Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We decided to make another attempt at getting to one of Colorado's backcountry huts...we tried last year but were turned back by deep snow. This year, we had reserved bunks in Janet's Cabin, near Copper Mountain, for the Friday after our week of skiing. After 6 days of skiing, we were to haul our tired bodies up a mountain without the benefit of a ski lift.

The day started with a harrowing drive in a snowstorm on I-70, where the car unexpectedly shut off on us as we pulled off the exit! Thankfully it restarted and we made our way to the parking lot at Copper Mountain Resort. In the parking lot, we met 2 skiers, Luke and Andy from Denver, who were heading up...we were happy to know there would be people ahead of us breaking trail this time. We got our packs together, then were off to rent our snowshoes and get to the trailhead. While at the rental store, they scared us about our lack of avalanche beacons, but we went ahead anyway, confident in what we'd read about this trail having very low avalanche danger.

The trailhead was the base of a beginners' ski slope. We had to dodge beginning skiers and boarders as they looked at us like we were nuts, heading uphill instead of down. It was during this part of the hike that we could feel every bit of the previous days of skiing. We (finally!) reached the backcountry gate and turned onto the trail, nicely broken by our skier friends. The trail went downhill for a bit, before starting the steady climb for the rest of the hike. Despite the broken trail, the snow was soft, and it was still a strenuous hike. If you stepped off trail, you would sink to mid-thigh! We had fun checking our progress on the GPS and the altimeter watch, and taking lots of pictures. The trail climbed from 9,900' at the base of the ski lifts, to 11,600' at the hut.

We caught up to 2 women skiers who had about an hour headstart on us...when we tried to pass them, they didn't seem very happy about it saying we would mess up the tracks they were following. We weren't sure of the etiquette here, so decided to slow down since the weather was holding and we knew we'd have plenty of time to get there before sunset.

Eventually, we reached the last half mile which was a steep pitch leading to the cabin. I could only take about 10 steps at time without stopping to catch my breath. Finally, we were there! We took off our snowshoes and could go in and get warm. The cabin has 3 levels- hutmaster quarters on the bottom, kitchen and common areas on the middle level, and bedrooms upstairs. Snow is melted on a woodburning stove (which also heats the cabin) for water, solar power provides the electricity to run some lights, and there are propane-fueled burners in the kitchen for cooking. The cabin was full for the night, with 20 people staying there (most cabins are fully booked at this time of year). There is also a wood fueled sauna that we didn't use (maybe next time!).

We played some cards with our new friends Luke and Andy, and some crazy vegans offered us some leftover burritos (cooking, as well as boozing, is a big deal in the huts) so we didn't have to eat dehydrated food. We split our bottle of wine, and Luke gave us peppermint schnapps for our hot chocolate- yum!

We slept very, very well! We woke to a few fresh inches of snow, plus some sunshine. We hiked around a bit near the cabin before packing up and heading out. The hike was about 11 miles round trip with 1,800' of elevation gain. We'd love to do something like this again with a group of friends!