Cabins

The MIT Outing Club owns two cabins and one yurt in NH. These places are available for MITOC members and groups to stay at while visiting NH. Information about reserving the cabins or staying at them is available from the MITOC office durring rental hours.

Camelot

The cabin is located near Plymouth, NH. It is a spacious cabin with a comfortable sleeping space for about 30 people, although more then 40 can fit in if need be. The cabin has two wood fueled stoves, cooking facilities, electricity, and an indoor bathroom. Plenty of space for tents is available on the twenty-two acres of land that belong to the cabin. Excellent views from the nearby Observatory Peak.

Intervale III

The Intervale site is located near North Conway, NH in the town of Bartlett. It has a cabin suitable for 16 people and a yurt that sleeps 6. Both shelters have LP stoves. Water is available from a spring down the hill, but must be carried to the shelters.

Reservation Policy (Keyholder Policy)

The cabins are available for use by MIT-affiliated individuals or small groups. Under the keyholder policy, every group which wishes to stay at a cabin, regardless of size, must have a MITOC-approved keyholder at the cabin. Groups which do not include a keyholder will need to arrange for a keyholder to accompany them for the weekend (the keyholder will be responsible for the condition of the cabin after the weekend). Many of the keyholders are willing to accompany other groups, but generally expect a $25/night donation for their time. The group would also be responsible for the keyholder's transportation.

For small groups, a few "drop-in weekends" have been set up throughout the year. These are weekends when MITOC will make sure a keyholder will be at the cabin so any group or individual may use the cabin.

Keyholder Responsibilities

This section assumes that you are acting as the keyholder for a large group. If you are the keyholder and a member of the group, or you are visiting the cabin with just a few of your friends, the group dynamics would obviously change a bit.

First of all, the keyholder is not responsible for the actions of the group. It is assumed that the keyholder will make a good faith effort to instruct the group on safe usage of the cabin, and to warn them of any dangerous or stupid activities. If the keyholder holds up that end of the bargain, and the group persists in unwise activities that damage the cabin, then the group and its leaders, not the keyholder, will be held responisble for damage.

Furthermore, it is not the responsibility of the keyholder to police the actions of each and every member of the group. At the beginning of the trip, the keyholder should identify who is the leader of the group. If there are any problems with members of the group, and the keyholder does not want to confront the individuals directly, the keyholder should inform the group leader that members of the group are behaving badly. It is then up to the group leader to enforce proper behavior.

When the keyholder first determines that a problem is occurring, he should first inform the group members or leaders as to how to correct the situation. If that does not resolve the problem, the keyholder can assess fines, to be deducted from the $1000 deposit check, and inform the group leader that this will occur. If any such problem occurs, the keyholder should discuss the situation with the cabin manager as soon as possible after returning to Boston. As a last resort, the keyholder has the authority to revoke the group's priviledge of using the cabin, and to order them to leave.

How to become a keyholder

It is very easy to become a keyholder, and we encourage all the groups which might want to use the cabin to have a member become one. In order to become a keyholder, one has to go on a check-out trip to the cabin with the cabin manager. These check-out trips are generally run once a term and involve a morning spent touring the cabin and perhaps an afternoon spent doing some maintenance work. Contact the cabin managers for information on the next keyholder checkout trip.

How were the cabins built?

All the MITOC cabins were designed and built by student and alum labor. You too can help in the upkeep, construction, and improvement of the cabins if you want. Just contact a club Cabin Manager, and go to a Keyholder work day.