The Hut Project

To celebrate the life our dear friends Cornelius ‘Kees’ Brenninkmeyer and Claire Dixon enjoyed together in BC’s mountains, we are setting out on the Kees & Claire Memorial Hut Project. Our goal is to raise funds and gather collective knowledge and efforts to build a spectacular, beautiful, and practical ski touring and mountaineering hut in their honour, in the Coast Mountain Range for everyone to enjoy. They passed away during a month long ski touring trip on the popular Wapta Traverse route, volunteering as hut custodians along the way. Their connection to hut based ski touring and mountaineering is clear, and we’re very excited to build a new hut in their memory.

Location

We are actively researching and seeking the ideal location for their Memorial Hut in the Coast Mountain Range in and around the Sea to Sky Corridor, between Vancouver and the Duffey Lake Road region north of Pemberton. Considerations include:

• road access to minimize helicopter costs during building phase
• proximity to lake for summer, creek for drinking water
• incredible mountain terrain for… skiing and snowboarding
• close enough to be accessed by foot or ski (some huts are only accessed by snowmobile)
• government and First Nations approvals

Hut Details

The specs for the hut will vary significantly based on the location chosen, the materials that are donated, and the ski/mountaineering club partners we join along the way.

Funding

Funding for the hut will rely entirely on monetary donations. Human hours are greatly appreciated as well when we get to the building stage, but helicopter fuel costs are unavoidable, and make up the bulk of the expenses.

Who

This project has been initiated and led by a small group of Kees & Claire’s close friends who each independently believed this is the best way to keep Kees and Claire’s loves for the outdoors and adventurous spirit alive and share it with everyone. Confident this is what Kees & Claire would love to see, we are actively pursuing our goal.

Board members for the Hut Society are: Jamie Bond, Karen Newby, Tobin Seagel, Tracy Lee, Laurie Block, Gabrielle Newman and Andre Charland

But we can’t do it without your help, thanks for being involved!