The Bow Hut is an

alpine hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organizatio ...

located at an elevation of on the eastern edge of the

Wapta Icefield The Wapta Icefield is located on the Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The icefield is shared by Banff and Yoho National Parks and numerous outlet glaciers exte ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense conif ...

. It is the largest, best equipped, and most accessible of the four alpine huts on the Wapta Icefield, and serves as the base for a wide variety of ski tours and mountaineering ascents to half a dozen peaks on the Wapta. It is the easiest and safest starting point for the Wapta traverse; and

Balfour Hut The R.J. Ritchie Hut (Balfour Hut) is an alpine hut located at an altitude of between the southern tip of the Wapta Icefield and the northern tip of the Waputik Icefield in Banff National Park. The hut is at the half-way mark for the Wapta trave ...

, the next hut on the traverse, can easily be reached from it in a day. It can also serve as an intermediate stop in a longer traverse which starts at the less easily accessible

Peyto Hut The Peter and Catharine Whyte Hut, also known as the Peyto Hut, is an alpine hut located on the northern tip of the Wapta Icefield in Banff National Park. It is nicknamed the Peyto hut due to its proximity on the Peyto Glacier. The hut is mainta ...

. The hut is maintained by the

Alpine Club of Canada The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, ...

. The hut sleeps 30 and is equipped with propane powered lamps and stovetop, and a wood stove for heating. There are two indoor drum toilets.

History

The original Bow Hut was built in 1968 by a group led by Peter Fuhrmann, who later became president of the

from 1984 to 1988, and was funded by Peter and Catharine Whyte. The construction was done mostly by members of the Alpine Club and the

Calgary Ski Club Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. The location of the hut, near

Bow Glacier Bow Glacier is located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, approximately northwest of Lake Louise. It can be viewed from the Icefields Parkway. Bow Glacier is an outflow glacier from the Wapta Icefield, which rests along the Continental ...

, was chosen to assist ski tourers and mountaineers entering the

via Bow Lake. The old hut saw severe overuse, with up to 7,000 people a year using a building that only slept 14 people at a time. By the 1980s it was in a state of serious disrepair and surrounded by contamination from the outhouses, causing many people to refer to it as ''Bow Ghetto''. In 1989 a new hut was built under the direction of

Mike Mortimer Mike Mortimer (born 15 October 1950) is a Canadian alpinist. He was president of the Alpine Club of Canada and the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA). Biography Michael Kenneth Mortimer grew up with his older brother ...

, Chairman of the Huts Committee of the Alpine Club of Canada and later President from 1994 to 2001. Money for the facility was primarily provided by the Calgary and Edmonton Sections of the Alpine Club. The new facility is much larger than the previous one, with much better cooking, and waste disposal facilities; and with sleeping areas separated from the rest of the hut to accommodate a number of different groups at a time.

Location

Bow Hut is located near the

headwater The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition Th ...

s of the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These ...

, about northwest of

Lake Louise, Alberta Lake Louise is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Named after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, it lies in Alberta's Rockies on the Bow River, northeast of Lake Louise (Alberta), the lake that shares ...

along the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through ...

. The hut is situated above Bow Lake on the east edge of the

, at an altitude of . It is about 1 kilometre northeast of Saint Nicholas Peak.

Access

Reaching the hut requires approximately 3 to 6 hours of hiking or skiing from the

. The hut can also be reached by approximately 3 to 5 hours of glacier travel from the

, or 4 to 6 hours of glacier travel from the

Summer

The summer trail to Bow Hut leaves from the main parking lot on the highway at Bow Lake. It goes past Num-Ti-Jah Lodge and follows the north shore of the lake around to the main creek that feeds the lake. The trail ascends to the right of the canyon just upstream from the lake. At a junction it goes to the left, and crosses the creek, passing over a boulder lodged in the top of the canyon. The trail stays on the east side of the creek for a few kilometres until it opens out into

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

terrain near the treeline. A number of trails marked by cairns lead to the massive headwall below the hut, where hikers must cross the creek and can follow any of a number of trails up the steep slope to the hut. The trip requires 3 to 6 hours.

Winter

The winter route is a little different from the summer trail, and involves exposure to complex avalanche terrain. Skiers can cross the frozen lake, if the ice is thick enough, and at the far side can stay to the left of the creek, following a good trail that skirts the canyon. After about the route drops down onto the creek bed and follows it through a gorge. After the gorge becomes too difficult to negotiate, skiers must ascend the bank to the left at one of the easier points, and then angle up through the trees, parallel to the canyon. When the route reaches an open basin, it is possible to see the hut high up on the headwall to the right. From that point, skiers should aim for the right-hand corner of the headwall, staying left initially to avoid the worst of the moraine. Toward the end of the valley, a number of possible routes lead up through the headwall to the hut, which is a few hundred metres from the top of the headwall. The trip normally takes 3 to 5 hours.

Nearby

* Saint Nicholas Peak *

* Bow Lake *

R.J. Ritchie Hut The R.J. Ritchie Hut (Balfour Hut) is an alpine hut located at an altitude of between the southern tip of the Wapta Icefield and the northern tip of the Waputik Icefield in Banff National Park. The hut is at the half-way mark for the Wapta trav ...

, (

) *

Peter and Catharine Whyte Hut The Peter and Catharine Whyte Hut, also known as the Peyto Hut, is an alpine hut located on the northern tip of the Wapta Icefield in Banff National Park. It is nicknamed the Peyto hut due to its proximity on the Peyto Glacier. The hut is main ...

, (

)

References

{{Reflist Mountain huts in Canada 1968 establishments in Alberta Buildings and structures completed in 1968 Buildings and structures in Banff National Park