It is located on the north side of Cheakamus Lake just southeast of the town of Whistler in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

In 2004, volcanologist Jack Souther of the Geological Survey of Canada convinced that Flute Summit is an exposed subvolcanic intrusion of an ancient volcano.

Subvolcanic rocks can remain semi-molten and hot for hundreds or thousands of years.

As subvolcanic magma heats and sets up convention in nearby groundwater, a hydrothermal system is created.

This hydrothermal system can form quartz veins like those found at Flute Summit, combined with sulfurous gasses released from the magma, cause chemical alteration of both the crystallizing subvolcanic intrusion and the neighbouring rocks.