Brew Hut

Summer access: 4.5 hrs
Winter access: 7 hrs
Location: 50.04002, -123.19125
Hut fee: $10 per person per night

About Brew Hut
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About Brew Hut

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. 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: Dec. 31, 2022

Conditions reports
New report
Shoulder Season Weekend - Hut Reconnaissance  Elias Bowman 

8 of us went up, 8 of us came back. Trail had no real issues, we could drive to the trail head before the bridge (49.990584, -123.190993). Big water bar just before the bridge - not drivable, and following the bridge the path is also not drivable. Water bars were essentially impassable, followed by big logs blocking the path. Turn for trailhead from road was easy to miss. Trail was snow free until the small pond, then snow was on and off, until hitting the alpine meadow where snow, lots of it. Snowshoes or skis ;) were essential. We observed no issues with the trail, no avy exposure. Took us 4ish hours up and 3 hours down with faf.

Hut was in good condition - One of the lower windows was broken, but we fixed it with some brute force. Issue with the chimney was documented and will be reported back to the VOC. Woodshed door wasn't closing great. Coleman stove is working, but out of gas. Sign on the door was worn down/hard to read.

Summited Keg and spring skiing was awesome!
May 28, 2023

Brew Mar 3  Graeme B 

Everything in good working order at the hut. Took about 5.5 hrs to get in on Friday March 3rd from the cat skiing parking. Wood shed was about 1/4 full and inside shelves were fully stocked with wood when I left.

Great skiing this weekend!
March 3, 2023

Lots of snow, hut is in good shape  Bryce M 

Stayed at the hut from Feb 28-March 3. The hike into the hut was very difficult due to all the recent snow fall. It took our group 3.5 hours from the Roe FSR to get in. In some wind protected areas, it snowed upwards of another 90cm during our time at the hut.
Everything is in good condition at the hut. Solar panel is clean and the LED light worked great. The wood shed was completely buried in snow, and we had to use our avalanche probes to find it. We dug it out twice during our stay. We restocked Brew Hut with fire wood, but the fire wood supply is down to less than 1/4. So please be conservative when using the wood stove.
We did not use the Coleman cooking stove, so cannot comment if it's working or not. We left lots of drinking water in the big pots and kindling ready for the next group. Avalanche conditions were a bit spicy, but overall, a great experience. We paid through the website.
March 3, 2023

Backcountry ski touring feb 20-22nd  Joshua Derasp 

A buddy and I headed to the hut from the 20th to 22nd. Parked 1km past winter parking lot (must be able to pull over far enough to let ski cat by 15ft or so!). This is about where the snow line is. trail up is long, easy to follow and took about 6 hrs (we are reasonably fast skinners). only 3 or 4 open creek crossings left at this point. On the way up, around 1300m, you skin past the bottom of a 30 ish degree face, lots of evidence of old wet and loose avy debris on these faces. On the way back out we did see some cracking/evidence of instability on these faces as well. no other signs of instability during out time up there. Hut was in good shape. Hard to tell how much wood is left because wood shed is covered in snow! Currently wood is pack to the bottom of the wood shed door. no issues with the wood stove and didn't use the gas stove. Left 20 dollars in the can for my buddy who's not a VOC member!
Feb. 20, 2023