Although the higher Neil Colgan hut superseded it as a base for climbs in the Valley of the Ten Peaks area, it still served as a convenient base for hikers and skiers doing day trips in the area, and as an overnight stop for mountaineers continuing on to the Neil Colgan hut.

The solid foam plastic insulation in the attic likely contributed to a hot fast fire dripped down in burning streams to the floors below.

[3] The original Fay hut was built in 1927 as a base for climbing in the Valley of the Ten Peaks area.

Charles Fay made 25 trips to the Canadian Rockies, participated in the first ascents of Mounts Victoria and Lefroy, and was an honorary member of the ACC.

[4] The ACC operated the hut until 1972, when it turned it over to Kootenay National Park because it could not afford to pay for repairs after a tree fell through the roof.

The ACC and its Rocky Mountain Section put a major effort into renovations and returned the hut to excellent condition.

[4] The original Fay hut was destroyed in 2003 [5] by a major forest fire that burned 12.6% of Kootenay National Park.

The new hut was a modern log building, prefabricated outside of the park and airlifted to the site in 140 loads by two Bell 407 helicopters in June and July 2005.

With no accommodation, the incoming group had to ski 14 kilometres (9 mi) back to the parking lot, arriving there at midnight.

An investigation determined that the fire started at the point where the fireplace chimney went through the log cabin roof.

The fire most likely occurred as the result of the ignition of the roof beams caused by leaking hot gases from the fireplace.

The most probable cause of the wood becoming heated is that snow creep might have pushed open the joints of the chimney pipe.

[8] In both summer and winter, start from the Marble Canyon parking lot 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) west of the Alberta border on British Columbia Highway 93 (the Banff-Radium Hiqhway).

The fees collected from the wilderness passes go towards maintaining trails, supplying the voluntary registration service, avalanche forecasting, backcountry bridge-building, etc.