Brew Hut

Brew Hut is located about halfway between Whistler and Squamish about 1,686 meters up a col, just south of the peak of Mount Brew on the west side of the Highway 99. The hut was built in 2005 by the University of British Columbia Varsity Outdoors Club, which continues to manage and maintain the hut with donations from users.

It sleeps up to about 16 people, although a sign on the door says "There is always room for one more," and it is open to the public year round for a requested donation of $10 per person per night in cash or by mail. There is no reservation system; however, there is a registration website so that users can get an idea of how crowded the hut might be before heading out.

While there are several routes to access the area, the primary winter trail to Brew Hut begins on the Chance Creek Forest Service road and follows the Roe Creek drainage before heading up the south ridge of Mount Brew. From Highway 99, the trail to Brew Hut is around 15 kilometers. The first half is on groomed snowcat roads while the latter half climbs steadily, but not steeply, through old-growth forests up to Brew Lake and then traverses through flat, wide-open alpine terrain to the hut.

The area is primarily used by backcountry skiers during the winter, but snowshoers have been known to make the trek from time to time as well. There are a variety of good options for skiing on many different aspects in the immediate vicinity of the hut. The terrain is mostly friendly, so visitors won’t need mountaineering skills or have to worry about glacier crossings, but there are some large wide open slopes, convex rolls, terrain traps and cornices on the ridge, and users should be experienced and prepare for avalanche terrain.

Brew Hut is nice, simple, clean, well insulated, and very warm when using the large wood stove, which is available only in the winter. Users should carefully consider the need for lighting a fire in the hut's wood stove; firewood is either flown in by helicopter, which is expensive and resource intensive, or it is carried in by volunteers, which is very difficult and time consuming. If you must start a fire for warmth, please conserve wood for other users, and never resort to chopping down trees in the alpine. As always, users must pack out what they pack in. Be sure to leave the hut in at least as good condition as you found it.

The cabin comes equipped with a large pot for melting snow, some maps and reading materials, cards and a cribbage board, and a house guitar, but users should bring their own cooking supplies and sleeping gear. The views from the hut are absolutely breathtaking, with Mount Garibaldi and Black Tusk prominent to the southeast, Tantalus and Tricouni to the southwest, and the Spearhead Range and Wedge to the northeast.