BC Heli-hut advice/etiquette/etc.

[zion zig zag]

I can’t stand sleeping with ear plugs in. Ymmv.

And definitely spring for a cook if you can talk the others into it. Hot soup and appetizers as you roll in from a day of skiing, then sauna and beers, then dinner. Hot coffee and fresh bread when you wake up. Prepared lunches. So worth it.


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[XXX-er]

Dumb question RE: Skins

2 sets?

Make sure the pair you got and all your gear for that matter works before you go in I

Last January I got on a trip with 1/2 day notice, checked the skins and they were migrating glue so I'm regluing skins at midnight

Don't fry the glue by hanging them too close to the stove

[XXX-er]

I can’t stand sleeping with ear plugs in. Ymmv.

And definitely spring for a cook if you can talk the others into it. Hot soup and appetizers as you roll in from a day of skiing, then sauna and beers, then dinner. Hot coffee and fresh bread when you wake up. Prepared lunches. So worth it.


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This
I've done both, By the time you either buy not enough or more likely too much food, haphazardly cook probably too much food, have to deal with leftovers that don't dovetail with the excessive leftovers the other people cooked

You should have gone catered and just payed for a cook cuz you are sposed to be on a fucking vacation

[Vt-Freeheel]

Don't be the last guy ready to roll in the morning every fucking day. These guys should go on a trip by themselves. Watch how people are moving in the morning and pace yourself to the folks getting ready first. Bring something to read and a cool surprise, single malt, chocolate covered bacon ect. to share at the right moment.
And have fun above all else.

[lifelinksplit]

Okay never mind all this advice, someone link up the most epic bachelor party/cocaine/hookers/sleds hut TR ever.

[North]

I'll echo that the weight limit is not to be feared. Compact is more important. You shouldn't need anything more than a pack and small/medium duffel for personal gear, and that should allow you to pack pretty luxuriously. After seeing what an exiting group had at the LZ, I went back to the van and grabbed some luxuries (powsurfer, snow boots, more booze).

Our group split up the spares and more serious rescue gear (1 extra pr small BSL skis, 1 extra pr large BSL skis, extra poles, etc.), and this worked well.

If not hiring a cook definitely have everybody take turns feeding the whole group. Amenities vary but you can almost always count on decent stovetop burners. Ovens are a crapshoot so don't saddle yourself with a meal that requires it. I procrastinated last year and my usual go to meals got claimed, so I allowed myself to be talked into pizza. Group was stoked but I think I cooked for about 5hrs that night.

[North]

What are people's thoughts on terrain etiquette for areas with multiple adjacent huts?

On my last trip my group got slapped on the wrist and then threatened with removal from the hut for skiing in adjacent drainages.

In our case, at the start of our trip it had been about 10
days since the last snowfall. We had a fit and ambitious group that was interested and capable of big days and poking around for leftovers.

One of our neighboring huts didn't seem to mind sharing ridges and areas at the edges of "their" zone. Our other neighbor was a guided party and after watching the guide take his party down boilerplate solar aspects on day 1,we found out he complained to the operator about us skiing the shaded aspects at the edge of "their" zone that same day.

[kootenayskier]

What are people's thoughts on terrain etiquette for areas with multiple adjacent huts?

On my last trip my group got slapped on the wrist and then threatened with removal from the hut for skiing in adjacent drainages.

In our case, at the start of our trip it had been about 10
days since the last snowfall. We had a fit and ambitious group that was interested and capable of big days and poking around for leftovers.

One of our neighboring huts didn't seem to mind sharing ridges and areas at the edges of "their" zone. Our other neighbor was a guided party and after watching the guide take his party down boilerplate solar aspects on day 1,we found out he complained to the operator about us skiing the shaded aspects at the edge of "their" zone that same day.

I think I wouldn’t choose to spend my time or money at an operation that attempted to suppress my natural powder skiing instincts. Fuck that shit.

[XXX-er]

I wonder if that was the GAH trip last january/ Feb ?

. We got there and sleds were poaching the area around the hut so the assistant went out and said " hey man we are trying to run a hut trip here could you please respect that ? " So they left but he got pictures of everyone.

Then the party up the drainage poached the area twice, on the 3rd time they kicked off a size 3 with a big crown to ground which dropped 700 meters into our tenure ( a truly impressive aviy ! ) we were in that drainage looking for pow, fortunately we were not under it at the time.

That was the last straw for the lead guide who wasn't expecting and seemed to think incoming from above was dangerous so he got on the horn, the assistant commented the other party sounded American from how they talk about what they were doing.

So even if it wasn't you that is what tenure poaching looks like to the poachee who is trying to run a guiding business

I think there was an abscessed tooth in that other hut so they were on the horn for medical help ( we had 2 doctors and a pharmacist ) and after much discussion amongst the pro's about what can happen
I seem to remember they recommended buddy evac and eventually I believe he did

IME there is at least 1 md on every hut trip and usually at least one Deadhead

[hutash]

Lots of good advice. I don't know about 5his specific hut, but in general, bring extra booze and share. Follow the hut protocol and chop 8n a bit of 3xtra help. The hut may have a cook, but he or she is not a house elf. Help prep and clean up...it is greatly appreciated. Don't bogart the drying racks. Be friendly and help and advise others. this may be your first or fiftieth trip, but somebody else is on their first or fiftyith trip, so asktshare advise. Be the guy to give up the front seat to the newbie. Lee and Sharon did for me, and I gladly took the backseat on the esy out. Tip well.

[LeeLau]

Be the guy to give up the front seat to the newbie. Lee and Sharon did for me, and I gladly took the backseat on the esy out. Tip well.

The look on your face when you got the hot seat was priceless D Deserved

[Andyski]

Know your own fitness/ski ability/risk tolerance extremely well and try to match up similar people with similar goals. Speak up. If the gnarbros want to go ski widow maker couloir or whatever and you really want to ski 30 degree hippy pow, speak up and see if someone else wants what you do. There's almost always someone who does.

I've seen this go sideways in both ways: Rad person being pissy all day about skiing chill stuff and conservative person bailing on the top of the objective everyone "agreed to" in the hut that morning, screwing at least some of the group from skiing it.

Also: Split the fuck up. Unless you're going to do very modest terrain, don't let a herd mentality take over and end up with an 8-person group. They suck to manage. 8 people down a couloir? Nah. Huge groupthink discussions? No thanks. ~4-person groups are pretty well established to be safest. This can be a big problem with hut trips.

Related: Get as much beta as possible yourself (maps, GPX, run/terrain descriptions, etc.) before the trip so you can be self-sufficient. This enables avoiding the problems named above. Otherwise, expert halo problems become rampant - Guide Gary and Rad Rob become the defacto deciders of itineraries but aren't actually guides on this trip, so they're not going to make sure everyone is comfortable and able, etc. Also, the less rad (especially guys) want to go with the cool group so they can look like they can hang, even if the can't or don't even really want to. Set the table to make it alright to do what you want, not what someone else does.

Lastly: If you brought the least fit/least skilled skier, YOU partner with them. Don't pawn them off of someone else because you want to get rad unless it's very clearly OK. You hang back in the skin track at the crux and help them. You sweep and make sure they get down. You help them get their skins on after they fall off into the snow. Don't expect the rest of the group to teach the new person. These trips are precious, and it's very unlikely anyone on it signed up to spend a good deal of it teaching someone they don't know how to ski in the backcountry.

[zion zig zag]

Lastly: If you brought the least fit/least skilled skier, YOU partner with them. Don't pawn them off of someone else because you want to get rad unless it's very clearly OK. You hang back in the skin track at the crux and help them. You sweep and make sure they get down. You help them get their skins on after they fall off into the snow. Don't expect the rest of the group to teach the new person. These trips are precious, and it's very unlikely anyone on it signed up to spend a good deal of it teaching someone they don't know how to ski in the backcountry.

Man, this is true. We almost had a situation last year on a trip with a group of friends. Tensions leading up to the trip and the hand-wringing that was involved was interesting for sure.

[benk]

If you’ve done hut trips before you’ll be good. The trip leader should set ground rules on day one. No ski boots in the main area keep the place clean, sweep, get water, move wood, start the sauna, chop steps, do dishes when you have free time.

Our trip had groups of 3 cycle through cooking, dishes, and provide activity for only one night for the whole hut and it worked great. You had one big night of cooking and cleaning but had full service meals for the rest of the trip.

I’ll second packing tidy over weight. Weight isn’t an issue, just make sure it’s easy to handle to and from the helo. Wine boxes and duck tape work great.

[Lawless]

A few things to add to the good info already. I'll re-up the idea to get a cook. Way, way worth any extra money, but in the end it probably saves you money. It definitely saves you a lot of time and hassle. Help out the hut custodian whenever you can. He/she will know the surrounding terrain better than anyone and will know what will be skiing best. Generally, you just want to be the guy that is always helping the greater good. You want to be the guy that at the end of the trip the others are thinking, "glad we had that guy on the trip". It will get you invited on any future hut trips that any one from the group gets in on.

Other thoughts are to just make sure you're put together on the fly in and out days. I like having a keg or two with some loose cans. Duct tape the cans together for the flight. It's nice to be able to stash beers for people on the skin track home if someone goes home early. I think most huts have it, but you'd want to make sure they have some colored tape to mark bags that are leaving and those that are arriving as it can be a shitshow with a heli dropping off people and picking people up at the same time. It can be downright chaotic.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Lastly: If you brought the least fit/least skilled skier, YOU partner with them. Don't pawn them off of someone else because you want to get rad unless it's very clearly OK. You hang back in the skin track at the crux and help them. You sweep and make sure they get down. You help them get their skins on after they fall off into the snow. Don't expect the rest of the group to teach the new person. These trips are precious, and it's very unlikely anyone on it signed up to spend a good deal of it teaching someone they don't know how to ski in the backcountry.

Man, this is true. We almost had a situation last year on a trip with a group of friends. Tensions leading up to the trip and the hand-wringing that was involved was interesting for sure.

[XXX-er]

We need to talk about how you will be getting to BC, if you are driving ( assuming you have no felony convictions but thats another thread eh ) its no problemo cuz you will just have your stuff with you,

But if you are flying Air Canada they will lose your shit just for fun.

I'm kidding eh ! Actualy the people's airline are just inept ( which amounts to the same thing ) and so if you made 4 connecting flight from lets say Durango I will bet you a case of brown pops your skis were on the same flight as you mebe once

I picked up some skiers from the airport and AC had left skis off for the Hut and for the cat ski op, the cat skiers were irate at the clerk but the hut skiers were chill, the guide said they had left his skis off the plane so many times in the past he really didn't care cuz they would be delivered to the chopper base in the AM and it just means he didn't have to carry them into the hotel that night, so if you are flying the only thing you can do is not cut it all too close OR plan to ski at an area in BC/Alberta for a day just in case your stuff gets left behind/ lost it will probably show up in a day

and BTW if you fly ... carry on your boots

Now lets say you got all your gear at the heli base, so you gotta make sure your stuff gets on the heli going in/not put back on the heli going out and at the end of trip your gear sent out/not sent back in, this is usually done by tying different colored surveyor's tape to color code gear going in vs gear going out, usually coordinated by the pilot or the guide or whomever does that shit

from the expediting I've done it was enough fun keeping it all straight for 1 hut but at GAH there were 4 huts with I believe 60+ people coming out and 60+ people going in which means gear for 120+ people to get mixed up/ misdirected, you had to remove the color you came in with to use a different color going out ... a real circus eh

usually the chopper bulks out before it weights out, I have seen a B2 pickup and sling an entire Can Dig/tools/ garbage

[kalisto]

pack as much food in burnable packaging. cardboard boxes. paper bags, etc (assuming weather is half decent flying in). then after you eat everything, you can burn all the packaging and don't have to fly it out.

Chances are you'll run out of space before you exceed the weight limit.

post edit: don't just leave them in those boxes when you get to the hut though. usually there'll be plastic bins for food storage. they are there for a reason. don't be that person leaving open food laying around.

[Mudfoot]

My first hut trip with a big group was planned by some experienced friends. It was two nights in the hut with some skiing on the afternoon coming in and the morning going out. We all had a blast but 10 people in a small hut creates a lot of friction. Their words of wisdom were that if you stay two nights you remain friends, three nights and things start to get weird. Group dynamics cannot be anticipated.

[XXX-er]

like most guys I don't piss on my hands and possibly don't always wash them, you DO NOT want to skip hand washing in a big group situ such as this, i've seen illness race thru a group of skiers and paddlers, you want to definatley NOT double dip into anything, definatley wash hands and definatley use hand sanitizer ... take precautions against illness

the local hut would get this happen from time to time when they had walking water (milk pails from the stream dipped out in the kitchen with a big ladle ) when they switched to running water coming out of the tap piped in from behind the morraine that kind of illness went away BUT reappeared the year water froz up and they had to go back to walking water

just in case things do get shitty I recommend carrying some Lomotil or the generic equivelent for traveler's diarrhea, at the first sign that you will be shitting thru the eye of a needle repeatedly for the next day just take a couple and you will be fixed up

in fact I usually carry some when ever I travel cuz its not expensive

[gtid]

Dont worry about two sets of skins but grab a tube of Black Diamond gold label skin glue and take it along. You will be the hut savior if/when someone in the group has skin issues, just dont reapply in the hut the fumes will knock everyone out. +10 on earplugs.

[Boissal]

Dont worry about two sets of skins but grab a tube of Black Diamond gold label skin glue and take it along. You will be the hut savior if/when someone in the group has skin issues, just dont reapply in the hut the fumes will knock everyone out. +10 on earplugs.

At the very least bring a collection of Voile straps to deal with skin failures in the field. If you're trenching around in pow the friction of a strap holding the skin to the ski is barely noticeable and it will save your day. I swear BD skins become sentient when they cross from the US into Canada and immediately stop working...

[XXX-er]

3 longest voile straps will strap your boot to the ski to get you out of the BC if a binding breaks

I also carry a couple of 4 1/2 inch hose clamps and ductape

Last week I was suprised how well my buddy was able to Terry Fox it out with one boot strapped to the ski

If you got a couple tubes of 2 part epoxy in yer kit back at the hut you might get it fixed for the next day

[XXX-er]

Drying your skins means you wana hang them at room temp until dry

hands up who has ruined their glue by hanging/baking them over the wood stove in a hut ??

[Conundrum]

I find that I get along better with people on hut trips when there's a line to help with dishes until they're done vs people flipping coins for who has to do them. Same goes for other hut chores like chopping wood, etc. If the cook burns something onto the dutch, save that one for the cook though.