About

We’re the alumni association for anyone who’s ever worked in, on, or around an Appalachian Mountain Club hut. We exist to bring people together, people who share a lifelong bond. In addition to sponsoring social events and opportunities to revisit the huts, we maintain a cabin in Pinkham Notch, publish a bi-annual newsletter, offer material and moral support to the AMC hut system and current croo, and maintain this website. Among many other things.

Our first annual dinner was convened in 1926, at The Boston City Club, which was quite a trick, as the organization wasn’t “officially” founded until 1933. We’ve been hosting reunions ever since. The cabin was built in 1936. Although we’re a separate and independent organization from the AMC, our ties run deep, with many OH matriculating from the huts to fill leadership positions throughout the AMC, from trail volunteers to the Board of Directors and the job of President. Scores of hut employees have also gone on to work as key players in places like Antarctica, The Mount Washington Observatory, business, social profit, government, and virtually all of the organizations listed in our “Partners” section here.

If you worked in a hut, you probably think that experience had a major influence on your life. And you wouldn’t be alone.

We’re a volunteer-run organization, managed by a Steering Committee consisting of up to eleven voting members selected from and approved by our general membership. Meetings are held every other month or so and are open to any and all members and current croo.

Membership is open to anyone who worked in the Appalachian Mountain Club (“AMC”) Hut System or its associated facilities as full time or seasonal employees including, without limitation, construction and trail crews; Pinkham Notch Visitors Center; Tuckerman Ravine Shelter; Highland Center; Echo Lake, Cold River, Three Mile Island Camps; and Maine Lodges. If you’re not yet a member and would like to join, just contact us via the Members page.

Membership entitles you to cabin use, AMC discounts, the newsletter, unrestricted access to this website, and countless opportunities to reconnect with the huts, your buddies, the mountains, and yourself.

Welcome home.

O.H.A.? What’s In a Name?

In 2017, two out of every three hut system employees were women, so it’s easy to forget that working in the huts was once the exclusive province of men (except for a few years during WW II). When women started working in the huts in the mid-1970s, our name—The Old Hutman’s Association—suddenly only applied to half our membership. Time for an update. But to what?

“The Old Hutman’s and Hutwoman’s Association” may be descriptive, as well as a respectful nod to tradition, but it’s also a mouthful, and about as convenient as a concrete packboard. So in its infinite wisdom, the Steering Committee decided to go with short and sweet, rebranding the organization simply “The O.H.A.,” which is easy to say, and understood by the majority of people who use it (and visit this website).

But people still ask, “What’s it stand for?"

So tell them “The Old Hutcroo Association."