Alpine Club of Canada - Huts

Huts

The Alpine Club of Canada operates an extensive system of alpine club huts available to both members and non-members, primarily in the Canadian Rockies, providing rustic accommodation (though many of these huts are accessible only by experienced mountaineers). These huts offer exceptional access to the backcountry, and a quick look at a few of these facilities and their surroundings provides a survey of the mountain recreation resources available in Canada. For example:

• Abbot Pass Hut, built in 1922, is the highest habitable structure in Canada, sitting at 2,925m on the Alberta-British Columbia border (51.36406,-116.290204) between Mount Victoria and Mount Lefroy.
• A.O. Wheeler (51.263512,-117.489953) and Asulkan (51.211601,-117.463174) huts are in Glacier National Park, British Columbia and are popular year-round destinations for hikers and skiers.
• Balfour (51.591562,-116.454921) and Bow (51.634825,-116.489611) are two of four ACC huts on the Wapta Icefield near the Continental Divide, from there water flows to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
• Fairy Meadow Hut (51.763257,-117.876534) in the Selkirk Mountains provides access to such popular backcountry skiing that a lottery system must be used to make a reservation there.
• Conrad Kain hut (50.738338,-116.763324), among the granite spires of Bugaboo Provincial Park, is named after an Austrian mountain guide who was the first to climb many Canadian mountains including Robson (3,954m), the highest point in the Rockies.

Most of these huts require advance reservation. Members may reserve huts earlier than the general public.