Fairy Meadows - ACC

Simply one of the best place for alpine shredding in BC, if not North America. Big glaciers, big granite spires, big peaks. You need to have an A+ bag of ski mountaineering tools to come here - or hire a guide. Crevasses are getting bigger, whiteout navigation is real here, and avalanches happen. Not too many places to hide if things are tricky. Hire or guide or know what you are doing to come here. It is steeped in history of self sufficiency as its an Alpine Club of Canada Hut, so it’s simple/basic, but has enough to get you through. Warm, tight, busy. And its a lottery to get a spot at the hut, so you can’t really plan ahead.

Lodge *

Terrain ****

Snow ****

Strengths

• The biggest alpine/glacier terrain. Big fall lines, awesome peaks, chutes, even some backyard pillows in a small tree triangle if the weather goes south…but you don’t come here for that.

• Cheaper price as its an ACC hut and you can easily come self sufficient, which isn’t easy to do at most of the commercial lodges.

• Disconnected. That is a strength and a weakness. It sure is nice to not have wifi everywhere you go in this day and age.

Weaknesses

• The lodge and its massive group size. 20 people packed in with bench style sleeping gets old after a week. Everyone lives on top of each other there, so it’s not as relaxing as other lodges. No custodian also means it gets mistreated. There is a killer sauna/bucket shower though to keep you fresh. You also need to haul water.

• Lack of info/comms/weather. If you are not with a guide or know the local frequencies or have an inreach you won’t get any snow and weather info, which can make it hard to plan your days.

When and why to ski at Fairy Meadows? February through May. You have an appetite for big complex glaciated ski mountaineering and you know how to use a compass in a whiteout and pull your friend out of a crevasse in a few minutes time. If you don’t have a radio, rope and inreach and don’t know how to use them, hire a guide! Don’t count on a friend.