Peter Grubb Hut
Compiled by Rees Hughes
Peter Grubb was born in 1919 and died, at the age of 18, in 1937. How was it take the Sierra Club ski hut just north of Castle Pass on the PCT was developed and named for such a young fellow?
Peter died while on a cycling trip in Europe. Peter’s sister shared some of the story, “After high school graduation he and his friend, Bill Burd, decided it would be “fun” to go and explore Europe on their bicycles. Looking back I am amazed that anyone would consider such a trip in 1937, but the world did not realize the imminence of war, at least way off in California.
Bill and Peter also explored the Alps. They went to Pompeii (where, we were told, he “got too much sun”). They then took a boat to Capri and there he died on October 2, 1937. Poor Bill Burd continued on the trip alone and Peter’s body was brought home.”
Peter Grubb Hut was built in 1938-39 by friends and family as a memorial to Peter. Even at his young age, Peter had spent considerable time in the Sierra. Influenced by his grandfather who, according to Peter’s sister, “loved the mountains and all the wildlife that was there and couldn’t get enough of it. He even took his bride on their honeymoon to Yosemite in 1888, which must have been a very rugged adventure for my proper very civilized dainty grandmother.”
Peter corresponded regularly with his grandparents about his summer and winter adventures near Donner Summit. He climbed a number of peaks in the summer and skied in the winter. Here is a brief excerpt of one such letter to his grandparents:
I just got back from my second trip to Norden at the Sierra Club Ski Lodge. We had a grand time skiing. I made two one mile runs on a 30 degrees grade in five minutes with only one fall. As you probably have heard from Mama, on the first day I broke my skis which I used over New Years, the ones which I made at school, luckily though they broke exactly in the center so I sawed them off to about 3 feet each and used those successfully the rest of the trip, the only disadvantage being that they sank further then ordinary skis in the soft powder snow of which we found very little this trip. As you have probably heard, this is the heaviest winter in California since 1906-1907 (300) inches then 146 inches so far snow.
When I first visited the Peter Grubb Hut on my way north on the PCT in 2013, the facility had fallen into disrepair. So I was delighted to see when I passed through recently that a concerted effort had been made to make some structural repairs and, the prior weekend, a volunteer work party had really cleaned the interior.
We found the inside a cool, mosquito-free refuge for lunch on the tables in the central room. It was easy to visualize how cozy this space would be when covered by winter snow . . . one of four huts available to snow-shoers and cross-country skiers in the Donner Summit area.