Letter to Prospective Students
2/26/03
Dear Prospective student,
Thank you for your interest in the upcoming timber framing schools at Black Rapids, Alaska. We are very excited to begin getting the word out about this once-in-a-lifetime project and we are taking early reservations. This school will be sponsored by the non-profit, Black Rapids Trust, Inc.
Background
In the summer of 2003, a series of timber framing schools will erect the frame for the new Black Rapids Lodge. The Black Rapids Lodge is the brainchild of owners Mike and Annie Hopper of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Rich Landon of Clark, Colorado. The lodge is located in the heart of the Alaska Range on the old Valdez Trail, now known as the Richardson Highway, 40 miles south of Delta Junction. She will sit on a bluff behind the original Rapids Roadhouse (now under historic preservation) overlooking the famous Black Rapids Glacier, known as the “Galloping Glacier” in the mid-1930’s when its phenomenal forward surge threatened to take out the lone road into the Interior of Alaska. The views are breathtaking; the surrounding mountain terrain, a wilderness adventurer’s paradise. Once complete, the Lodge will house a modest number of unique private rooms (six) as well as a bunkhouse/youth hostel, and cater to enthusiasts of muscle-powered wilderness sport, winter and summer. The bunkhouse and formal lodge will also provide housing for the wilderness skill and leadership training programs of the Black Rapids Education Outdoor Center, one of a series of projects of the non-profit Black Rapids Trust. “Off the grid”, BRL will be a “green” operation, utilizing the plentiful winds of Isabel Pass for power and the logs of nearby fire-kill forests for heat.
We chose to timber frame both because of its superior energy efficiency and its ability to recall days when men built cathedrals that aspired to reach and co-exist with the heavenly powers they worshipped. Our mission is more mundane but no less spiritual: We want to celebrate this mountain pass and the human spirit that dares to seek inspiration in her shadows and her brilliance. The Lodge will also echo that European alpine tradition of timber and stone that dared strive for permanence in a land of dramatic change.
Goals of the Project
The goal of our timber framing school project is the frame construction of a two-story, 32′ X 64” lodge set on an insulated concrete form daylight basement. Off the front of the structure’s main floor is a single story, sixteen-foot-on-a-side, “half-hexagon” that will serve as the Lodge’s dining area. In addition, a sixteen-foot square belvedere will sit atop the Lodge roof and serve as a 360-degree overlook. Co-owner Mike Hopper created the basic timber frame design; Anchorage engineer Alan Corthell of Wince, Corthell, Bryson, and Consulting Engineers sized the timbers. Project coordinator Jon Gantenbein is currently designing all the joinery. His Timbers, Tales and Yarns will be conducting the series of schools necessary for its construction in the summer of 2003. Young’s Timber of nearby Tok, Alaska, will provide the fire-killed, winter-harvested white spruce timbers.
Timber Framing School Schedule
The Black Rapids Timber Framing School opens in mid-May and closes the end of August. The first formal school session begins on Monday, June 2nd. Each session will run for seven straight days and be limited to 8 to 10 students. A preliminary three-day class focusing on floor construction will be held in mid-May. For this abbreviated, shake-down workshop, there will be a limited number of openings.
Preliminary Session: May 16 – May18
Session #1: June 2 – June 8
Session #2: June 12 – June 18
Session #3: June 23 – June 29
Session #4: July 3 – July 9
Session #5: July 14 – July 20
Session #6: July 24 – July 30
Session #7: August 4 – August 10
Session #8: August 14 – August 20
We will work individually with students to accommodate their special needs and/or their schedules. Each school session will begin with an introduction to the basic skills and tools of timber framing. Most sessions will create and erect a two-story bent with rafters; the final two sessions will present advanced timber framing and joinery techniques as we create a 16′ square belvedere that sits atop the structure and the “half-hexagon” dining room off the front.
And Down Below the Bluff…
The building site for BRL is well known to Interior Alaskans. Historic restoration efforts are currently underway on her predecessor, the rambling, hand-hewn log structure known as Rapids Roadhouse. Already the subject of several local and national newspaper articles and specials, the Roadhouse will continue to rise from the glacial grit of the past hundred years while on the bluff above, our timber frame students begin erecting a new sentinel for the next hundred years. Visit our website at www.blackrapids.org for some photos and information about the area.
Housing and Food Arrangements
Participants in our schools will get a taste of pioneer life in wild Alaska. Seven miles south of Black Rapids, ½ mile by trail up a mountain creek, is the newly completed 20′X24′ timber and stone inspiration for the Lodge, which will serve as the center for our rustic housing facilities. The cabin will serve as the morning and evening dining/meeting facility. Students will be sharing nearby two-person wall tents and cots for bedrooms to allow for a modicum of privacy and sleeping solitude and silence. Rustic showers will be available at the cabin; the hardier student may choose to shower during course breaks in one of a series of three waterfalls within ½ hour’s hike from the Lodge. Meals will be prepared on site by the owners and our team of volunteers and will feature uniquely Alaskan dishes. On the mountain slopes overlooking the cabin are blueberry fields to die for; that said, students would need to avoid the young Grizzly sow who could effectively back that claim.
Wildlife viewing around Black Rapids is unparalleled. The rocky mountain slopes and cliffs are prime habitat for Dall sheep, while grizzly, moose, and wolves haunt their lower reaches. Across the Delta River, bison congregate in early summer with their young before moving back to the farm fields of nearby Delta for the winter.
And then there are the rivers, creeks, and lakes…We hope to make available a one-to-two day rafting float trip down the nearby Gulkana River (famous for its King Salmon fishing) at the conclusion of each class for those students from Outside who want to stretch out their stay and their Alaskan experience.
The Organizers and Instructors
Overall logistical support planning is being coordinated by one of the owners, Ann Hopper. Annie has over 15 years of experience in managing non-profit programs and grants. For the past two summers she has been the driving force behind the Rapids Roadhouse Restoration Project and now has a certain expertise in construction logistics for that unique location. Before social service and marriage reeled her in, Annie was a budding folk guitarist and singer; Students are encouraged to bring their wooden musical skills and instruments with them or she’ll have to serenade them alone.
Her husband, Mike Hopper, has 15 years of owner/builder experience. (In Alaska that means he started building his cabin in the mountains before he finished his family home.) Nonetheless, he is responsible for the basic design of the Lodge and will be hip deep in sawdust for the duration of the project.
Rich Landon has over 25 years of construction and resort management experience. A resort manager for the Glen Eden resort in Clark, Colorado, Rich has secret plans for running away to Alaska. Mike and Annie are helping him pack his bags.
Jon Gantenbein has been a professional carpenter for thirty-one years, twenty-one in Alaska. He constructed his first timber frame in 1982 and has worked with industry pioneer Fox Maple Post and Beam of Maine. He has built fifteen timber frames in Hope, Kenai, Sterling, Soldotna, Home, Anchorage, Whittier, and Juneau. Jon has experience teaching timber framing skills at any level. His personal letter to students ensures that individual’s go away with more than just skills. This past year he has supervised the timber frame construction of the new Inn at Whittier. His wife, Diane Olthuis, has been writing for Joiners’ Quarterly since 1985. Jon and Diane’s company Timber, Tales and Yarns has been conducting timber-framing workshops since May 1998. Jon’s past accomplishments and true skill at timber framing attest to the depth of what participants will learn at these workshops.
Tuition: Tuition fees for each seven-day workshop are $995, which includes food and lodging! A deposit of $100 is required to reserve a participant’s spot. If a cancellation is necessary, refunds minus a $50 administrative fee will be applied up to 4 weeks prior to the beginning of each workshop (8-10 participants per session).
Educational Gains: CEU’s and College Credit will be available through the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The State Homebuilders Association will also offer 3 CEU’s for builders. A certificate, “Introduction to Timber Framing” will be furnished.
Expanded Explanation of Training Program: Instructor Jon Gantenbein will lead students in the cutting and erecting of a traditionally jointed 32’ by 64’ two-story, hip roof structure with a belvedere centered atop, with a single story half hexagonal front bay timber frame. The project will use some of the most common American joints. The workshops’ seven-day schedule should allow the participants to gain confidence in timber framing. Participants will learn how to read timber-framing blueprints, squaring timbers and timber lay out. They will have the opportunity to cut mortises and tenons while using specialized timber framing power tools, as well as traditional hand tools. Students will peg, square, and raise a bent in every one-week workshop. Safety will be stressed. Students will be lifting heavy timbers and heavy power tools. Each student will leave with expanded diagrams, blueprints, and source lists. Ideas on how to finish a timber frame and construction problems particular to Alaska will be discussed. Material sources in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest will be named. Timber framing videos, books, and magazines will be available for examination
Applications: An application is available online or by request via the US Mail. Youth under the age of 18 are welcome with a parent/guardian release. Individual and special arrangements can be made. Transportation and housing information for the local area is available for travelers outside of the local area. Here is our Black Rapids Timber Framing Workshops Application: in Microsoft Word format or in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Download a copy in either format, print it out, fill it out, and mail it in.
Sound interesting? We sincerely hope so.
Mike and Annie Hopper