Having received the fire marshal's official OK, the new Trips Cabin is set to open this weekend, and the Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) plans to celebrate in style.
The New Hampshire state fire marshal signed the Trips Cabin over to Tufts last Friday, according to Senior Construction Project Manager Robert Biswanger, who oversaw the building's construction. "We officially accepted it as of last Friday. We went through the place and everything passed, no problems," he said. "The place is 100 percent ready."
Katahdin Cedar Log Homes completed the final step in construction, building the bunk beds in the cabin, two weeks ago. Mattresses arrived last week.
In line with the opening of the Trips Cabin, TMC will also commemorate the 70th anniversary of the club and the Loj.
"It's a big year all around," said TMC Vice President Lily Glidden, a sophomore. "There will be fireworks, a big ribbon-cutting ceremony and a slideshow of recent TMC events … We want to celebrate as much as possible."
The completion of the new addition alongside the Loj in North Woodstock, N.H. comes after last year's extended effort to gain funding from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, inciting a heady debate among students. TMC raised over $11,800 for construction, but funding for the cabin came predominately from the Senate, which decided to grant $230,000 to TMC in April.
TMC President Katie Bond, a senior, sees the Trips Cabin opening as the completion of TMC's long-term goal to make the Loj more available to the Tufts student body.
"We're very excited; we think it's going to expand accessibility to the Loj a lot," she said. "We struggled with that. We couldn't bring new people up to the Loj to get them excited about it because we didn't have the space."
Still, transportation issues may hamper the accessibility of the Trips Cabin in the near future.
The TMC van that helps transport people to and from the Loj recently broke down. According to Glidden, the loss of the van did not affect the upcoming weekend but remains a difficulty for the club.
"Not having the van is kind of a blow for us, but we're working around it, and we haven't let it affect the event at all," Glidden said. "But as far as the club goes, it's a loss, and we need to find a replacement as soon as possible."
Glidden, along with junior Rob Gleich and two alumni — Erica Fine (LA '09) and Ed Warren (LA '08) — organized this weekend's celebrations, which will consist of activities to link TMC's past and present.
The festivities are geared toward both alumni and current TMC members. Glidden expects about 50 alumni to attend the event, including one who was a founding member of TMC 70 years ago
"All events at the ceremony are aimed at facilitating connections between alums and current TMCers," Glidden said. "That's the big focus of the event."
Alumni will have an opportunity to share stories of fond recollections of their time at the Loj.
"We also tried to organize it so that alumni will be traveling up in cars together so there's bonding time," Glidden said.
Bond is looking forward to a large turnout of past and present TMC members.
"We're excited to kick this off and have a really good fall weekend in New Hampshire," Bond said.
Despite the loss of the van, Bond hopes the new addition will encourage more students to come to the Loj and get involved with TMC, whether directly through the club or through student retreats at the Loj.
"This means a lot for our club in terms of getting people to go up and see everything TMC has to offer," Bond said.
Overall, Bond believes that the new Trips Cabin will benefit not only TMC but also the student body at large. "It's a good thing for the whole Tufts community," she said.
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