The Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation Donates $700K USD To Spearhead Huts Committee
Whistler, British Columbia – On Monday, June 27, 2016 the Spearhead Huts Committee announced a donation of $700,000 USD ($915,00 CDN) from the Brenninkmeyer family of the Kees and Claire Memorial fund to be used to fund the construction of backcountry huts on the popular 40-km Spearhead Traverse in British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park.
This is huge news for the Spearhead Huts Committee as it follows only months after they received approval from BC Parks for the project in February 2016. The plan is to build three huts at Russet Lake, Mt. Pattinson, and Mt. Macbeth at a total cost of over $5 million.
This large gift from the Brenninkmeyer family will help to finance the project of the three huts that will be almost completely funded by donations. PiqueNewsMagazine notes that this donation combined with a $150,000 grant and other donations mean that the Spearhead Huts Committee has “secured over 70 per cent of the money required to start construction on the Kees and Claire Hut.”
WhistlerQuestion.com writes that each hut “will sleep 35 people, and will include bunks, storage areas for gear, water systems, solar power, propane heat and composting toilets.” Estimates from Jayson Faulkner, the Spearhead Huts Committee founding chair, predicts that the huts will be accessed by 4 to 7 thousand people per year.
According to PiqueNewsMagazine.com, “The donation from the Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation was made in memory of Cornelius “Kees” Brenninkmeyer, 25, and his girlfriend Claire Dixon, 27, who died in a backcountry skiing accident nine years ago when their snow shelter collapsed. The couple was working as hut custodians on the Wapta Traverse in Alberta at the time. The hut near Russet Lake will be named the Kees and Claire Hut in their honour.”
The hut at Russet Lake will be the first hut to be completed by January 2018. Once completed, you can reserve your spot in the Kees and Claire Hut online for approximately $50 per night per person.
Ultimately this new backcountry hut system near Whistler will increase safety and boost local GDP. Tourism Whistler calculates that access to Spearhead Traverse Huts will “fill 7,000 beds a year and generate $4.4 million in additional GDP for the resort” (PiqueNewsMagazine.com).
Please donate to the Spearhead Huts Project.
Read more about the recent donation to the Spearhead Huts Committee from these sources:
- PiqueNewsMagazine.com
- WhistlerQuestion.com
- CBC.ca
- A Mountain Journey
- SpearheadHuts.org
- Kees and Claire
- Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation
