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Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 31 March 1931, Page 7

The new Malte Brun hut in the Mount Cook region has now been completed and is to be taken over by the Public Works Department this week. The building has a length of 41ft and a width of 20ft, and consists of two dormitories for women and two for men, a common room measuring 16ft by 12ft, and a guides’ room. The contract was let to the Mount Cook Motor Company, Ltd., on June 1, 1929, the price being £1550. Considerable difficulty was experienced in conveying the materials to the site on account of the rough nature of the country. The hut is at an altitude of 5700 ft and is reached by a good motor road to within a short distance of the Ball Hut, a walk of twelve miles up the Tasman Glacier and a steep climb to a height of about 500 ft above the glacier. A large quantity of the materials was sledged up the glacier by dogs belonging to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, and then carried by men over the remaining distance. The hut is below the snow level in the summer time. It is constructed with external walls of corrugated iron and is well lined inside. Heating is provided by a kerosene stove. The old hut at' Malte Brun is now to be shitted in the meantime.