Harrison Hut
About the Hut
The hut is open to all, there is no reservation system. Users should send $5/person/night to the Varsity Outdoor Club, Student Union Building, UBC, to help pay for upkeep. Please report problems to the above address.
The hut is a large gothic A-frame, sleeping 15 friendly people. It has a very efficient wood stove, and is surprisingly cozy and warm. Clothes and boots may be dried. Dead wood for fuel can be obtained from a small forest 50 m away; the use of the stove for the past 15 or so years does not seem to have damaged the forest. A Coleman stove and a Coleman lamp are provided, but you have to bring your own fuel. There is a pit toilet. Water may be obtained from a nearby creek.
There is a lost and found page for items in and around the VOC huts, but you could also post under 'current conditions' if you clean up after yourself.
Skiing
The purpose of the hut is to provide access to excellent backcountry skiing. There are several glaciers within easy ski access from the Hut, and several smallish peaks are nearby, offering suitable destinations for day trips.
Location and Access
Access is a problem. Getting to the hut involves driving up the Pemberton Valley to the Meager creek turn off, and then driving up Meager creek to the cut blocks past the hot springs to near Barr (aka Madhorse) creek. This is not possible since the Pemberton Valley Road is gated in winter due to avalanche danger 38km before the Meager creek turn off (at the Hurley turnoff). If you manage to get past this gate and the road is devoid of snowpack and avalanch debris, there is another gate at the start of the Meager Creek Road on the Lillooet River Bridge which is guarded (by Pierre and Mercedes of Western GeoPower). Assuming you can get past the gaurds and the gates then you can drive 8km up Meager creek before the hotsprings branch road is blocked by two large boulders. If you have a mountain bike you can ride 1km further to where the Meager Creek bridge is washed out (It washed out in Dec 2003). Assuming you are able to ford the creek (nobody has ever forded the creek at the washout and lived to tell about it. NB: the creek can be forded 5km upsteam above the confluence of the two branches of Meager Creek), you have to walk 10km to where the bridge over Barr (aka Madhorse) creek is washed out. Assuming there is no debris torrent in Barr (aka Madhorse) creek you can ford it and slog up the unmarked densely treed route up the divide to the west to gain the alpine and the hut. This is not beginner friendly.
The original hiking route went up the S fork of Barr Cr (unofficially known as Madhorse Cr), but the bush does not lend itself to elegant skiing at lower elevations. More recently parties have crossed Barr Cr and gone up the logged off block to the (W?). If you go in this route, you should stay on the ridge until about 5200 ft elevation and then drop down and cross Barr Cr. The Hut is at 693966. A GPS is great if the weather isn't perfect.
Note: The bridge over meager creek washed out in October 2003. As of September 2006 the bridge has not been repaired.
History
Built by the Varsity Outdoor Club in 1983 as a memorial to Julian Harrison, a Club past president and keen mountaineer. Julian was killed in an avalanche.
External Links
UBC Chronicles Archives (pdf file) mentioning the death of Julian Harrison (Fall 1983, p.14)