MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2018

102 MLCM FALL/WINTER 2018 Claire was strong, a lifelong athlete who lived with grace, humility and humour. “She was one of the strongest skiers I have known,” recalls friend Laurie Block. “She would laugh and joke on her way up the skin track and shred like a boss on the way down”. She was a role model in the mountains—calm capable and focused.” Together, Kees and Claire turned their love for each other and the mountains into a lifestyle of excitement and joy. Everyone who met them remembers their giant smiles and warm hearts. Claire studied for her master’s in physiotherapy (with Block) while Kees continued working toward his dream of being a certified ACMG guide. Their plan was to settle down in Revelstoke, BC, where Claire had a job waiting after graduation. “After Kees met Claire he had double the sparkle,” says Julie Brenninkmeyer. “They were always out on adventures together, they just fit each other perfectly.” In January 2007, Kees and Claire volunteered to be hut custodians in the Wapta Icefields, and embarked on a 30-day traverse into the Rocky Mountains. Along the way tragedy struck and the two were killed when their snowcave collapsed in the night. “It really hit home,” says Smart. “I was in Japan and woke up in the middle of the night, just feeling like something was wrong… I have lost a lot of friends in the mountains, but this felt different. This woke me up in another country.” As they grieved, Kees and Claire’s friends began talking about building a hut in memory of the two young adventurers — thinking that had there been a hut in that section of the Wapta, all this may have been avoided. “We thought it was an appropriate legacy to their memory to build a shelter that provides safety along a traverse,” Block says. “Kees and Claire were mountain people, and they would want to encourage safe travel in these alpine environments and provide access to the remote beauty of the spaces they loved.” Kees and Claire’s families came on board—they were already creating positive legacies in the wake of the tragedy. A bursary in Claire’s name was founded for students enrolled in the guiding program at Thompson Rivers University in her hometown of Kamloops and the Brenninkmeyer family established a foundation honouring Kees to help ski and mountain guides overcome career-threatening injuries (see sidebar). In 2016, The Brenninkmeyer Foundation donated $700,000 USD to the Spearhead Huts Foundation, rallying the entire backcountry community, and connecting the Kees and Claire memorial group (including Block) with the Spearhead organizers and other passionate parties, including The Brett Carlson Memorial Group (see sidebar). Their unified goal: a large public hut “It really hit home. I was in Japan and woke up in the middle of the night, just feeling like something was wrong… I have lost a lot of friends in the mountains, but this felt different.” –Peter Smart THE BRETT CARLSON LOUNGE Brett Carlson had the kind of laugh that could jumpstart a ’72 Cutlass and the kind of smooth fluid skiing that made everything look fun. In January of 2000 Brett, age 24, passed away while filming a road gap in Whistler. Reeling from the loss, his tribe banded together and began raising funds, with the idea of building an illegitimate hut “somewhere awesome.” Thankfully, Damian Cromwell and Joe Lammers opted to join forces with the Spearhead Huts Foundation in 2010 and as the fundraising and lobbying progressed, a unique idea began to form—The Brett Carlson Lounge, a warm and happy gathering place to match the spirit of a skier taken far too soon. Situated on the south end of the Kees and Claire Hut, Brett’s lounge will feature stunning views of Fissile, a mountain he skied a number of times and a pair of his skis—one that was mounted just metres away in the old Himmelsbach Hut since Brett passed, and its mate—a custom-made Brett Carlson shot-ski. Giv’r. ABOVE Brett Murray Carlson (1975-2000) skied hard, lived big, and laughed often. BOTTOM Brett (left) and Dan Treadway, prepare for another ski mission in Brett's definitely-not-four-wheel-drive 1972 Cutlass. DAMIAN CROMWELL