Hut trip 2k12 is here!!
Well, not exactly here, but I am heading to the hills on Friday and I will be MIA in the backcountry from Saturday until Monday afternoon when we come back out of the mountains. I look forward to this every year and this season is no exception. I mean, how often do you really, truly get to go “off the grid?”
The 10th Mountain Division Huts are a series of 30 different huts that are spread throughout the Colorado Rockies. According to the website:
“Our name honors the men of the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army, who trained during World War II at Camp Hale in central Colorado. Hut visitors share the special spirit of these individuals, especially their pursuit of excellence, self reliance, and love of the outdoors.”
And these huts are awesome. We try to stay in a different hut every year so it makes the voyage different every season. This year, we chose the Benedict Huts: Fritz and Fabi. However, your trip could be a little scattered if you are unsure as to what you are doing, so I thought I would do a quick tutorial in case y’all ever want to come on a trip with us!
1. Make the decision between skis and snowshoes. We had no idea what we were doing the first year and it almost *literally* broke my back by trying to snowshoe in while carrying both my downhill skis and boots! In order to complete the trek into the hut, you must be on either snowshoes or skis. Skis have their definite benefits (quicker coming out, backcountry skiing while at the hut, etc.) but you have to be very comfortable on two planks. Skiing with a large backpack throws your weight backwards and if you aren’t comfortable enough to compensate for this, you may hurt yourself. Additionally, regular alpine (downhill) skis won’t do the trick since you have to climb uphill. Tele skis or AT skis are required. This is also a pain for my friends who are snowboarders since most of them do not own a split board. Because of this, I am typically one of the few in our group that skis in; most of my friends snowshoe. However, this year I decided to try something different and I’m hiking in on snowshoes!
2. Don’t bring extra clothes. No, seriously, don’t. Again, we did this all sorts of wrong our first year! The key to making it to the hut successfully (and still happy!) is remembering that you have to carry in everything you need….including your clothes. I usually take one “outside” outfit that will also be the clothes that I wear while trekking into the hut. This will include all my snowgear like snowpants, jacket, gloves, etc., as well as my base layers. In addition, I will pack one “inside” outfit that includes comfy pants and a long sleeved shirt. That’s it for clothes. Sure, you’ll be dirty and smelly, but eh…..keeps the bears away 😉
3. Don’t forget your slippers! The huts are heated (wood burning fireplace) but the floors get wet from all of the coming and going in the snow. My sis got me the best slippers ever for the hut trips! They are down booties from REI but they have a hard sole so I can wear them out to the outhouse. LOVE THEM!!!
4. Organize your meals as a group…And Bring Good Food! Again, I speak from experience on this one! The first year we all just brought our own food for every meal and we ended up with so much extra food! This was stupid because A) it meant we carried in far too much, B) we had to carry out food which was super annoying, and C) I ate Ramen Noodles for 3 days. Yuck.
Nowadays, we put a group of 2-3 people in charge of one meal during the entire trip. For example, this year Price and I are responsible for one breakfast. This means we have to bring enough breakfast for the entire group, but it really is not that bad. We are doing pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We can store the bacon outside in a cooler so it stays cool, and the egg beaters and pancake batter can be easily carried via a large Ziploc bag. For dinner, we will usually do pasta and someone will carry the sauce in via Ziploc as well.
A word to the wise on this one: yes, a Ziploc bag infinitely beats carrying a large glass jar, but please remember to double bag it. You will be so sad if you have marinara all over your single set of clothing 🙂
5. Plastic Is Not Always Evil. Alcohol usually always makes the trek in with us. However, carrying an entire glass bottle of wine or a 12-pack of beer is just not going to happen! Typically, I will prep before the trip by transferring whatever alcohol into a plastic Gatorade-style bottle. Yes, I have a zillion Nalgene’s and Siggs which I love, but if you ever make the comparison, you will notice that a Nalgene weighs substantially more than a Gatorade bottle. And when you are snowshoeing 7 miles and 4000 feet of elevation gain…. well, that extra weight starts to REALLY make a difference!
6. Make the Effort and Carry a Sled. Ok, so this one might just be my group of friends, but we started carrying a sled in a few years back and it has provided us with such entertainment that we have continued the tradition every season!
We usually grab 2 or 3 plastic saucers and attach them to the outside of our packs. Yes, this completely counters everything I’ve been preaching about cutting weight, but they are seriously so much fun!! The huts are almost always stationed on the top of a hill and having the sleds usually keeps us outside and playing for hours. We usually send the boys out in the morning and they start to tromp down a sled chute and build a big jump for our sleds. Since there is always a lot of snow (knock on wood), the jump can be massive without fear of consequences!
7. Get an avalanche beacon. This one is important. Most of the huts have at least one or two areas that are in known avalanche areas and on certain years, like this one, the snow can be very unstable. Because of our lack of snow, the little bit of snow crust has hardened into a very icy base. However, we got quite a lot of new fluffy stuff this week, and the combination of the light and fresh snow on top of the hard, icy base makes the avalanche danger fairly high.
If you don’t have an avalanche beacon, no problem. There are tons of outdoor gear stores that will rent them to you, along with a probe. They will also show you how to turn the beacon on and how to use it in case of emergency. Be sure to turn on the beacons on before you start the trek in since that is how the beacons work: they communicate with each other so one can find the other, even if it is buried underneath snow.
Most important? Make sure to wear the beacon on YOU while skiing or snowshoeing in. Worst case scenario, you want the beacon to lead to YOU underneath the snow, and not to your backpack which could be separated from your body.
