The Alpine Club of Canada plans to build a new winter-only backcountry hut in the mountain national parks.
The ACC hopes to begin construction next year on a hut east of des Poilus Glacier in Yoho National Park to provide a connection to the world-renowned Wapta Traverse.
Officials say it will be a winter-use only hut because of the need to protect important grizzly bear habitat in the region.
“The licence of occupation will stipulate that it’s for winter use only,” said Lawrence White, ACC president.
“There’s sensitive grizzly bear habitat in the back of Yoho Valley and, while there is summer use in that area, we don’t want to encourage additional use at that time of year.”
Parks Canada recently gave ACC the green light to proceed to the next phase of project design and public consultation. The ACC hopes to have the facility open by winter 2014.
The management plan for Yoho speaks to investigating the feasibility of establishing one additional hut to support ski touring between Yoho’s Stanley Mitchell Hut in the south and Banff’s Bow Hut in the north.
The proposed hut will sit on the classic Yoho Traverse at about the midway point between Bow Hut and Stanley Mitchell Hut, offering adventurers the opportunity to access or exit the traverse via Little Yoho Valley in B.C.
While still in the early stages, the ACC envisions a two-storey structure approximately 1,000 square feet in size, with overnight capacity of between 16 and 18 people.
The hut will be equipped with amenities similar to the ACC’s other huts and stocked in the same fashion with foam sleeping pads, cooking and eating utensils, stoves, tables and benches.
“The Yoho Park management plan speaks specifically to winter recreation, so it makes sense to focus on that market segment and that kind of activity,” said White.
White said other huts in the area, including Bow and Peyto huts in the north, sleep 30 and 16 respectively, while Stanley Mitchell hut to the south, can accommodate 24.
He said there’s a need for additional overnight beds to promote the Wapta traverse safely without unnecessarily “bottle-necking” people part-way through their journey.
“The new hut will take some of the pressure off the other huts,” he said.
“They’re quite busy and we find people don’t necessarily get the full experience because they can’t always get in.”
By building this hut, White said the ACC hopes to reintroduce people to the Wapta Traverse as it was traditionally explored.
“I think for anyone who has done that traverse, or who plans to do it, it will make the trip easier,” he said. “You won’t have to take all the camping gear, pots and pans and heavy tents and heavy packs.”
The ACC has launched a fundraising campaign on its website, accnewheights.ca, for the new hut.
“We’re still in the feasibility stage and this is a proposal that has to go through a public process,” he said. “Certainly designs are being worked on and things do cost money.”
The Wapta and Waputik Icefields straddle the Great Continental Divide. Combined, the Wapta and Waputik Icefields have no fewer than 15 individual glaciers and 20 summits that provide varying levels of intrigue for wilderness explorers.
