Milton Hildebrand, one of the original Clair Tappaan Lodge builders, will celebrate his 100th birthday on June 15. In July, he will be present during the Lodge’s annual fundraiser. 

Milton participated in the volunteer effort in 1934 to build Clair Tappaan Lodge at Donner Summit. A group from the Sierra Club, then a fledgling organization, needed a refuge from the intense weather at the Summit when they wanted to ski. In those days, cross-country skiing was the sport of choice, since the ski resorts like Sugar Bowl and Donner Ski Ranch had yet to build ski lifts. One had to climb up a hill on skis with skins or wax on them and then ski down.

The lodge builders were a hardy group who felled trees and processed it into lumber for their building materials. The original building has since been expanded to accommodate 140 beds.

For the next several decades Milton, with groups of friends from the Bay Area, would drive or take a train, which stopped at Norden, to Donner Summit for a weekend of skiing. Clair Tappaan Lodge’s volunteer crew also built a warming hut on Signal Hill and installed a rope tow. There is argument among historians and Sugar Bowl and Clair Tappaan enthusiasts about who built the first rope tow at Donner Summit.

Moving forward to today, for the past 11 years a volunteer committee of Clair Tappaan Lodge supporters has hosted a summer weekend fund raising event to benefit their Environmental Education Scholarship fund. This fund helps to underwrite the costs of bringing school and other youth groups to the Lodge to participate in environmental education, inspiring the next generation of environmentalists.

This year the fundraiser will be held July 6-8 and will include evening campfires, organized hikes, musical and social events, an art auction, Milton Hildebrand’s talk, and wonderful meals served by the Clair Tappaan Lodge chef. The cost is $210 for the weekend, which covers all meals (including vegetarian), two nights of overnight lodging and all events. A portion of the fee goes to the Environmental Education Scholarship fund, within the Sierra Club Foundation, making it tax deductible.

Would you be interested in participating in the weekend and hearing Milton tell us his stories in building the Lodge? Contact the Lodge at (530) 426-3632 or reservations@clairtappaanlodge.com. You can find more information about the event here.