Abbot's Pass Hut is not your average weekend getaway. only a handful of people go there in any one year, and some people more than once.  There are no roads, trains or even helicopters to take you there, so you have to resign your self to hiking in if you choose to make this your destination. Did we say hiking, let's clarify that.  Climbing skills and equipment are required and you must be in excellent shape.  The climb from Lake Louise is treacherous; the route from Lake Oesa is a difficult scramble. The route to the cabin will test your skills and resolve especially when you find that you may have to climb down a 100 foot deep crevasse and the up the other side just to gain 30 feet in distance. The danger of falling onto a crevasse and perishing is quite real, see below. It is not a trip for the faint of heart. 

Once you get there (providing you do -some don't) You will find a remarkable hut/lodge that was constructed from stone cut by hand on site. Inside is a welcome relief to the blowing winds that sometime plague the pass. It is fully stocked with everything you need to sleep 20 people but you must pack in your own food and provisions. When you are ready to leave you are expected to clean up after yourself and leave it in "as good as or better" condition as you found it.

Some History

The following is a recount of a tragic accident and is included here to emphasize the dangers that surround a trip to Abbots Hut.

It happened on July 24, 1959. A relatively inexperienced climbing party of four from Montreal was starting down Abbot Pass on their way to Lake Louise at about 9:30 a.m. on a bright and cloudless morning. They had registered to climb North Peak and then traverse Victoria. They had done so without incident on July 23rd. The pass was in good shape that year, and they started down in high spirits, expecting an easy trip down the pass and back to the Plain of Six Tea House where they'd started from the previous morning. Three of the party roped-up and started out following the footsteps of a previous climbing group, who had gone up early that morning on their way up to climb Centre Peak.

Their friend, and the fourth member of the party was detained at the Hut for some reason and had arranged to catch-up with his colleagues as they proceeded down the pass. About five minutes later, his friends, looking back toward the top of the pass, saw their friend cutting across the slope diagonally from the hut to their tracks further down. Suddenly he disappeared from their view. Waiting anxiously as the minutes dragged by, they became alarmed and rushed back to where he had disappeared. About 200 yards from the hut, the three climbers discovered their friend's tracks leading to a deep crevasse that had been hidden by a weak snow bridge. Looking into the crevasse, they saw their motionless friend. He was head-first in the snow and ice, some forty to fifty feet down. One of them rappelled down to him and found that their comrade was dead of a massive head wound.

His traumatized friends managed to pull him from the crevasse and tried in vain to revive him using CPR but it was to no avail. They dragged his limp body up the slope and into the hut, where they laid him out on a table and covered him with a blanket. Collecting themselves, they stayed at the cabin a long time, hoping that someone would arrive to help. But at about six o'clock, they shut the door, roped up and headed back down the Lake O'Hara side of Abbot Pass to get help themselves.

About an hour later, a party of two guys and two girls, who were on the staff at the Deer Lodge, arrived at the hut. They had just come up Abbot Pass from the Plain of Six Glacier's side. They were expecting a pleasant night at the hut and had their steaks and wine carefully packed. Unaware that something was wrong, they opened the door of the hut and enthusiastically began unpacking their food and supplies. Then, one of the group, spotted the blanket with something under it on the table. Having a look, he discovered the ghastly cadaver and you can imagine the rest. A friend said that his voice failed him completely and all that he could do was point and gesture. Without stopping for supper, the four proceeded to set the still unsurpassed speed record from the top of Abbot Pass back down to the Plain of Six Glaciers.

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