Why was the Fay Hut originally built, and why is it called the Fay Hut?
The Fay Hut was built by the ACC in 1927 as a base for accessing the Wenkchemna Peaks, in the famous Valley of the Ten Peaks area. It has the distinction of being the first hut operated or built by the ACC. The Fay Hut is named after Dr. Charles Fay, an American university professor and avid mountaineer, who made many visits to the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Fay and the Fay Glacier are also located in the Ten Peaks area. Charles Fay, first president of the American Alpine Club (AAC), inadvertently sparked the beginning of the ACC by recommending that a Canadian chapter of the AAC be formed. Journalist Elizabeth Parker took exception to this suggestion and expressed her views in an article in the Winnipeg Free Press. As a result, Canadian surveyor-mountaineer Arthur O. Wheeler organized the first meeting of the ACC in Winnipeg in February 1906.
