Brew Hut Trail Upgrade

Introduction

Access has been one of the Brew Hut's biggest challenges. A trail goes up to Brew Lake from the railroad track near brandywine falls, but BC rail has been cracking down on tresspassing lately. The so called 'winter route' is steep, prone to avalanches, and has the annoying snowmobilers factor. Potential for a new trail in to the area exists coming in from Roe Creek. The terrain is generally quite mellow, and a trail built here could be used in bother summer and winter. Furthermore, the first 2km of this route is up chance creek FSR, which is now being plowed in the winter for snowcat skiing near tricouni peak, shortening the approach by a little bit. Building a new trail to the Brew area is important to ensuring that the new Brew hut is well used, and well taken care of.

Rumour has it that the Ministry of Tranportation might be able to cough up some money for replacing the existing Brew Lake Trail. Highway upgrades before the 2010 Olympics will make the existing trail completely inaccessible, so they might hip in some money for a new trail. How much money is involved is not yet known.

Trail Building Plan

• Winter 2004/2005 - ski the route up to the Brew Hut and flag an appropriate line through the forest. It's important to choose a line for the trail which can be easily skied both up and down, so checking the area out in winter first is a good idea. Plus, snow keeps the bushes down. The goal is exploration

• Spring 2005 - planning the route based on 1 or more winter sessions, further exploration on skis if necesary. Construction of the lower part of the trail can start once the snow melts back.

• Summer 2005 - most activity will probably focus on building the new hut, which should be the priority. There might be a weekend workhike or two of trail building.

• Fall 2005 - with the new hut in place, the trail can be finished without feeling guilty about it.

Discussion

• What sort of trail do we want? Wide or narrow? Should we clear more than the minimum number of trees for better skiing? Should it be gently graded or steep? Should steep sections have switchbacks?
• Do we want to put up a big sign that says "Brew Hut this way"?