The Spearhead Huts Society is hoping to raise just over $50,000 to meet the goal of their crowdfunding campaign, which ends in less than a week.
The organization launched the campaign — with perks that range from a night in the to-be-constructed hut to limited edition prints by photographer Robin O’Neill — just before the holidays in hopes that it would help raise the remaining $100,000 needed to break ground on the first of three alpine huts.
“We hope to be starting construction in the spring,” said Jayson Faulkner, chair of the society. “We have lots of big financial commitments we have to make before then… This isn’t a make-or-break (fundraiser); we’ll be moving ahead regardless. But this would make things that much easier and some of the big decisions easier.”
For example, he said the society could decide to scale back on amenities or how they finish the hut in the first year if they still have some fundraising left to do. “These days crowdfunding campaigns can be successful and we thought, ‘why not?’ Let’s throw it out there and see if anyone cares and it turns out, a lot of people do, which is fantastic,” Faulkner said.
In total, 241 people have donated $44,511. That’s in addition to other fundraising efforts and donations, including a $900,000 contribution from the Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation, which earned the first hut at Russet Lake the name Kees and Claire Hut.
The other two huts — all located in the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons ranges of Garibaldi Provincial Park — will be located on Mt. Pattison and Mt. Macbeth.
It’s been a long seven years trying to make the project a reality, Faulkner said. But the group of volunteers are hopeful the first hut will be up and running by this time next year.
“I think what’s kept it together is our shared vision and belief that this will have a profound and positive impact on Whistler, the corridor and B.C. in general,” he added. “We need more of this kind of thing… If you really want to save a place you have to get more people understand why it’s valuable. If you’ve never been there it’s harder to understand the value.”
There have also been critics of the project throughout the process. Most recently, there was a letter written to Whistler council objecting to its $150,000 contribution to the project through the Resort Municipality Initiative funding. They said they didn’t feel the project would benefit the corridor and worried about the environmental impact on the area. Others raised concerns about additional pressures on search and rescue if more people visit the backcountry.
Faulkner said that the society has consulted with the municipality, Whistler Blackcomb, Whistler Search and Rescue and other organizations about these issues over the last seven years and feel confident going forward.
“I think the outlier critics are coming from a position of not understanding or doing their homework about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” he said. “There are people going into the backcountry every year as it is. You can put your head in the sand and ignore it or be an elitist and have that attitude that, ‘I’m OK to go there, but no one else should go there,’ which exists, but in both those cases, ignoring the reality of the situation doesn’t create a solution.”
For more information on the crowdfunding campaign visit indiegogo.com/projects/whistler-spearhead-huts-project/#/.
