Buildings & Structures Archives | Coast Mountain Gothic: A History of the Gothic Arch Mountain Hut

Glulam arch from original technical drawing

Portion of original technical drawing illustrating how to build the front end-wall of the Hut frame.

Gothic Arch Hut Design Specifications

Section of the original technical plans detailing the equipment and lumber required to assemble a Gothic arch Hut.

MacKeith Hut

The MacKeith Hut is one of three huts built near the Canwell Glacier in Alaska and is the only one built in the Gothic arch style popularized in […]

Will Wheaton Hut

The Will Wheaton Hut was recently renovated and remains a destination for hikers on Vancouver Island in Strathcona Provincial Park.

Don MacLaurin – Arrival at the Batzer Hut location (audio)

Don MacLaurin recalled. “I was the guy that went up with the first flight with all kinds of equipment to get things ready. The other guys climbed up […]

Werner Himmelsbach – Igloo Inspiration (audio)

Werner Himmelsbach recalled, “For instance, when we came here we practiced building Igloos so I thought maybe that was how we would build these arches because you know […]

North Creek Hut repainting well underway in 2013

Regular upkeep of the Huts includes lots of repainting to help protect the wood from the harsh weather elements of water, snow and wind and at the same […]

The Club Room at Zermatt in 1864

The Alpine Club (UK) was the first official mountaineering club that opened in 1857 but a few short years later clubs opened in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

The Batzer Hut destroyed by an avalanche (audio)

Don MacLaurin recalled, “Two years later, the 1 in 250 year avalanches came down and took it the cabin, nobody in it, thank god, and all the 200 […]

Choosing the location in Chilliwack (audio)

Don MaLaurin said, “I know we negotiated with the Forest Service because they had the need to have lookouts…temporary lookouts during fire season that was the way the […]

Aerial reconnaissance for the Batzer Hut (audio)

Martin Kafer recalled, “The Batzer Hut, which was the first one in the Chilliwack Valley. We said ‘we should have a cabin in that area’. It was a […]

Wedgemount Lake Location part 2 (audio)

Werner Himmelsbach said, “So this logger, he contacted me and he said to me, ‘you know I hiked up Mount Reslin? Beside Wedge Mountain and I saw a […]