By: randosteve|Posted on: February 1, 2010|Posted in: Canada, International | 39 comments

the-fairy-meadows-hutSomehow things have fallen into place and I’ll be heading up to the Fairy Meadows Hut in the Selkirk Mountains of Canada in less than a month. A fellow J-Holer scored in the lottery for hut reservations last year (yeah…because it’s so sick, there is a lottery for reservations) and was able to book the hut for the week of the full moon at the beginning of March. From what I hear, this is prime time for the area and the same time of year some friends and I visited Rogers Pass and attended the Kootenay Cold Smoke Festival last year.

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Ski touring in the Adamant Mountains near the Fairy Meadows Hut.
Photos courtesy CosleyHouston.com.

The Fairy Meadows, or Bill Putnum Hut, was built by the Alpine Club of Canada in 1965 and is often called the best hut in Canada for ski touring. A pretty big claim since there are about 25 huts to choose from in the mountains of southern British Columbia. I’m really looking forward to this trip and I’ll be going with 18 others, most from Jackson and some that you’ve seen on these pages in the past. The hut is accessed by helicopter and the trip will be catered, making the organizing process super easy and giving us more time to enjoy the hut experience, and of course…SKI! I hope to also hook up with some friends in Revelstoke for some skiing on Rogers prior to flight into Fairy Meadows and it’s always fun getting out with real life, honest to goodness Canadians.

fairy-meadows-hut-on-google-earth

friendship-col-cosley-houstonI’ve never been to the hut before, so if anyone has any suggestions on routes or tours, or anything in general, please share them with me in the comments section. I’ve been scoping things out on Google Earth and Lee Lau has some great trip reports and photos from his past trips. There are a few guidebooks out there like Selkirks North, Summits and Icefields: Columbia Mountains and Backcountry Huts and Lodges of the Rockies and Columbias, but I’m not really sure which is the best for ski-touring. So if anyone can help there with some insight…that would be great.  Thanks!