Over the past several years I’ve been slowly but surely ticking off the different huts of the 10th Mountain Division and Braun Hut systems, with the loose goal of eventually visiting them all. It’s a cool goal because for one, each hut is unique and offers up a different experience – whether it be the hut’s location, the access to ski terrain or peaks nearby, or the distinctive architecture of the hut itself. But beyond that, hut trips are always a great excuse to get different groups of people together, and the memories created over the years begin to stack up after awhile. Read more…
A hut trip to Janet’s Cabin has been on my Colorado bucket list for years. As a lifetime skier of Copper Mountain, I’ve always known that there was a hidden cabin way up in the woods somewhere beyond the gate of West Ten Mile, the most westerly run on the mountain. I had skied past the gate dozens of times and pondered an outing beyond the rope lines. I had also seen plenty of fully loaded snowshoers and skiers riding the Kokomo and Lumberjack lifts en-route to a stay at the hut. Keep Reading…
Four years in a row now Anna-Lisa and I have kept up the tradition of visiting a hut on or around Christmas. It’s a seemingly fitting thing to do given the quaint, festive nature of spending a night or two in a small log cabin deep in the Colorado backcountry. This year we decided to head to the Betty Bear Hut west of Hagerman Pass, best accessed via Ruedi Reservoir to the east of Basalt. The Betty Bear Hut is tucked away on the north side of the Fryingpan River valley only about 5 miles west of Turquoise Lake, but the Continental Divide and Hagerman Pass separate the two preventing easy access to Betty Bear from Leadville. Read more…
Several years back I got an invite to join on J, Brandon and Co’s annual “Hardman Hut Trip” (some years are harder than others but there are always plenty of men). From 10th Mountain to Uncle Bud’s to Skinner we went, covering around 30 miles between the three huts with a few good turns mixed in along the way. This same crew of long-time friends has continued with this style of trip every year for the past decade or so, and I was happy to join again for this year’s outing as soon as I got the invite. Read more…
