Despite the immense amount of work done to the Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows during nearly 4 weeks in August and October of 2006, a further week of work was arranged for September 2007. A group of 10 volunteers and 3 ACC staff members assembled at the staging area late Friday evening: Km 98 on the Big Bend Highway at Cariboo Creek, along the east side of Kinbasket Lake. Saturday morning, the work began, organizing all the loads of equipment and materials that were to be flown to the Hut that day. By mid-afternoon, we were alone at the hut with a week and a myriad of tasks before us.

Included in the project list: replacing the sauna floor, building a woodshed, repairing stairs and flight deck at the biffy, new drying racks, repairing/re-routing the propane line, painting, completing finish in loft, rebuilding the deck railing, filling the woodshed, sanding and re-finishing tables.....and the list goes on.

The following pictures will give a small idea of the frenetic activity during the week.

Note: this page is still under development.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized image.

Photo credits thanks to: Karen Rollins (kr), Jon Rollins (jr), (where I could tell the difference!), Dave McCormick (dm), John Derick (jd),

Personal viewpoints: http://newmtnview.blogspot.com/2007/09/combining-work-and-party.html

The helicopter arrives at 9 am and once things start, the pace won't let up until all loads and personnel are delivered to the hut (kr)			First, the chopper shuts down to allow everyone a bit of time to organize, meet the pilot, listen to the safety talk.... (kr)
Loads get organized (kr),			Loads lift off (dm),
And finally, the last workers get flown up (dm),			Across Kinbasket Lake (kr),
To the Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows (dm).			A tool room was set up (dm)
And the work begins: Linda helps dig the new propane line into place... (dm)			and sands and paints all the faded and peeling window trim (kr)
The barrel room and biffy are pulled back into shape, damage from the snows of winter (dm)			New drying racks get built and installed the very last evening (dm)
Dave gets working at staining the cedar siding (dm)			More new drying racks and freshly sanded and painted benches add the finishing touches to the hut (jd)
The new woodshed goes up in just a couple of days and even gets loaded with wood using a version of the Scottish caber toss taught to us by Chris. Now we wish we'd all brought hard hats!
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Some of the faces in the works......
Andrew Fisher needs all his appendages in the kitchen (kr)	Dana Engler pauses only briefly for the photo op (kr)	Dave McCormick concentrates on his work (kr)	Vera Fuhrmann provides support in the kitchen and elsewhere (kr)
Linda at work on the propane line (kr)	Karen Rollins during a short break late in the week (jr)	Andy maintains his sense of humour despite the massive feeding demands (dm)	Kris sands the new deck railings (kr)
Roger building the freezer compartment (kr)	John Derick gets a belated start on the sauna (dm)	Phil and Roger work on repairing steps and railings (dm)	Chris concentrates on his saw work while Vera cleans up (kr)
A rare photo of Peter Fuhrmann doing dishes (dm)	Kris Boyer chops through roots making way for the relocated propane line (dm)	And lays in the relocated propane line (jd)	Kris and Linda (jd)
Staff was always bright-eyed and ready to go each morning (jd)	John lays out the new stairs to the barrel room and propane deck (jd)	Jon Rollins works on new stair treads (kr)	Evening was a time to relax, mostly, and visit with members of the group. (jd)
And there was no shortage of scenery which we could enjoy every day from our work areas around the hut and for the few short hours that we were allowed to take off for a short hike late in the week.....
	Views up Kinbasket Lake on the way to the staging area (dm)	A sand beach encountered on our Friday morning hike (dm)
Finally, the week is over, although work continues almost to the minute the chopper arrives to whisk us back to our vehicles. We do manage to arrange a group photo on the deck. In about 4 hours, all the gear and the work crew are gone and the hut sits waiting for its winter visitors.
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