VOC HUTS

beautiful long weekend!  Joanna G. 

Had four days at the hut over the long weekend. We made a hole to get water closer to the hut and the ice close to shore was maybe 50 cm thick. The creek is also open if you head up a bit.

Noticed little tiny drips of water coming through the new roof in a couple spots in the loft but nothing significant. I Would be worth looking out for to see there is an issue. The white gas is running pretty low so if you plan to use the heater despite the warning below you will want to bring some.

Skied to Sentinel bay on Monday and the skin track close to the lake shore went by many small patches of open water between Sphinx and Sentinel, definitely give the shore a couple hundred meters of space.

The magnetic bug curtain was falling down so we took it off and put it in one of the boxes under the platform at the back of the hut.
Feb. 17, 2025

White gas issues  Patrick S 

Stayed a night at the tail end of the garibaldi neve traverse. Hut is in good condition, although we packed out as much extra garbage as we could. The lake is frozen, but we felt some settlements as we walked over. Guessing it was just a sun crust settling on facets. Observed ice over 6” thick.

Worth noting - we ran the white gas heater until the carbon monoxide alarm went off. I don’t think white gas is a good idea in there. We did light it correctly outside and it was burning 10m when we put it inside.

Paid our fees in cash in the box
Feb. 14, 2025

The lake is frozen!  Anya Boardman 

Perfect conditions! We could start skinning right from the parking lot. The coverage on the switchbacks was not bad--on the way down most people started booting around 1-2 km from the end, but we skied all the way to the last turn before the parking lot (ski-ability depends heavily on your aversion to hitting rocks). The lake is very frozen except for a bit right at the outflow where the trail first drops down to the lake. We skied across the bridge and got on to the lake by the warming hut and didn't have any issues. The hut is in great shape, the roof is still attached and the outhouse is lovely. The carbon monoxide/fire alarm seems to be working -- we set it off a few times cooking sausage and risotto. Make sure to hit the "check" button in the middle when you arrive, though! All in all great weekend, thanks VOC hut crew :)
Feb. 9, 2025

Heavy Snowfall  Mehran Hamidi 

Didn’t cross the lake, there was thigh deep snow on it and no broken trail. It would’ve required at least 4 people to cross and break the trail
Feb. 1, 2025

Didn't go - uncertain of ice conditions  Mark Bonar 

We weren't confident the ice would stay stable throughout our stay, as we were expecting sunny weather and temps of 5-6°C. Cold snap over the coming weekend should do the trick.

We did go out to Taylor Meadows, switchbacks up from Rubble Creek are walkable to at least the Taylor Meadows/Garibaldi Lake junction. That's about where we put our skis on. Quite icy so would recommend micro spikes, especially for the descent. Was able to ski down the trail to within 3.5km of the trailhead but it was pretty sporty.
Jan. 26, 2025

Magnetic bug Mesh door curtain loose  Keith S 

A minor issue was that the magnetic bug mesh door was hanging loosely. Tried to secure it with some duct tape and seemed better. Hopefully this fix will hold for a while.
White gas level getting perhaps a little low in the can.
Trail to outhouse was good, a few shrubs growing over close to this path in one or two places.
Otherwise all looked great to us, no signs of mice in the hut. An amazing hut and location!
Aug. 11, 2024

Great summer trip  Chelsea L 

Hut is in great condition. The bench and floor again showed evidence of a minor roof leak - just a brown-coloured water stain that we could clean off. There was a dead mouse on the rocks that form the step up to the door - but this didn't seem to be a bad omen as our trip was a good one! Maybe it was Gavyn's handiwork? The Coleman worked well. The one downside on this trip were the bugs!
Aug. 9, 2024

Packraft Possibilities!  Gavyn S 

A little over an hour of paddling the north coast of Garibaldi Lake to get to the Burton Hut. Hut is in great condition (especially when contrasted with the two huts up Sentinel Bay), but the magnetic mesh netting on the front door could use some attention in the near future (Top held by failing string and velcro).

I dispatched one of the resident mice - but a second had returned/taken up residence by the end of the night. Trail up from Garibaldi Lake and to the outhouse are in good condition. Cannot speak to trails down from Gentian.
July 31, 2024

Summer's almost here; hut in great shape  Chelsea L 

No issues with the hut - it's fantastic. Got the Coleman going, best tip is to download the instructions from the VOC Wiki and follow them to a T. Snow is melted around the hut and in the flat areas where we set up tents. Some snowbanks still in the hills/gullies of the moraine and along parts of the lake shore. Water level in the lake is really low. Bugs weren't bad yet!
June 22, 2024

Cabin in Great Shape, winter access is getting hairy  Jackson B 

Access to the south side of Sphinx Bay from Sentinel Bay was easy. Lake ice was thick (where the sun doesn't hit it) and it took us probably 45 minutes to get to the inlet. Getting around the inlet was extremely difficult. We would have either had to go far upstream to cross the river or risk the thinning lake ice to get around.

Access to Sphinx Bay from Taylor Meadows side (via the lake) is now impossible as the lake ice is likely too thin to traverse.
May 18, 2024

Danger of thin ice at stream outlet.  Steve Grant 

I think your information about access to the hut should mention that winter visitors should not go directly through the convenient low point of the gap in the moraine where the stream flows. The stream keeps the ice thin and someone falling through could be swept under the ice. Same for fetching water from the hut. Maybe there should be a warning posted in the hut also.
Thanks!
April 23, 2024

Soot on exterior of cabin roof.  Steve Grant 

There is soot around some seams in the aluminum sheathing near the top of the south side of the roof. Actually it might be a good idea for the roof to vent, but they could admit moisture and cause rot. Other than that I noticed nothing wrong with the cabin. Travel on the lake is excellent. Picture of soot in SWBC Peak Baggers Facebook group post.
April 23, 2024

Good times for easter  David Bossu 

We spend 3 nights camping beside the hut for easter (April 1). Lake was super easy, smooth hard in the morning. Awesome paint job inside the hut, thanks. I tried using the hut stoves. One coleman has a faulty pump. The other wouldn't go in jet mode. They both need maintenance. There was a few different groups, we were the last to leave the area. I picked up a black sea to summit drybag with some clothes inside, forgotten by someone. 604 652 7484 if you want it back. Skied some powder one day, summited sphinx the other day. Mint! David
April 2, 2024

Lake is Frozen!  Connor Jakes 

Snow starts at about 1000m, the lake is still frozen under 2-6 inches of snow. I dug down with an ice axe and measured a 4-5" solid ice surface over about a foot of slushy water, with another solid ice surface below the slush which I couldn't break through. I'd expect a few more weeks of safe travel across the ice, weather dependant. The snow froze overnight into a solid supportive crust that was softening by 11am in direct sunlight but persisting until early afternoon in the shade.
March 24, 2024

Lake wasn't frozen so cancelled trip  Tim Kostamo 

Warm year, reports showed no ice on the lake, so cancelled our Burton trip this year
Feb. 17, 2024

Did not attempt with avalanche warnings.  Kevin Flynn 

Please read title 😁
May 1, 2023

great 4 days at hut!  Juliette J 

Hut in great condition but stove not working.
The snow conditions were crusty and icy, especially very icy going down on the forest trail. 2km of approach on the trail before being able to skin up. Some good corn snow on the face of Deception Peak and Glacier Pikes.
March 22, 2023

Moderately Heinous  Jessica D 

- The Barrier is in, but the snow is mashed potatoes so take good care, easy enough to find your way to the switchbacks with 2.5km left of them
- Switchbacks had some rocks on them so if you like your skis start the walk at around 1.5km left, I guess I dont like mine that much because I did ski to 1km left, the trail wasnt totally awful
- Bring microspikes for the walk if you are at all worried about walking downhill in ski boots on some icy patches
Didnt actually stay at the hut just posting this here as I tented in Sphinx Bay after doing the Neve
March 19, 2023

Rubble Creek Trail VERY dangerous  AJ Dreher 

Went up to Sphinx Feb 23-25. To echo the previous conditions report (which we did not see before we left) the bottom 3ish kilometers of the Rubble Creek Trail is incredibly icy and dangerous--on the way up it took us 1.5 hrs to travel the first 2k of the trail carrying our overnight ski packs. On the way down about 2k from the parking lot I slid off the trail from a barely moving, sitting position, and slid 50m down the steep, icy hillside. I'm very lucky that I fell where I did--not into the creek or off cliffs. PLEASE take this trail seriously. Bring crampons/microspikes if you decide to go.
Feb. 25, 2023

Windy. Cold. Did I mention it was windy and cold?  Tache S 

Door would not close, we figured out that it was because of ice build up and fixed the problem. Had the hut all to ourselves which was nice, probably because it was sooo incredibly cold out. The most treacherous part of the entire trip was a 2-3km section of pure ice on the lower part of the trail up from the rubble creek parking. Coming down that section of the trail in ski boots without crampons was terrifying!! The road up was fairly clear and our 2wd made it no problem.
Feb. 22, 2023

Pre-Family Day TR  Emily L 

Went up to Burton hut just prior to the Feb long weekend. Road and parking lot were plowed a few days prior - our 2WD low clearance car with chains made it with no problems, although sedans without chains were getting stuck. Skinned from the lot for the first 2km of the Rubble Creek trail with lots of careful steps over rocks, roots, and creeks - snow coverage was better from 2km onwards. Followed a nice skin track across the lake. Took about 5.5 hrs car to hut. Hut seemed in good shape. Second day, climbed Deception Peak - snow quality was amazing. Witnessed a handful of small, natural avalanches from a few days ago (size 0.5-1) on rocky, shallow, wind affected terrain on the sides of Guard mountain leading to the D-G col. Ski down the glacier was top notch. Brought rope, harnesses, etc. but glacier coverage looked great. Skied out that afternoon from Burton back to the car - took 4 hours (skin skied to combat the ice until 3km from lot, then bootpacked the rest).
Feb. 18, 2023

The ol Crusty trail  Nick B 

Mandatory walking for the first 2 ish km. Road is drivable, rutted and a little icy. Hut is in good shape, one stove's pump may be broken and the other one leaks fuel from the valve but is still working alright. Do not grab snow right near the hut as there is pee within a 6 meter radius of the hut door. Snow conditions are 1" thick crust with about 8 cm of snow on top pretty much all the way to 2600m. Rained Sunday night.
Feb. 12, 2023

Hard work and lots of fun!  Alex M 

On the way up I was able to get most of the way to the lake with micro spikes, did the last 2km with snowshoes. From the bridge to the campground there was very deep snow drifts with no obvious path which made for a tough slog. The snowshoe across the lake was two hours of hard work. There is 2-3 feet of snow on top of the ice.

Hut was in good condition. No mice or visible damage. Had to dig out the doorway as I was the first person up there in a few days. I didn't use any of the stoves, lantern or heater as I brought my own gear and there was no gas in any of them so I could test them to see if they are working.

It snowed about 35cm overnight which made the hike back to the Taylor Meadows/Black Tusk junction considerably more difficult. Trail from bridge to the junction was drifted over in some places but over all the trail is in good condition.
Feb. 10, 2023

Good Conditions at the Burton Hut  Brendan Dawe 

Party of 11 at the burton hut Jan 21-22, mixed ski/snowshoe party. Hiked the first 3-4 km due to no base in the snowpack.

Lake was solidly covered over, with 2 feet+ thickness. Snow was thinner on the far side of the lake, some of the snowshoe-ers had issues with spalling due to uncovering the wet snow under the surface powder on the lake.

Hut was in good repair, no issues encountered.
Jan. 22, 2023

Lake Frozen  Thomas Morrissey 

Thin but nearly continuous snow coverage from the Rubble Cr TH. Lake was frozen, with a layer of wet slush between lake ice and surface snow. Hut in good condition. A few bits of mouse-chewed styrofoam insulation were found on the floor upon entry.
Dec. 31, 2022

Road plowed  Vincent Hanlon 

The access road to the Rubble Ck parking lot is being plowed "after every major snowfall" this year. The plow company hadn't plowed it on the way in, but BC Parks checked the road Saturday morning, called the plow company, and it was cleared by the time we left on Sunday. We skinned up the trail from the car, but on the way down we had to walk half or more of the switchbacks because coverage was thin below 1400 m or so.

The lake isn't frozen, but thin ice was starting to form over a portion of it. We didn't try to visit the hut, but we saw the lake from Taylor Meadows.
Dec. 4, 2022

Hut escaped flooding  Vincent Hanlon 

Despite the recent flooding at Garibaldi Lake that closed the lakeside campground, Sphinx Hut seems to have stayed dry the whole time (same goes for the outhouse). The bugs were quite bad, however, and the gravel flats just S of the hut were flooded. There is a mouse living in the hut and it's difficult to keep the swarms of mosquitoes out.
Aug. 7, 2022

All appeared good!  Darcy Wittenburg 

Everything looked in good working order in the Hut. It was my first time there so I have nothing to compare it to but nothing stood out to me. No issues. The mice are still there though but that seems inevitable!
July 25, 2022

Mosquito hell, good times.  Jack McCutchan 

Pack-rafted to the hut, found it in excellent condition. Could benefit from a fly screen on the top window, even better if there was another mosquito-proof vent down low too. We were choosing between mosquito hell outside and a sauna inside for the evening. One friendly mouse causing a commotion in the night. Solar light and hut crocs were very much appreciated
July 24, 2022

Link Pat - Trip 4person July16  Link Patrick 

Trail was good, still a lot of snow cover. We took the Castle Towers trail to approach the hut from the north. However, after dropping into Gentian pass, we decided to turn around and make a day hike out of it. We made this decision due to lack of experience with glacier travel within our group.
So, we did not make it to the hut or the sphinx glacier.

Great time and great views.
July 20, 2022

Burton Hut Trip April 9th-10th  Matt Wagstaff 

Great weekend up at Burton Hut. Hut appeared to be in great shape and thanks to the previous party for bringing up mouse traps as we did not hear any mouse activity during our stay.

Snow was consistent for skinning/skiing above the first switchback on the trail (although thin in places and the snowline appeared likely to climb quickly), and the lake was still in good travel condition with no sign of melting even around the creeks yet. We had some skin glopping when crossing the lake in the afternoon in bright sun and we found it quicker to remove skins and tour across without them. Our plan was to attempt Mt. Carr and Castle Towers but unfortunately whiteout conditions in the alpine made us turn back at the upper lake just before getting on to the glacier.
April 10, 2022

Burton Hut in good condition  George Jasper 

Able to drive to the parking lot at the trail-head, hiked until the 4km mark and put our skis on. The lake was still solid. We heard there was some mice in the cabin from recent reports so picked up 4 mice traps on the way. Caught 2 our first night, second night no activity. We left the 4 (clean) traps up there, cheese seemed to be the preferred choice. Took a couple empty butane canisters out with us, still a 4L white gas canister left to come out. Our 3rd trip to the area, been 3 years since our last. The new outhouse was a nice improvement, and was in great shape.
March 30, 2022

Winter Season Might Be Over  Karen W 

On our way up, we were shocked to see Lesser Garibaldi Lake half defrosted already. When we started to cross Garibaldi Lake, we could already see patches of blue shimmering through. There was little snow left on the lake, and the top layer was thawing. We tried to zig-zag around the blue patches, but a third into the lake, we were sinking 10-15 cm deep with our snow shoes and got wet feet. We were sad not to make it to the hut but wanted to be on the safe side and turned around. Gladly, we also made it back safely.
March 28, 2022

Fresh Snow, overcast day  Gabby Langer 

Road to trailhead had no snow. Left the rubble creek parking lot on March 20th at 10am. Had to walk with skies on our bags for just under 1km, about 45mins. Switchbacks were in good condition up and down, not much ice on the trail. Saw a few other parties on our way up. Lake was completely frozen, clouds were pretty low an visibility was moderate most of the day. Made it to the hut at 4:30pm. We were the only party at Burton hut Sunday night. Hut was clean, but lots of mice, we used our own stoves, there were a few pots in the hut we used. It snowed about 15cm overnight, went over to a small hill NE of the hut, dug a pit (there is a MIN posted on Avalanche.ca). Left the hut at 11:30am, made it back to the car at 3:30pm, had to walk out about 750m, didn't see any other parties Monday. Snow was sticky on our trip back across the lake, we used ski wax and it was a life saver!!!
March 21, 2022

Deep snow at some spots, doors are not closing properly  Ondrej P 

Road to trailhead is clean, microspikes recommended at around 3km mark, snowshoes needed starting from Garibaldi lake. Snow is quite deep in some areas although manageable. Hut is in good condition but doors are not closing properly due to an ice buildup. I've tried to clean it up a little with limited tools but it's frozen through. Left small spare gas cannister at the hut for emergency use.
March 6, 2022

Burton Hut Feb 16th-17th  Nick P 

The road to the trailhead is mainly snow free. Just a few patches of ice but any car can make it.
Trail to the lake is 99% compact snow were micro spikes are better than snowshoes.
There is about 50cm of snow on the top of the ice on the lake.
Ice thickness is over 16cm (this is the length of my ice screw and we didn't get to the water)
We made very good tracks leaving from Battleship Islands.
The hut is in pretty good shape, no damage to report.
Although the cooking are isn't very clean.
We packed up a few empty gas containers that were empty and some leftover food that have been left behind.

Great place, very lovely.
I'll be back!
Feb. 17, 2022