Sr.  The building went on for three days and before departing the crew piled on the all important rocks around the new A frame.

Hans Van Der Laan was a prominent member of the MCA and was once the president.  Less than three years after his help and guidance in erecting the hut on the Whiteout Glacier he was to die a short distance away in an avalanche below Pichler's Perch.  Although the name doesn't seem to have remained to date, the cabin on the Whiteout was named by the club as Hans' Hut.

No further hut construction was planned or even possible so soon after the Whiteout venture went through.  The treasury of the small but active club was empty.  However, late in the summer of 1968 an anonymous donor came up with $1,000 for another hut and before the end of August the Eklutna Traverse was complete with three huts.  The Eagle Glacier hut was designed by the same Tony Bockstahler who designed Hans' Hut, and materials were helicoptered in from the Eagle River Rd.  Most of the crew was flown in again by Lowell Thomas: Ted Shohl, Dave Meyers, Andy Goulding, Andy Anderson, Barney Seiler, Keith Bittner and Frank Nosek.  After three days of construction (and of course rock piling), the hut was finished.  The hut became known later as Rosie's Roost in honor of the anonymous donor.

The MCA huts have a colorful history in terms of the people who built them, the first ascents which were made from them, and the people who spent many stormy as well as lovely nights in them.  Hopefully in another twenty years our children will still be able to use them.  Hans, Joe, and Rosie would have liked that I think.