Fresh Powder with Fresh Brownies

By Deborah Elvin

Photo by Jonathan M. Lieber

After a seven-mile trek through the snow, guests at the Eisman Hut enjoy basking in the sun and ordering from a makeshift ‘ice’ bar on the deck.

Colorado supports an extensive and continually growing system of huts for winter backcountry use. Skiers, donning either telemark or alpine touring gear, and snowshoers follow trails up to cozy huts deep in the mountains. These trekkers can either ski to a single hut or link cabins over a series of days, making it into a hut-to-hut trip. After reaching their lodgings, backcountry enthusiasts spend their days taking runs on nearby terrain, cooking tasty meals, enjoying exceptional views and hanging out together. The beauty of hut trips is that you can do all this without having to carry a huge pack loaded with tents, stoves and cooking utensils, which leaves you more room to bring food, and you get to sleep in a woodstove-warmed cabin instead of chattering your teeth all night in a tent.

Given this convenience and Coloradans’ obsession with the outdoors, it’s not surprising that hut tripping continues to grow in popularity. The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, named in honor of the U.S. Army ski corps that trained during World War II at the now defunct Camp Hale, near Leadville, manages 31 huts in the central Colorado Rockies. The region spans a wide corridor between Vail and Crested Butte. To meet the huge demand for huts, new ones are always being added, and in 1999 the hut association started allocating reservations to its members by lottery each March. For hut trippers who miss the lottery, there are still many nights available, especially for smaller groups traveling during the week.

Backcountry trails vary widely in difficulty level, so hut trips can accommodate a range of participants, from obsessive mountaineers to young children riding on specially designed backcountry sleds towed by their parents. The only unwelcome family members are dogs. The comfortably equipped Shrine Mountain Inn, located just west of Vail Pass, includes three cabins with indoor toilets, running water and a sauna, and is among the most accessible for trekkers of all abilities. Others such as Friends Hut, situated between Crested Butte and Aspen, require more advanced technical ability and backcountry knowledge. As a general rule, group members should have experience with avalanche rescue procedures, route finding, and map and compass reading. When taking reservations, the 10th Mountain Division tries to assess the participants’ skill levels and make sure that they are prepared for the proposed trip.

Château or Shack?

Backcountry enthusiast Dave Kindig, a master’s student in geography at the University of Colorado, has trekked through the snow to Colorado huts every winter for most of his life. He can’t even count how many hut trips he’s been on. He grew up going to the local Brainard Lake Cabin, and since 1990 has made numerous hut trips each season within the 10th Mountain and Alfred A. Braun hut systems. (The Braun huts, also managed by the 10th Mountain Division, are in the southwestern part of the area.) According to Kindig, the experience of spending a winter night in one of Colorado’s huts ranges from roughing it to borderline pampered luxury. “The 10th Mountain huts are really cush and comfy, while the huts in the San Juan Mountains are rustic—plywood and two-by-fours,” he says, noting that all 10th Mountain Division huts have solar-powered lighting.

Photo by Dave Kindig

Just getting to Janet's Hut is half the fun.

Many hut-trip enthusiasts like to go in big groups that rent out the entire hut. Jon Lieberman, who has been planning and embarking on trips for the past 19 years, goes on two trips every year in which the group reserves the entire hut. “Each year we do one grownup trip and then one kids’ trip to either Shrine or Francie’s,” he says. To secure these full cabin bookings, a group typically submits five potential trips to the lottery. Diane Fritz, another yearly hut visitor who frequently goes in groups with Kindig, notes that although her group always rents the entire hut, most of the huts are equipped to accommodate more than one group, with two kitchen areas and two stoves.

In these kitchens, groups prepare dishes limited only by the participants’ creativity. Fritz has been part of elaborate lasagna preparations. Kindig recalls making recipes ranging from Indian food to salmon, with desserts such as snow ice cream—made from snow, cream, condensed milk and flavorings—or brownies cooked in the hut’s cast-iron oven. Lieberman’s group may win the prize for originality with the lobster bake they had one year: “We figured they were the highest lobsters in the country. We had them flown in from Boston with shrimp, clams and oysters as well.”

The sheer number of huts in Colorado can make deciding on an itinerary difficult, but everyone has favorites. “I really like Jackal,” says Fritz. “There’s this really mellow, safe hill right next to it where you do moonlight skis; on a full moon it’s incredible.” Lieberman focuses on the daylight skiing: “The way the Fowler/Hilliard hut is situated, you can put on your skis on the deck and drop off into a 1,400-foot bowl. There’s a gully right next to the hut where you can go sledding.”

Beer Burying and Snowmen

While many people are often drawn to these trips for the surrounding backcountry terrain, there are activities for nonskiers too. Fritz explains that the huts all have libraries and that “if someone is tired or doesn’t feel well, they hang out in the hut by the fire and read a book or look at topo maps to plan their next trip.” There are other outdoor activities as well. “They have little plastic sleds at a few of them,” “Fritz says. “There were some people with us who really weren’t big skiers and they built this really cool, funky snowman and then went sledding into it. On these trips, adults get to be children; they can build snowmen or go sledding.” Lieberman’s group, on the other hand, has found creative ways to incorporate alcohol into the outdoors. He recalls an occasion when “three people were hanging out on the deck all day at Eiseman Hut and they ended up carving a bar. Also, we’ve all taken avalanche courses, so sometimes we bury beer and put a beacon next to it and have people go find it.”

Photo by Jonathan M. Lieber

Each high-alpine villa in the 10th Mountain Division, Alfred A. Braun and Summit hut systems has its own distinctive character.

Although the focus is fun, Kindig emphasizes the caution that should be taken when going into the backcountry. “You’re going in the mountains; it can be dangerous,” he says. “You’re really right on the edge, and if anything bad happens, it’s a good six hours before help can reach you.” He has plenty of stories about friends who have lost the trail during whiteouts and had to backtrack to their car, or who didn’t make it to their next hut when new snow obscured the trail. While he has always made it to his destination, he had a frightening experience setting out on a trip when he was ill. His friends ended up having to drag him up the final portion of the trail and ski in front of him on the downhill sections. He realizes how unwise it was to start into the backcountry when he was sick: “It was cold; I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink. I seriously bonked and turned sheet white.”

Are We There Yet?

Sickness, bad weather or poor planning can transform a hut trip into a miserable ordeal. Steve Pinkerton and Matt Jenkins had one of those when they headed up to the Benedict Huts, near Aspen, on their first hut trip. Their group, formed to celebrate a bachelor party, ended up consisting of only six people. “Half of the groom’s friends dropped out when they found out there was a seven- or eight-mile trek up a mountain to get to the actual party,” Jenkins recalls. Of those six, only the organizer had previous hut-trip experience.

With the partying portion of their weekend in mind, the group extended their carrying capacity with red Kmart sleds rigged with copper wire harnesses. Dragging two of these contraptions loaded with a couple of cases of beer and four handles of whiskey, plus enough food for 12, the guys set off in high spirits: “It was a seven-mile trek and we were thinking three-and-a-half hours or a little more,” says Jenkins. “We were happily going up the mountain, stopping to drink beers and having a good time. No one was really worried about anything, so the first two hours of the trip were great.”

Photo by Jonathan M. Lieber

Anyone up for a little snow kayaking?

They eventually realized that it was going to take longer than they expected. “It was starting to get dark and it was definitely snowing,” Pinkerton says. We were all just tired as hell. Two guys lay down in the snow saying, ‘We’re just going to lay here and take a nap for a while.’ I literally had visions of ridiculous afterschool specials. The sled was too heavy; everyone was angry, and no one wanted to carry it.”

They ran into further problems after dark when some people ended up alone in the woods without headlamps. Even with his headlamp, Jenkins had trouble finding the trail in the dark. “We were getting fresh snow as we went, and the blue diamonds kept getting further and further apart,” he says. “Because the trail was on the side of the mountain, the sled would start to slide around and pull me down the side. Also, my skins froze and I couldn’t get any traction. I just kept sliding back down.” Sounding frighteningly like an approaching wild animal, Pinkerton, on his own without a headlamp, eventually stumbled into Jenkins. An uncoordinated mess ensued as they attempted to drag the sled up the hill by both hooking into the harness to share the weight. “We kept falling down and were cursing the organizer because it was taking so long,” says Pinkerton. In the end, the bachelor party found the hut, and the next two days were blissfully filled with untracked runs, huge meals and, of course, a good deal of sledding.

Barring the discomfort and dangers of being unprepared or faced with unforeseen circumstances, hut trips can be a lot of fun. “Even during the trip where I was sick and never got to ski, I had a great time just hanging out in the hut playing Scrabble and reading,” Kindig says. And even Pinkerton and Jenkins are ready to give it another, more organized try. As Pinkerton happily recalls, “The skiing was phenomenal, and the way down with those sleds was the most fun part of all.” l


Deborah Elvin, Boulder Magazine’s editorial intern, is studying for a master’s degree in English literature at CU-Boulder. She is an avid skier and hockey player.