Brian Waddington Hut

About the Hut

The Brain Waddington Hut is the VOC's newest hut. You'll find it in Phelix Creek on the shores of Long Lake, near the peaks of Mt. Aragorn, Shadowfax, Gandalf and Peregrine. The hut is open to all non-motorized users, and no reservations are taken. Club trips have priority during the peak holidays seasons (Christmas, New Years, Reading Break and Easter) so it is best to contact the VOC about visiting during these times. A donation of $5 per person per night is suggested. The location of the hut (NAD27) is 522747E 5608620N at 1715m elevation.

Also see the VOC website static page for the Brian Waddington Hut.

The log book needs to be replaced!

Facilities

The Brain Waddington Hut sleeps about 20 people in relative comfort, and more in a pinch. There is an outhouse not far off behind the hut. Water can be collected from a nearby stream, even in winter. Unlike most huts in the coast mountains, this one is insulated and has a vapour barrier. This means that the upstairs windows must be opened to let moisture and stove fumes escape.

The following are provided for your enjoyment:

• 2 Coleman double burner stoves, 1 works great and the other leaks gas
• 2 Coleman lanterns (double mantel) - new in 2004
• Various pots and fry pans
• buckets for clean water and grey water.
• 2 disfunctional kerosene heaters - these have been ruined by misue, especially by using the wrong kind of fuel in them.
• Many decks of cards, none of which are very good
• Matterhorn Puzzle

Note: On pain of death, only use white gas (Naptha, Coleman Camp Fuel) in the stoves and lanterns. Kerosene won't burn in these appliances and it will clog the fuel lines. This shouldn't be an issue, since almost nobody uses Kerosene in Canada, the supply in the hut has been exhausted.

A small library is provided for the enjoyment of hut users. At present this library contains mostly more recent editions of the VOC Journal.

• VOCJ 2003-2004
• VOCJ 2000-2001
• VOCJ 1998-99 (damaged)
• VOCJ 1997
• VOCJ 1996-1997
• VOCJ 1994-1995
• VOCJ 1992
• Lord of the Rings (3 volumes)
• VOC Songbook (3 new, 1 old)
• Without Feathers by Woody Allen

Updated August 2004

Peak Names - Gandalf and Shadowfax

Mt Gandalf, Shadowfax and Aragorn were first climbed by some VOCers in 1973 (see VOCJ1974). They named all 3 peaks, but something got messed up and the names on the maps don't match the given names - Gandalf and Shadowfax are reversed!

The names used herein are the names given by the FA party, which do not match the names on the map. These are the names generally used by the mountaineering community, and by other guidebooks (Bruce Fairley, Matt Gunn) as well:

• Aragorn is mapped correctly
• Gandalf is the peak immedieately south of Aragorn
• Shadowfax is to the East of the other 2.

Since then, the name Peregrine has been applied to the peak immediately south of the cabin. It is not an offical name.

Skiing

The Brian Waddington Hut is on the eastern side of the Coast Range, and so snow quality is usually very good. The hut is a great base for yo-yoing and touring, surrounded by good slopes on all aspects. There is excellent tree skiing nearby as well, so bad weather won't mean you have to sit around in the hut all day.

Cabin Hill

The low knoll above the SE end of the lake arguably offers some of the best bad weather skiing around the hut. While the slopes facing the cabin are quite steep (and thus prone to avalanches), the northeast side offers gentler, safer gladed tree skiing. There is also good skiing in an open bowl off the back side of Cabin Hill.

Aragorn Glacier

This is the premiere intermediate glacier run accessible from the cabin. Although not a long run, it can be counted on for dry, light snow. The best way over is to go 0.5km west up the valley from the cabin before climbing up past the impressive east face of Mt. Gandalf, and then skiing along a moraine ridge and wrapping around to the north side of Mt. Aragorn. There are some crevasses to be aware of near the top of the glacier. The summit of Aragorn is an easy ski ascent by this route.

Peregrine West Col

Peregrin peak is the summit immediately south of the cabin. The col to the west of this peak is a worthwhile destination, with good ski runs on both sides, although the south side runs are quite steep.

Copp Creek

A long run descends from the rocky ridge north of the Aragorn Glaicer 2000ft. down into Copp Creek. The left side of the drainage is best higher up, but the right side offers better skiing towards the bottom.

This is a committing ski run with potentially dangerous avalanche terrain. One narrow slope in particular, about 600ft long at about 32+ degrees feeds down into a terrain trap (gully). There is a good safe spot to stop on the left side at the bottom, but there is no way to avoid skiing directly above the terrain trap.

On the return from Copp creek, it is likely safest to cross the lower col (swing around cliffs on climber's left) into the Cadwallader creek headwaters and then continue out past Mt. Shadowfax. Another exit (the one I did), climbs snowslopes on the climber's right side of the drainage, but presents avalanche hazard crossing steep slopes above cliffs.

Sockeye Creek

A loop over to Sockeye creek, via the col south of Gandalf and the col west of Peregrin makes a nice tour.

Phelix Creek East Side

Mt. Taillefer with it's 2500ft ski run becons across the valley. Although a worthwhile destination, the ski run isn't as good as it looks. It's rocky up high, and steep with gullies and gnarly, scrubby trees down lower. It's also capable of class 4 avalanches; the last big one seems to have run up the other side of the valley a good 30m.

Hiking

There are few developed hiking trails nearby, but the high alpine country makes for excellent off trail hiking. Beautiful meadows fill the small hanging valley around the cabin, and unmarked high routes go east towards McGillivray Pass and west towards Tenquille Lake.

Mountaineering

Gandalf, Shadowfax and Aragorn are three nearby peaks composed of nice, clean granite. There are only a handful of routes so far, and many unclimbed, unexplored faces. Check the hut log book for the most up to date info.

The true summits of Mt. Gandalf and Mt. Aragorn are difficult boulder problems. Aragorn can be easily surmounted with a shoulder stand move - so don't go it alone. Gandalf is not quite so easy.

There are a number of excellent scrambling routes on all the peaks:

• South ridge of Mt. Gandalf from Phelix - Sockeye col (easy scramble), and continue along the ridge to Mt. Aragorn +
• SW face of Mt. Shadowfax (easy scramble across ledges) +
• NW ridge of Mt. Shadowfax (class 3-4) +
• E ridge of Mt. Aragorn (class 3, very exposed)

Access

Drive Highway 99 to Mt. Curie, and head north, following signs for D'Arcy. You need to take the Blackwaterr Road on the left, just before reaching D'Arcy itself. If you hit the town, you've gone a bit too far. After about 13km, there is a gate on the Blackwater Road at the entrance to Birkenhead Provincial Park. Just before the gate, turn right onto the Phelix Creek Road. There is a parking area about 200m further.

Winter

The Blackwater Road is plowed occasionally to the birkenhead gate, but the Phelix Creek road is not plowed at all beyond the parking area at the bottom. There is a fair amount of traffic on the blackwater road from the ranches and cabin along it, so it tends to have compact snow most of the time. After a dump of fresh snow, you might have to do some extra skiing. The road isn't very steep, but 4wd or chains are recommended because it's usually covered in snow and it's a long way out if you get stuck or snowed in.

To reach the hut, ski up the road, crossing Phelix Creek once, then go left at a fork and cross the creek again. Just above the second bridge is another fork - go right this time. The road ends after several huge cross ditches, where two clearcuts and an avalanche path need to be crossed. From here continue up the creek sticking to either the east or west side, as the creek itself enters a steep canyon. On the west side there are some tapes that mark a good route that just clears the canyon. Once above the canyon section, head for the west bank and begin climbing into the branch of the creek that flows from Long Lake. On the south side of this creek are a series of benches which make the climb up to Long Lake easier. Generally, it's best to stay south of the marked summer trail where the forest is more open. Getting to the hut in winter usually takes about 4-6 hours, but can take a lot longer if there is fresh snow.

Summer

If you have a high clearance 4x4, you can drive the Phelix Creek Road to the very end. The roughest part is the final 1km or so, starting after the second bridge. Less capable 4x4s such as Subarus, CR-Vs, etc should be able to make it this far, and 2wd vehicles with a skilled driver have a fighting chance. A rockslide at km 0.5 that occured last year has been levelled out, and should be passable by most vehicles. Drive (or walk) the road as described above and then find 2 huge white boulders at the far end of the second clearcut. Straight downhill from the second boulder a good log to cross Phelix Creek where you will find a trail on the east side. The trail parallels the creek for a few km, and then crossed back to the west side on a log jam. This crossing can be problematic if runoff is high. Back on the west side, the trail climbs steeply up to Long Lake, and then follows the north shore around the lake to the cabin. Total hiking time is usually about 2-3 hours from the end of the road.

Current Issues

Commercial Snowmobiling

See the land use issues page for information about an application for commercial snowmobiling operations in Phelix Creek.

Heat

Many complaints have been lodged about the absence of a wood stove at the hut. MEC donated $3000 towards the installation of the hut on the condition that there would be no wood stove. Kerosene heaters were installed instead, however this resulted in the following problems:

• In the first winter a lot of kerosene was used and the initial supply was exhausted after about 1 year
• Flying in more kerosene to the hut by helicopter is very expensive
• No one seems to be paying the $5 per night user fee, so the VOC can't afford to fly in more kerosene
• Hut users started putting white gas into the kerosene heaters which destroyed the wicks
• One kerosene heater was repaired, but does not burn cleanly and thus fills the cabin up with dirty smoke

Presently there are a couple of 2 mantle Coleman Lanterns which can provide a little heat and a lot of light. While -1C isn't very warm, it beats -20C outside. The best way to have a cozy cabin is to bring a lot of friends (25 should do) and everyone's body heat will warm up the hut quite effectively.

Fees

Comparing the hut log to the amount of hut fees actually received by the VOC shows that the number of people paying is very low. It has been proposed to install a steel lock box in the hut so that visitors can leave a cash or cheque payment, instead of taking home an envelope and then losing it and not paying.

History

The hut was erected in the Summer of 1998. The strucutre was donated by the worker's compensation board as part of their retrainning program for injured workers. The VOC paid helicopter costs to fly the cabin in to the site. The frame of the cabin was prebuilt, flown in 3 pieces and then assembled on side. A detailed account of the building of the hut can be found in the cabin logbook, and in the 1998? VOC Journal

Hut and Trail Conditions

• 2005/06/30 We drove a HC 4x4 without difficulty on the access road. M. Gunn's Scrambles book provides a good description of the drive up. The trail is also well described in the book, well marked and easy to follow. Just remember to go as far as possible to the (very very) end of the cut blocks before crossing east over Phelix Creek. if you cross early, you will bushwack in Devils club. Unfortunately, we forgot a log book.

• 2004/08/13 The access road is in fairly good shape. I think the waterbars are mellowing out over the years. There were two reports of 2WD cars making it most of the way up the road in the hut logbook (a Neon and a Swift). However it's definetly still marginal. The logbook is filling up quickly, could the next group up there bring up a new logbook and leave a note here that it's taken care of?