The Haute Route stretches for about 110 km from Argentiere, France to Zermatt, Switzerland.  We did the Verbier variation, which is a bit easier since you take a gondola up to the Mont Fort hut in the ski area.  Mont Fort is an old hut that pre-dates the ski area, but has been updated with hot and cold running water.  We could have a shower for 5 Swiss Francs.  Most of the huts didn’t have running water since they are built on ridges with no easy water supply.

There wasn’t much snow in the Alps this winter.  There was about a 140 cm base near Chamonix and less than 100 cm in Zermatt, but along most of the route there was plenty of snow.  We had five days of sunshine and one day with mixed conditions.  We all had ski crampons which really helped on the steeper sections a couple days where the snow was quite icy in the morning.  Crampons for the boots were also needed in three steep couloirs.  We carried two ropes in our group of six, but only used them once to rappel down one steep slope.  We didn’t use them on the glaciers since the weather was so good we could see the crevasses and avoid dangerous spots.

The Swiss Alpine Club has spent a fortune building and improving the existing huts along the Haute Route.  Some of the huts date from about 1910, but most have been renovated many times, some quite recently.  I stayed in four Alpine Club huts and one private hut along the way.  All of the huts sold food and supplied fiberfill duvets.  Having the food flown into the huts makes the trip more enjoyable and it’s probably the only way that 50-100 people can stay in one place.  There definitely are environmental costs to flying food in and waste out.  With the price of fuel, I’m not sure how long the practice is sustainable.  The cost was about $80 per night including the hut, food, water and a bit of wine or beer.  You could easily spend another $20 per day on an afternoon snack.  We didn’t hire a guide since two of our group had done the trip a couple times before.  I’d be willing to provide more information to people interested in doing the Haute Route.

Two nights along the way there were only nine people in the huts, but on a sunny weekend almost 100 people stayed in each of two other huts.  My worry about the Spearhead area is that if we build it, many more people will be attracted to the area and a hut that only sleeps 30 people will be too small.  I think about 30 people is the most that can be accommodated for self-catered groups.

The logistics for handling even 30 people per night will be substantial in the Spearhead range.  The Alpine Club of Canada has much experience building and maintaining huts in the Rockies and we have a few volunteers in Vancouver (notably Ron Royston and the Scremins) who have put a lot of effort into the Tantalus huts.  The Spearhead huts committee will need cooperation from all the partners to get this project completed.

So what do I think about huts?  I have stayed in many huts around BC in the past 35+ years.  I really do enjoy backcountry skiing from a hut better than carrying a tent, but we don’t need huts everywhere.  Fortunately there is much wilderness left around BC, where huts will never be built.