Summer usage @ Meany

[msimerson]

Q1: Summer Camp

What would it take to make Meany into a great place to take 100 kids for 10 weeks of every summer?

Think: summer camp, with a fresh set of faces every week with their adult minders. Meany, as is customary, would provide a couple volunteers to keep the place running. The Mountaineers youth programs would supply their own leaders, similar to the way GIVE and the Mountaineer youth programs we hosted this past winter did. The heart of this question is specifically aimed at infrastructure and logistics. Examples: a covered outdoor pavilion, expanded shower capacity, shelters for outdoor eating and sleeping, improved hiking trails, obstacle courses, climbing walls, storage for sports equipment (bikes, water toys, etc.), navigation / geocache hotspots, etc.

Q2: Private Cabins

While most of us at Meany love the community aspects of the lodge, for others sharing a space communally with 95 strangers is a nightmare. What about private cabin / ecolodge rentals?

Cabins could take many forms: shipping containers, yurts, tree houses, tiny houses, etc. Could we have 4-season cabins that functioned great for a youth leader and 5-8 kids in the summer, and also be a great private party rental during the winter? There are many interesting challenges and possibilities here.

Q3: host PCT hikers

The PCT trail is a short distance up the hill from Meany. Steven's Lodge is similarly close to the PCT, so when the thru-hikers are passing through in late August and September, a Steven's volunteer hoofs it up the hill and puts up a sign along the trail, letting hikers know the lodge is open. Steven's hosts about 30 hikers per night for a month. What do the hikers want? A shower, a way to wash their clothes, and calories. Lots of calories. Big heaping piles of pasta anything.

PCT hikers are a significant source of revenue for Stevens. Examples of infrastructure that would enable/improve hosting this activity would be: roof insulation to keep the lodge cooler in summer, a washing machine, and improved showers.

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Responses

I think a core thread in all these proposals might be a need to professionalize lodge management. -- Kate

We tried the PCT idea, to a limited extent, in the past with very low usage, mostly just one - two people a night . It seemed like a lot more trouble than it was worth -- Phil

This idea has surfaced at least 2X since I have been... I have been in favor... for years. I believe Meany is an under-used asset... The BIG issue is HOW to expand the use of Meany without losing its core features. -- Chuck

The Kitsap cabin hosts a youth event in the summer that has been very popular and generates some significant revenue. The property has bunkhouses, a meeting room, and a bathroom building. The central kitchen is in the cabin. The property has a caretaker with cabin. -- Richard

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Infrastructure Improvements

• caretaker / staff housing - Kate, Phil
• paid maintenance staff - Kate, Phil
• simplified water treatment (heating, sterilizing, pressurizing) - Matt
• swimming facilities at facility or nearby - Phil
• outdoor bathrooms & showers - Matt, Kayla
• storage for outdoor equipment: bicycles, paddleboards, kayaks, etc.
• a covered pavilion
• insulated roof and walls of the lodge, so it's not stifling inside during the summer

[msimerson]

The Future of Meany

For us, the Meany Committee, who invest our time, sweat, intellect, passion, and dollars into keeping Meany operating, the heart of the question is what Chuck expressed, "HOW to expand the use of Meany without losing its core features?"

I'd add to that a question I've heard expressed quite a few times, which is, "what happens to Meany when we can't ski here any more?"

I've been asking myself a similar question, "What can we improve at Meany that makes Meany better for skiing and more useful for summer recreation / kids camp / mushroom weekend / adults at play?" There's plenty of fertile soil to dig in.

• Covered Pavilion: It would be great in the summer, with picnic tables, a fire pit, and marshmallow roasting sticks nearby. It could also be very welcome during those "wintry mix" days when the snow's shape is best described as "wet." We've used awnings and the Zoo because we lack a good space like this.

• Insulated Lodge Roof: We use heat to melt snow off the roof, so we won't target the current code minimum of R-49. However, we can reduce our winter heat loss and summer heat gain by ~80% by adding just R-10 when we put the new roof on. This is an easy win-win.

• Storage for Outdoor Equipment: Summer camps need storage for bikes, kayaks, paddle boards, life jackets, Stomp Rockets, balls, hiking poles, ropes, harnesses, slack lines, and such. Dave's Zoo extension is one answer to expanding storage. Ben's shipping containers are another. Those initiatives will accommodate existing Meany equipment. More enclosed / secured / weather resistant storage would be useful.

• Reliable Electricity: we lost power a dozen days this winter. More if you count the days we weren't there. Summer camp needs reliable power as much as we do, maybe more. We're exploring options. Backup equipment isn't crazy expensive. Campus sized generators and automatic transfer switches are readily available on secondary markets like eBay.

• Simplified Water Treatment and distribution: turning on and off, filtering, sterilizing, and heating water at Meany is a sprawling mess. Such is the nature of organic systems that evolve to meet varying needs over long periods of time. It needs an overhaul and should end up like Stevens lodge – one valve to drain the lodge and one valve to fill it.

• Outdoor Navigation Course / Geocaches: We've got our 54 acres and the adjacent forest service land. We could have a navigation course similar to a golf course: the front 9 which takes 2-3 hours to complete and the back 9 which is a 3/4 day adventure.

• Heat Pumps / Air Conditioning: Last year Steven's Lodge had their propane furnace conked out and we replaced it with heat pumps. Heat pump technology is excessively adequate for heating ski lodges. They use far less power than our existing electric heaters and during the summer they provide air conditioning. The downside is they are somewhat expensive to install.

Separate housing for a caretaker or summer staff could serve as rentals during the shoulder and winter seasons. Maybe. I struggle to see the business case for that penciling out in Meany's favor. Outdoor bathrooms and showers could be a reasonable solution for summer camp but would have little value in the winter.

[msimerson]

On Saturday the 25th, the family meeting was held. There was a substantial amount of conversation with substantive expressions of enthusiasm and concern. Some highlights:

• Baker and Stevens Lodges are each hosting a group of campers for a week this summer.
• Chuck has volunteered to organize a "Lessons Learned" conversation later this year with the involved parties (Lodge chairs, Mountaineers staff) and use that to inform our game plan for...
• There are open questions regarding roles, responsibilities, and authority to be ironed out.
• "This is just one decision point. There will be plenty more additional decision points in the future."
• Meany is offering our lodge to the Mountaineers Youth programs for two weeks next year, one in June and one in July.

[msimerson]

An interesting thought exercise is, "what are Meany's core features?"

• For the first decade, gasoline Coleman lanterns were the indoor light and the only way up the ski hill was wax and effort. In 1939, Jack Hossack encountered stiff opposition when he designed and built Mach, our first rope tow.
• For the first 30 years, skiers arrived by train to slopes covered in a blanket of coal soot (from trains chugging up the pass). Also, no alcohol or kids!
• Until 1979, Tomcat stopped at Edifus Wreck and Meany-ites lugged all their gear and food up the Ice Fall and clambered over the tracks.
• Mike Lonergan also ran into stiff opposition to building the Zoo in 1993. The same opposition is at least partly why the 2001 plans to install a chair lift were abandoned.

A question I've heard expressed quite a few times, which is, "as our state warms, what happens to Meany when we can't ski here any more?"

[msimerson]

Washing machine?