Metheny recalls a particularly snowy winter when he measured 83 inches of the white stuff at the snow stake outside the hut.

“I was pretty well buried in,” he says. “When you opened the hut door all you saw was this mound of snow. I had to dig out all the windows. There was a continuous drift of snow from the roof to the ground. I had to wear snowshoes to go to the out-house. I love a lot of snow. It was fun.”

WANT TO VISIT? Guests typically ski into Zealand Falls Hut in winter, along the Zealand Road and Zealand Trail (6 miles one way), and hike or snowshoe into Cater Notch (3.8 miles) and Lonesome Lake (1.6 miles) huts. Get information about what to expect. AMC also offers guided lodge-to-hut trips with an experiences naturalist. Call AMC reservations at 603-466-2727.

“People would ask me, ‘What do you do all day?’” she says. “Well, I spent a lot of time shoveling snow. We had a couple of big storms and got three feet of snow one day in February. I spent the whole day shoveling snow—eight hours.”

Even the challenges of a sometimes brutal landscape don’t detract from the experience for most caretakers. They just adapt. Derek “Storm” Schott, who now works with AMC’s construction crew, was a caretaker at the Randolph (N.H.) Mountain Club’s Gray Knob Cabin in the winter of 2005. He kept his toothbrush and pens in his flannel shirt pocket, under a down jacket, so he wouldn’t get an ice headache when he brushed his teeth and the pens would work when he needed to write daily reports. He also changed his diet.

“Your body starts eating fat when it’s cold,” says Schott, who shed 40 pounds off his six-foot, two-inch frame. “I ate a lot of butter, a lot of cheese, a lot of pepperoni. For breakfast every morning, I had four or five slices of bacon, four eggs, cheese, onion, and some potatoes—all cooked together. I used a lot of butter to keep the weight on. I put butter on crackers instead of cheese. I even put butter in my coffee.”

 Part of the lure of winter caretaking is the beauty and serenity of the snowy landscape, the clear skies, and the occasional encounters with nature.

“Carter Notch in a full moon in the winter is pretty amazing,” says Metheny, whose last season there was the winter of 1999. “The ramparts above the hut get coated in sheets of ice and glimmer under a full moon.”

Winter also offers the opportunity to see lots of animal tracks, and, occasionally, animals themselves.

Brown recalls a memorable wildlife encounter during a hike on Mount Guyot, about 4,000 feet up and above treeline.
“In the summer you see Canada Jays or Gray Jays all the time. They’re scavengers. In the winter, you really don’t see them. That day was very cold and windy, and I reached into my pocket and opened up a Snickers bar,” he says. “Instantly, a Gray Jay was on a branch beside me looking for a handout. I’m astounded that that thing knew I had food in those kinds of conditions.”

Metheny also recalls a remarkable wildlife encounter that occurred between the hut and the lake below.

“I saw a pine marten attack a snowshoe hare and sever its head off. I heard a scream and the marten went to work,” he says. “It took off with the hare’s head and then came back and got the rest of the carcass. Seeing that predator-prey relationship had to be one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen.

“The first summer I heard about the winter caretaker job, I remember saying it was the coolest job to get,” Metheny adds. “A few seasons later, I was offered the job. I thought it had a certain distinction about it. …. I was right. It’s one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve had.”

Norris enjoyed the caretaking experience so much she hopes to return this winter. “It teaches you a lot about self-sufficiency and what you can accomplish,” she says. “And it’s great to meet people from all walks of life who are willing to spend the night in a cold sleeping bag and smile in the morning.”

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