What is the avalanche hazard involved in reaching the Mountain Lakes Hut? My plan would be an approach via Furry Creek but I am open to other suggestions.

Thanks!

I had a fun trip there last year.

I'm curious to know how far can you drive up to the Furry Creek FSR, it's 11km plus 7km to the hut..

I would be worried traveling through Cyrtina Creek going up  below the western wall of Ben More (WInd Lake), it's  steep, an avalanche prone and avalanche trap.

Past Wind lake it's mellow rolling terrain, then a little steep slope  down to the hut.

Have fun and Good Luck

http://deanperezbc.blogspot.ca/2013_06_01_archive.html

I thought the normal winter route was to keep east of Cyrtina Creek.

Dean's post shows the best route in in the summer. I haven't done it myself, but I know a few parties who've gone to the hut in the winter by ascending through the trees just above the clearcut shown prominently in the image in Dean's post (essentially travelling straight up on roads and then above (starting on the west) the clearcut west / left of the summer trail).  That route avoids the avalanche prone slopes that you have to traverse on the way to Wind Lake.

So are we talking about accessing from the red line on this map?

The winter route I've heard of is roughly in line with the red line on this map (very schematic line).  Dave Scanlon has told me before that he's approach via this route so would be a good person to check with if you want confirmation.

Hi There,

I'm looking at hiking up to the hut sometime of the next few weeks.  Conditions now will likely be different than when the original post was written; however, I'm curious how things went.  Did you have any issues gaining access to the FSR?  Were you able to get a key to open the gate at Furry creek?

Cheers!
Rob

I did not go in the end. But I have been there in the summer.

The green line on the linked map above is the summer (what I would try now) route.

https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msid=205776076097010424342.0004f3f3f803a0e97e204&msa=0&ll=49.591185,-123.099661&spn=0.029655,0.067291

It would be nice to see this information on our website. If we think the hut is secret and descriptons of how to get to it only assessable to members then we should put it in a login place. I think the BCMC website should be the authoritative place for information on the BCMC huts.

Nice, thanks for the info Ben!  And I agree, it would be nice to see a bit more accessible information on the huts.

Did you have any difficulty getting the key for the Furry Creek FSR gate?

Cheers,
Rob

For the past many years the gate at the top of the hill has been open, and was still open as of two weekends ago.

A friend of mine talked to someone at the Squamish Forest Office and they said that Mining is planning on putting in a new gate soon because of liability concerns with the old mine shafts and weren't sure who would be managing the gate after that, but at least as of two weeks ago access was still fine.

Did you every actually need a key from the BCMC to complete this?  Or does the route noted in your google map avoid the gated area?

Cheers!  Weather is going to be nice this weekend.

Do you know if the new gate has gone in yet?

As of May 10 there was no gate on the route indicated in the map above (approaching from the entrance at the top of the hill just past Furry Creek)

Access to BCMC huts isn't a secret and we should have detailed access info on the website. I've been asking our Hut & Cabin volunteers for the info for over a year. I will post the info on the website if someone can give clear directions. At the moment, it's at best quite confusing regarding access to Mountain Lake Hut.

Hey guys,

I accompanied Rob (rsimzer) to the hut this weekend. Can confirm that there is not yet a gate at the entrance to the FSR at the top of the hill (Britannia Creek FSR) but there is the foundations for one and it looks like it will be installed very soon. We took some picture of the approach, where should I forward these and the directions?