The Eiseman Hut | Colorado
A stellar backcountry hut trip with my son Stefan to the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association Eiseman Hut in the Gore Range of Colorado. Perfect weather, very warm, no wind and not a cloud in a deep blue sky. That said it was a truly massive climb to the hut with rapidly deteriorating snowpack requiring some gymnastic bushwhacking, soft snow and a truly brutal never ending final climb to the hut. They said it would take around 6 hours and it did. Perhaps the biggest expenditure of physical energy in my life. All the others who made the trip were all wiped out. But the Hut was just beautiful with endless views to Vail Mountain and the Gore Range with world-class sunset.
These Huts (actually large log structures) are fully outfitted with solar, propane, wood and everything you need apart from your food, drink and a sleeping bag. For $37 a night it is without a doubt the best bargain in skiing. Though lugging almost 40 pounds on your back for 6+ miles to over 11,000' feet had a higher cost!
The descent was 2 hours of frozen snow, narrow and off-camber tracks, skins on and off, boot hiking and even more bushwhacking and skiing over grass and over fallen logs. Fun! No substitute for gravity. A real test of skiing skills and knee strength!
Finally, I had to break down and accept Warren Miller's famous observation, "Your children are only as good of a skier as you are for one day.... and then they are better." Well, that was today. I couldn't be happier!
