Hut2Hut Archive
Includes articles/posts transferred from Hut2Hut.info about international topics, as well as some others that are not necessarily up to date or very substantive. These serve as an archive for the hut2hut.info website, which will eventually be decommissioned, but which has formed the foundation for the US Hut Alliance site and will be discontinued.
Note: Limit 20 posts per page, so click below to see more.
New Zealand Country Study – Overview & Table of Contents
24 articles summarizing the results of an in-depth study of many aspects of NZ huts. Includes historical and operational perspectives, observations on tramping, culture, reviews of key books, profiles of 9 key players, and more.
Shelter from the Storm: dream team, genesis and impact
Background on the writing of one of the best books ever written about huts: Shelter from the Storm, by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown, and Geoff Spearpoint. How the book came to be written, the authors, and the profound impact the book has had on the appreciation of huts in New Zealand.
New Zealand Huts Country Study: introduction
The purpose of this series of web posts is to provide a substantive overview of the world’s largest hut system. Specifically, the aim is to provide — in one place, free of charge — a sense of the origins, purposes, operations, unique features, challenges, people who care about, and cultural meanings of this amazing, collectively owned system of approximately 962 huts. The hope is to create an efficient point of entry to serious study of NZ huts, with pointers for digging deeper.
New Zealand Huts History
A brief historical sketch focusing on the contemporary history of how the NZ Department of Conservation (DoC) — established in 1987 — came to inherit the world’s largest and best organized hut system, and how it forged the disparate parts into a coherent, government-operated system of about 962 huts. A few key events in DoC history between 1987 – 2010 highlight how this transformation took place. During this period about 100 new huts were built, most to replace existing structures in poor condition.
The Kiwi Bach – New Zealand vernacular architecture
Huts, cabins and shacks are most commonly called baches in New Zealand. Pronounced ‘batch’ as in bachelor, these tiny holiday houses, often by the sea, are held close to the hearts of many Kiwis. Photos and text by Janet Abbott, art historian and bach historian, Christchurch, NZ
Shelter from the Storm: book review part two
Part two of a review of this seminal work on New Zealand huts.
New Zealand Huts – How Many and What Kinds?
An attempt by an outsider to convey to other outsiders a quick visual, numeric and organizational overview of the wild and wonderful range of New Zealand huts. The count, or “Tally”, attempts to enumerate “huts” (broadly construed) in categories corresponding to how they are discussed by hut folks in NZ. The description, or “Taxonomy”, briefly defines these same categories and illustrates them with some examples that give a sense of the variety of hut designs.
Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand’s Backcountry Huts: book review part 1
Review of the best book ever written about huts and about their connection to culture. A tour de force that changed the way Kiwis understood their hut culture. Must-read for folks interested in NZ huts.