Backcountry Ski Cabin

The Rocky Mountaineers maintain a small cabin on the eastern slopes of Little St. Joseph Peak, the 9033' point to the east of St. Joseph Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains. It was built in the 1970’s by club members Bob Benson, Bill Morgan, Paul Jensen, and others to replace a cabin across the Bass Creek drainage at Lappi Lake that was in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness area. The cabin has several sleeping platforms, a cooking area, and a wood stove in its center. Built on a hillside, access is through a door in its floor. A small A-Frame outhouse sits about 50 feet away.

The Club maintains this cabin via a Special Use Permit with the Bitterroot National Forest. The permit allows for "winter use only" (this means the cabin can only be used when there is snow on the ground around the cabin). The cabin remains locked when not in use and use is exclusively for Rocky Mountaineers members. As a requirement of the Permit, we purchase and maintain liability insurance that is paid for by membership dues.

Cabin reservations open for the season following our cabin work day in early October. Club members participating in the work day are given priority when making reservations and will have until the end of October to submit requests. Beginning 1 November, reservations will open to club membership at large and will be on a first-come-first-served basis. When making a reservation, please indicate the number of confirmed participants in your party, which can be updated if things change as the date draws closer. In order to ensure cabin access remains available to as many members as possible, we may allow more than one group to reserve at a time when the cabin is reserved for three or fewer people. 

To make a reservation, please take a look at the cabin calendar for available dates and then send us an email requesting the reservation.