In Jeff We Trust – Weekend #1 of Phelix Roof Construction

Trip Date: July 28-30, 2023

As you all know by now, especially following Adam’s report on getting stuff to the hut for this project, Phelix, or Brian Waddington Hut underwent some serious changes this summer. A new roof was desperately needed, and we at the Varsity Outdoor Club were just the people to take on the task (not that we had much of a choice).

I must start this report off with a huge amount of gratitude to everyone involved, no matter how big or small you perceived your role to be, we genuinely could not have done this without each and every one of you. I’ll try to mention as many people by name as possible in this report, but if I had to choose 3 people to single out just in this intro paragraph, it would have to be Adam Steele, Jacob Grossbard, and Jeff Mottershead (along with Peter Gledhill). Adam did an incredible amount of organization, including fundraising and getting the helicopter and other major transportation things sorted. Jacob spent something like 28 days up at the hut, acting as the point person for the project from start to finish (and sacrificing his wrist in the last few hours of construction). As for Jeff, words are not enough to describe the role he played in saving Phelix, but to keep it simple, the new roof was largely his brain baby and he put in countless hours before materials even got to the hut, let alone once construction had started. I’ll move on to my recollections lest I start listing every single name as I’ve now started.

My experience with the Phelix repair project started mostly after demolition and material drop-off had started. From April up until that point, my role ended up mostly just as knowing what was going on and saying “good job!” and “thank God for you”, so by the time construction came around, I was itching to pay my dues. Demolition, as I take it, was a mammoth task involving removing plenty of noxious mouse poop-filled insulation. Making matters more interesting was the rain that we had hoped to avoid by scheduling work to begin mid-late July. Tarps were deployed to prevent the hut, now without its trusty red hat, from getting rained into. Thank you to James Maltman for quarterbacking the demo phase of the project.

I organized the first construction workhike, and on July 28th, after dipping out of my nightmare job an hour early to buy some food for the weekend, Braydon Massoud (Project God and Hut King/Coordinator) picked me and Vivian Liu up in Squamish in his very luxurious and reliable blue mini van. He had bought it 3 days earlier, complete with road tripping bedding and camping supplies from a departing exchange student and it was the first time he had tried taking it over 60 km/hr. We spent much of the drive crossing our fingers that the van would survive the trip up the FSR and laughing at Dorian Simon’s lamentations about the noises that the van made. Braydon assured us that “it’s okay, the van just does that” (upon which a belligerent Dorian responded “you’ve had the car for 3 days, you don’t know what the van ‘just does!’”)

Sure enough, we got up to the trailhead with no problem and started our hike. I had brought a few extra things like a million rolls of tuck tape, galvanizing spray, and some more N95 masks in a broken tote bag, meaning to split things up at the trailhead, but stubbornly decided that the things were light enough, and the approach only 5 kilometres—enough for me to just carry the tote bag. This resulted in me cradling the tote bag in both arms to avoid the bag from ripping more and dumping its precious contents everywhere. It also resulted in some good tourist photos.

Despite my tote bag-induced inefficiency, we made good time, and arrived at the hut as it got dark. We were met by Alex and Dave, some absolute crushers who Jeff works with, as well as Jeff and Jacob. Peter Nederend, Chen Qin, Aaron Lee, and Theo Morrison arrived about an hour later, bringing more supplies, including a chainsaw. Theo very quickly had to endure me recognizing him as my calculus TA from the previous semester. Tents were set up, sleep was enjoyed by all, and in the morning it was time to get to work.

As Jeff, Alex, Dave, and Jacob put up the inner layer of plywood, the remaining 8 of us set off organizing pieces of wood by letter/number, and building out the 6 steel gables. We quickly realized we could do with a few more hammers, but Aaron made due with a hatchet. In fact, he did so well with the hatchet, that when he finally got an actual hammer, he bent his first nail of the trip.

Now, a phrase I repeated a lot this weekend was “in Jeff we trust”. Case in point is when we started gingerly moving the steel gables around that Jeff had designed; apprehension at the thought of lifting these extremely heavy objects to roof level grew. To top it all off, there was a 550 lb steel beam that was to span the entire apex of the hut that sat very ominously on the ground. Luckily, that wasn’t our problem yet.

Once the inner plywood layer was complete, four of us roped up to apply the vapour barrier. The vapour barrier, we very quickly learned, was more slippery on the hut’s very steeply angled roof than we could have imagined, and as I tried to use the staple hammer at one of the corners, I fell off the corner and banged against the wall of the hut. Because I was roped up, and the rope caught in a notch in the plywood at the apex, the fall amounted to a minor climbing whipper, but I imagine it can’t have looked too appealing from the perspective of those not on my side of the corner.

The staple hammer was a lesson in patience for me, and ultimately taught me that tuck tape is my friend, as I had to patch up many a hole in the plastic layer created by my poorly aimed or powered hits. Once the vapour barrier was set up, some planks were temporarily nailed onto the roof so that we could have somewhere to step while lifting the steel framing onto the roof and not fall off the slippery plastic.

Peter and Aaron starting the vapour barrier

Sometime in the midst of this all, Braydon, Dorian, and I followed one of Anton Afanassiev’s recipes and used the ingredients that had been flown in to make rice with tomatoes. This mostly just consisted of harassing Jacob to show us how the white fuel stove worked, having been bested by the instructions. After everyone wolfed down a portion, it was time for the steel (insert scary movie music here).

Jeff very confidently explained the process of getting the massive steel beam up onto the roof and I very confidently did not expect to come out of the process alive. However, as I said, in Jeff we trust, because within approximately 45 minutes with 12 people lifting and ascending the scaffolding, the beam sat upon the apex. Almost all of us were attached to a grand total of 3 ropes, but there was surprisingly little faff involved in the process, and we all sat atop the hut smiling and sighing with relief at our achievement. To me, the beam seemed like the biggest potential obstacle to construction, and having it done confirmed that the rest of the project was in fact feasible.

12 people, one 550 lb steel beam

Though the skies were darkening with nighttime, Jeff encouraged us to get some more steel pieces onto the roof. The dormer (or “honeymoon suite”) received its smaller beam and a few more pieces were applied on corners adjoining the dormer to the rest of the roof. We discovered the beauty of a tool called an erection wrench, which helped align the steel pieces through the massive bolt holes. We also discovered that we would have to chisel away at some wood in order to get a few of the bolts in, and as a result, people camping in the vicinity were treated to the sounds of Dave wacking away with a hammer until around 10:30 pm, while our muscles burned holding the steel piece in place.

Dave wrestling the gable

Work started bright and early the next morning, as the pleasant noise of Jeff hammering awoke us gently from our slumber. The time had come for the gables. Because we had the beam up on the roof now, we had an anchor point, and could build a pulley to help us lift. I cannot even begin to describe the faff that ensued, but there are some timelapse videos floating around that can enlighten anyone who may be curious. At one point I believe both Jeff and Peter were acting as counterweights, using ascenders and other systems to help the folks on the scaff lift the gables up to Dave (the pro) and me (the person whom handed Dave tools and bolts). Dave was a real superhero, wrestling with the gables and erection wrenches, and spending time patiently tapping out the galvanizing that had accumulated in many of the bolt holes. Dorian and Braydon became real whizzes at using the stove, and made spaghetti for the group, which I enjoyed immensely. All in all, a true team effort that required every one of the twelve at work.

By the time the eight of us had packed up to hike back down, the roof was adorned with every piece of steel that had been slung in. Knowing we’d be back the following weekend, Braydon and I wished Jacob and the hut a pleasant week and went on our merry way. We squeezed in a quick swim on the hike out, cursing ourselves for not having swam earlier in the trip. I’ve got to say a heartfelt thanks to those on this trip whose first VOC trip or first overnight VOC trip this was. We didn’t really know what to expect from the weekend, most of us having just shown up as general labourers with no construction experience, and to have one of the most involved workhikes in recent VOC history be one of your first VOC experiences is no small feat. This was the first of three consecutive weekends I spent at Phelix, and it was honestly quite inspiring every week seeing people go from never having put on a harness before to confidently using an ascender or tying a prusik in such a short time, let alone using those skills to build a roof on an alpine hut.

Stay tuned for the trip reports I’ve written about the next 2 weekends : ) It may take a while as I’ve written 12 pages and not even gotten through the 2nd weekend yet, but y’all know how my writing is just very stream of thought.

Aaron in front of the many workers. Pic by Peter Nederend