Brew Hut

Summer access: 4.5 hrs
Winter access: 7 hrs
Location: 50.04002, -123.19125
Hut fee: $15 per person per night

About Brew Hut
hut.display_photo_alt_text
About Brew Hut

Notice: Wood at the hut is green and hard to light. We would recommend bringing dry kindling.

This hut was built in 2005 and sits at 1686 m on an exposed alpine ridge just south of Mt. Brew. It sleeps about 12 people comfortably, but it has fit as many as 20. The hut is open to non-motorized, non-commercial users.

The Brew area receives huge amounts of snow in winter and is a popular destination for backcountry skiing. In summer, hikers visit the heather meadows around Brew Lake, swim in the tarns, and walk up nearby Mt. Brew.

The hut has a wood stove (winter use only), a solar-powered light, and an outhouse. Firewood should be used sparingly, because it is carried in by volunteers. There are small tarns west of the hut for drinking water (no swimming!), although in winter it is sometimes necessary to melt snow. For more information, see the VOC Wiki.

How to get there

Turn onto Chance Creek FSR from Hwy 99 (1.8 km south of the Garibaldi Rubble Creek turnoff). The road is rough but passable for 2WD vehicles until near km 4 or km 5. In winter, park in the ploughed parking lot at km 1.6, shared with snowmobilers and Powder Mtn Catskiing. Continue up the road and keep right at major junctions. In summer, park at the new bridge over Roe Creek (km 5.9). For the next 2.5 km, the road is heavily deactivated and is slow travel on skis (but fine in summer). Stay right at major junctions until the trail leaves the road in a cutblock (50.00728, -123.18716; easy to miss). Walk through the forest to Brew Lake, then follow gentle slopes northwest then north to a col. The hut is just east of the col.

In winter, this route is 13.2 km and 1300 m elevation gain. In summer, it is 9.0 km and 990 m elevation. The last section of trail is in open subalpine terrain, is unmarked, and is covered by snow well into the summer. Whiteout conditions are common in every season, and you should have a GPS or be proficient navigating with a map and compass to reach the hut. In winter and spring, there are a few short sections of avalanche terrain.

2022 Brew GPS track

Last updated: Feb. 14, 2025

Conditions reports
New report
Trail for the most part well marked  Kieva D 

The hut was nice and tidy when we made it up, with the firework shed pretty much full. We struggled a bit at around 6 km to find the trail and got lost for a bit. Consistent snow coverage begins at around 1400m just before the tree line breaks (last couple kms). We didn’t see any wildlife on the track. Thanks for all you do VOC!
June 23, 2025

Mosquitoes and snow  Sasha soda 

Definitely need 4wd with higher clearance since fsr contitions are getting worse every year.

Mosquito land for the first 7kms
Last 3kms up to brew was mostly snow covered with patches of dirt and streams of water. With no mosquitoes, very few at top.

Hut in good clean condition. There is a coleman stove at the top, not sure if it works.

Some dude slept with his dog up on the second floor

Lake snow covered.
June 22, 2025

No problems  M Cook 

Road in good shape, newly graded as far as the mine on the day I drove up. Still lots of snow from well below the lake.
May 27, 2025

Not the best conditions  Philippe Leblanc 

It took our group just shy of 6 hours to get to the hut. The trail is not in the greatest condition. With the warm weather, expect heavy wet snow during the day and a thick icy crust on the way down the next day. The view up there is incredible and was worth the climb. The hut is very cozy and has a few extra sleeping mats and sleeping bags. The wood stove is in GREAT NEED OF ATTENTION/MAINTENANCE. The smoke won't go up the chimney until it's warm enough to bring the smoke up which may take about 40 mins. During that time smoke accumulates in the hut, which is not great. We did open the stove key to get fresh air in from the bottom and tried to find the driest wood, but everything in the hut was wet wood and took a long time to start burning.

Beside that everything else was nice and overall good experience!

Cheers,
Phil
March 2, 2025