Range

When we hiked into camp on June 20th we found the rifle range still under snow.

It became obvious that there had been a lot of snow on this roof. Note the huge chunks of snow lying off the north slope of the building.

These blocks of ice are only the remnant of the mountain of snow which stood on the roof throughout the winter. The fact that the building runs east - west puts enormous stress on the structure when the south facing face is clear while the north is still buried.

These blocks of snow must weigh tons. The firing line must face north - it is the only hill that will work as a back for the targets - still it presents a great problem.

Looking down from the drift to the deck of the range.

Throughout the summer the damage so much snow did to our Rifle Range became obvious. The floor joist at the west end of the building broke under the pounding weight of the ice and snow.

Lynn used our friend Jack to lift the break. Once the floor was level - he built a platform to hold the damage in place. A permanent fix which replaces the end beam with something more substantial must wait for next summer.

Lynn placed a chunk of four by four on a platform of trex.

Lynn also assessed that the storage room at the end of the range deck was a problem. Loaded with heavy materials during the summer it puts enormous stress on the flooring.

Mike Bronson, my Dentist, found an unused glue/lam beam in the wood pile and hauled it down to the Range. The boy in the background is the son of Kevin and Amber.

Here Mike and his helpers dig out the drain area to find a place for the beam.

Meanwhile Kevin and company open up the floor above. Russell Stevens carried the cement, two bags at a time, to lay the foundation for the Range. "I was here when this place came into the world," he joked, "I'll be with it to the end." Russell and several others are already under the floor putting the beam into place.

Here is a shot of the beam as it will support the storage room, and the entire floor.

Jack was at work again - lifting the floor to put the beam in place.

Here Jon Hollingshead adds his support to the project.


Other damage caused by the snow is evident. This picture shows the steel roofing bent and broken by the ice.


One can see the twisting of the steel frame that holds up the roof. The steel is bent and off plum; the fear was that another heavy winter would bring the akimbo structure down.

Dave Kirkham and Lynn engineered a fix. They borrowed the come-along from the Lodge to straighten the building. Pulling it straight was like putting up a pyramid - at least according to Dave. I missed the picture of the effort, which involved most of our crew, but did get this picture of a few of our workers and the cables straightening the structure.

To secure the building for the winter required a bolt which in turn required a hole drilled into the steel post. We needed a power drill, but how to run the drill clear out at the Rifle Range. The solution was to pull out the generator Karlo Mustonen gave to the camp years ago. I know it hasn't been started in at least two years; the gas must be three years old, but Scott got it started right up. It was like having Karlo with us once again.