Tag: backcountry

Building the Gothic Arch HutsBuilding the Gothic Arch Huts

October 21, 2017 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

For almost 50 years the Himmelsbach Hut has sat perched near Russet Lake at the head of Singing Pass.  The hut was built by the British Columbia Mountaineering Club (BCMC) and named after carpenter and long-time Whistler local Werner Himmelsbach.

Construction of the hut was scheduled in September 1967.  Dick Chambers, a member of the construction party, remembered being flown to Whistler by Helijet at the time (for more about Dick Chambers, check here).

Materials for the Himmelsbach Hut, as well as workers, were flown in by helicopter. Photo: Chambers Collection

“The stuff was all in the parking lot – the old Whistler parking lot.  Blackcomb wasn’t developed then, it was still a garbage dump… so we land at the parking lot and the Park Ranger was there, waiting to organize this stuff, and so he flew me in, and the next morning I waited and waited and nothing was happening,” Chambers recalled.

The helicopter carrying a load of material to the site had lost it somewhere on the northeastern side of the peak of Whistler, across from Blackcomb.  The load had not been properly attached and triggered the release mechanism.

“Eventually we recovered that load of stuff by looking in the bush and it wound up at Werner Himmelsbach’s hut covering his firewood because it wasn’t good for anything, you know, it was beaten up,” Chambers said.

By the time the Club was able to rebuild the lost materials, snowstorms had started and members of the construction party decided to pack it up and store it until the following year.

The Himmelsbach Hut under construction. Photo: Chambers Collection

In August 1968 the Himmelsbach Hut was was built over a period of three days and began the busiest three-years of hut construction by the BCMC in its history.  Other huts built by the club include Wedgemount Lake Hut loacted north of Blackcomb, Pummer Hut on Claw Ridge near the Tellot Glacier and Mountain Waddington, and Mountain Lake Hut that sits east of Brittania Beach.

Along with the huts built by the Club, Werner Himmelsbach lent his laminating jig and expertise to the University of British Columbia’s Varsity Outdoor Club.  The VOC, led by Roland Burton, built a gothic-arch hut near the Sphinx Glacier in Garibaldi Provincial Park.  Years later, he assisted the Alpine Club of Canada Whistler Section in the construction of the Wendy Thompson Hut, located in the Marriott Basin.

The Himmelsbach Hut today. Photo: Spencer Jespersen

Over the past several months, I have been tasked with writing, researching and designing a virtual museum exhibit on the Coast Mountain Gothic Arch Alpine Huts for the Whistler Museum (for more on the virtual exhibit click here).  Once the exhibit is complete, the virtual exhibit will be hosted on the Virtual Museum of Canada Community Memories website and will tell the complete story of these iconic structures.  Look for the release of the virtual exhibit in Winter 2018.

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Journey To The Sacred HeadwatersJourney To The Sacred Headwaters

May 6, 2016 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the summer of 2015, two Whistlerites, Bill Moore and Bridget McClarty, separately organized backcountry trips to the Sacred Headwaters region of Northern BC. For Bill and his companions, the mode of travel was on foot, while Bridget took to the Stikine River by pack raft.

The Sacred Headwaters is an area that has been of great significance to the local Tahltan people for thousands of years. Three major salmon-spawning rivers, the Nass, Skeena and Stikine originate here but they are threatened by resource development.

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This coming Thursday, Bill and Bridget will be speaking at the Whistler Museum about their time spent is this spectacular, under-appreciated, and threatened part of our province. Entry to this great event will be by-donation, with all proceeds going to the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.

Many of you will recall Bridget from her extremely well-received talk about her involvement in the “Traverse the Coast” ski expedition, as part of our March 2016 Speaker Series “Group Dynamics in the Wild.”

While this is Bill’s first time speaking at the Whistler Museum, he is well-known and respected in the community as an outdoor guide and instructor of great knowledge and experience.

Come share their experiences while helping support the protection of this special place.

 

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Speaker Series – Group Dynamics in the WildSpeaker Series – Group Dynamics in the Wild

March 5, 2016 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

While adventures amidst rugged, remote landscapes are often pursued to get away from civilization’s petty concerns, rarely does one fully elude them. Unless travelling solo, the human element is inescapable.

Those who have spent time on major expeditions will tell you that group dynamics can make or break a trip just as easily as Mother Nature. The emotional rollercoaster of a true adventure, from the euphoria of the summit to the boredom of a tent-bound week, can forge both the strongest bonds and the deepest disdains.

The Whistler Museum’s next Speaker Series event will delve headfirst into this messy world of human relationships in the wild. We are fortunate to host two accomplished local adventurers who will share stories from some of their wildest ski-mountaineering expeditions, drawing from these experiences to spark a conversation about leadership and group dynamics.

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Bridget McClarty working on her tree pose in the Coast Mountains.

Originally from Kitimat, BC, Bridget McClarty’s many adventures include radio-collaring elephants in Botswana, instructing SCUBA diving in the Philippines, and most recently, teaching high school students in Pemberton. Her talk will focus on the leadership lessons she learned while on a month-long ski traverse of the Coast Mountains from Whistler to the Homathko Valley.

Blackcomb Mountain ski patroller Holly Walker has travelled the world as a skier for more than a decade, first as a competitor on the Freeride World Tour, then as a ski-mountaineer in such exotic locales as the Himalayas, Southern Alps, and Mexico. Her presentation will focus on trips to Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountains and Tajikistan’s Pamirs, exploring some of the finer points of backcountry partner selection.

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Holly Walker earning her turns on Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountains.

Expect spectacular photos from some of the world’s wildest mountain ranges, compelling and occasionally hilarious stories from their adventures and misadventures, and an informative conversation about group dynamics that might even come in handy next time you plan on heading into the wilderness and need to find someone to tag along.

Additionally, both speakers will be able to provide a female’s perspective on the generally male- dominated culture of mountain expeditions, especially relevant just a week after International Women’s Day.

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When: Tuesday March 15; Doors at 6pm, show 7pm-9pm
Where: Whistler Museum (4333 Main Street, beside the Library)
Who: Everyone!
Cost: $10 regular price, $5 for museum members and W-B Club Shred.

There will be complimentary tea and coffee (generously provided by the Whistler Roasting Company), and a cash bar serving beer and wine.

We expect this event to sell out, so make sure to get your tickets early. To purchase tickets top by the museum or call us at 604.932.2019.

 

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Building the Himmelsbach HutBuilding the Himmelsbach Hut

November 21, 2015 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 5 Comments

As mentioned in last week’s post about the Wendy Thompson Hut, we’ve got gothic arches on the brain. First built in the 1960s by the British Columbia Mountaineering Club, there are now at least 10 of these structures spread throughout the Coast Mountain backcountry. The first hut, the Batzer Hut, was built near Chilliwack, but was destroyed only a year later by an avalanche.

So the oldest-standing example of this iconic architecture is none other than the Himmelsbach Hut, often known as the Russet Lake Hut or the Fissile Hut due to its location in the Whistler Backcountry. Built in 1967, and completed in 1968, it is a well-known and cherished part of local mountain culture.

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The Himmelsbach Hut, nowadays. Jeff Slack Photo

Fast-forward to late September we received a surprise visit from Barb Diggins of Coquitlam. In tow she carried boxes of artifacts that had belonged to her late uncle Dick Chambers. Dick was one of the most prominent mountaineers on the BC coast in the post-World War 2 era.

He was a member of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club 1946 until his passing in 1999, and served as the club’s President from 1961-1963. The collection includes hundreds of photographic slides, negatives, and prints, mostly of the mountains, but also a number of shots of Vancouver in the 1950s and 60s as well. It presents a valuable window into an exciting time for mountaineering on the coast, perhaps the Coast Mountains’ last truly exploratory period.

We still haven’t had a chance to fully explore the boxes of photos, but we almost immediately came across a handful of slides taken during the construction of the Himmelsbach Hut near Russett Lake in 1967. Needless to say, we were excited. Here’s a few:

 

Building the Himmelsbach Hut, October 1967.
Building the Himmelsbach Hut, October 1967.
Flying in materials.
Flying in materials.
Materials were staged out of creekside. Note the curved beams that formed the huts frame.
Materials were staged out of Creekside. Note the curved beams that formed the huts frame.

We recently conducted an oral history interview with none other than Werner Himmelsbach, the retired carpenter who was instrumental in designing and  building his namesake hut, and several others of similar design that came later. In a few weeks time we will follow up on this post with some of Werner’s recollections from building the hut, and more of Dick Chambers’ photos.

We will be also producing more content about the rest of the gothic arch huts in the coming months both on this blog and elsewhere, but to whet your appetite, here’s a map showing all such huts that we currently know about. There are probably more. Do you know of any that aren’t on this map? If so, let us know in the comments.

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