BENEDICT’S HUT TRIP APRIL 2009
So for many Coloradans, hut tripping is a favorite thing to do, sometimes several times a year. I found out about it several years ago and we did our first trip in April 06 with our neighbors to the 10th mtn hut outside of Leadville. We traveled 7 miles by AT (alpine touring) skis. We fell in love with it and did our second hut trip with Anslee in July of 07 to Janet’s Cabin off Vail pass with 10 of our friends in which we used mtn bikes for transportation(7.5 miles into the hut).
This time we choose a hut east of Aspen named Benedict’s hut. It has 2 huts next door to each other. One sleeps 10 people, the other 6 people. We reserved Fritz’s hut that sleeps 10 because we found 10 people who wanted to go, but due to many different issues from a sprained knee, to no dog sitter, we had a few couples back out so it ended up being just us and our friends Amanda and Will on Friday and then our friends Deb and John joined us for Saturday night.
So we took off friday morning after getting Anslee to school (she stayed with Nana for the weekend and happy to do so!). After about 3 hours drive time from Denver, we met Amanda and Will in the middle of Aspen. We missed Lance as we heard he was training here, but we were anxious to get on our way up to the hut before dark. We stopped and grabbed a map to make sure we were going in the right direction and then we headed out for the Hunter Creek TH. It wasn’t the easiest to find, but we eventually got there and found NO SNOW! So Amanda decided to attach her snow shoes to her back pack and Christian and I decided to do the same. We figured within the next few huindred feet of elevation gain we would eventually hit some snow. Will didn’t have snowshoes since his plan was to ski, so he attached his skis to the back of the second pack on his back. What a riot that was to watch ;-). He even admitted to being ill prepared, but later he found out how grateful he was to have the skis! We left our cars at 2:30 on Friday afternoon expecting a 4 hour hike. Well we started hitting some quick elevation gain and suddenly that time expectation grew. By 5:30pm the clouds were growing darker and we looked at the map wondering if we were going to make it before dark. Looking at the topo map, we figured it would be close and we had to push on. Once we were above 10,000 ft Will opted to get his skis off his back and onto his feet with skins and Christian put on his MSR snowshoes (the only ones to get) while Amanda and I tried to enjoy our Redfeather shoes, but it just wasn’t happening. Amanda and I decided to trudge the last mile and a half in our boots since our snowshoes sucked that much! At 7:15 and very close to darkness we found ourselves at the last .57 mile to go, but it was straight up. Approx 500ft of elevation gain in .57miles. You do the math. Amanda and I stopped several times to catch our breath while the boys were getting anxious to finally be there.
About 7:45 Amanda and I hear Will give a “whoo hooo” and we knew he must have finally found the hut. We walked up to the deck and our neighbors walked out from the Fabi’s hut and introduced themselves, asking if we needed any water. We graciously declined and opened our lock into a freezing cold hut. Christian quickly got the fire going and Amanda and Will started dinner. A few funny mishaps occurred in the first hour. Christian was keeping the glass door to the fire open for way too long setting off the smoke alarm several times. We were having to wave the pillows in front of the smoke alarm to make it stop. Then since we had no running water in the hut(don’t think any of them do), we had to shovel snow to get water. We placed the snow in the buckets provided and placed it on the soapstones on top of the wood burning fireplace. We tried our steri pen to sterilize the water and realized the batteries were dead. Oh Crap! So we started boiling the water, not really what I wanted since I was so thirsty and cold water sounded so much better, but I guess that’s what we get for not checking the batteries. I quickly realized wine could solve the thirst dillema while I waited for the water to boil. We also realized the water was brown and remembered that Aspen and the whole state of Colorado had a dust storm within the last week and a ton of dirt and dust had swept from Utah Eastward and caused the snow to turn a reddish brown color. Well at least we weren’t crazy. So besides the brown hot water and the smoke alarm going off, we were settling in for a great night! We sat around the fire, finally getting warmed up, talking, drinking wine and a few shots of Grand Marnier and out of the blue we have another alarm going off. This time it was the Carbon Monoxide level detector. We all started wondering if our headaches, giddiness, and sleepiness was a result of carbon monoxide, or just too much wine at 11,000ft after a five hour hike!!!?? So we opened the door and several windows and it finally went off. We went to bed around midnight or maybe I should say we all passed out about that time hoping to wake up the next morning not dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. ;-)
On Saturday Will and Amanda were going to go out for some back country skiing, but due to the conditions or lack there of they opted to join us in our laziness of laying around the fire and reading. We played some scrabble, read books, cooked a great breakfast, and hung out. We were expecting Deb and John around 3:30 that afternoon as they had to come up this day instead of Friday due to work. Just before 3:30 the snow started moving in and we wondered if it would slow them down. But they arrived right at 3:30 exhausted, just as we had been the day before. The 6 of us sat around and talked as we watched the snow fall. We played a game of Bottacelli and then cooked a great spaghetti meal. After dinner we drank some wine and the cards came out. “Slap Jack Naked” became the game that got everyone laughing and awake. By the way that game has a way of going on and on and on and on!! Still yet everyone was pretty exhausted and in bed by 10:30.
When we woke up Easter morning we found at least 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and were looking forward to a fun trip back down to the car. Deb and John brought Bagels and cream cheese and french pressed coffee for everyone. We ate breakfast and cleaned the hut. We wanted to leave it clean for the next people who were staying. Amanda even left some tea as a nice gesture for the following guests. We gathered our backpacks and headed out to get some group photos in front of the hut.
We started down at 10am and found ourselves in a beautiful forest with snow falling and stomping through 6-8 inches of fluffy light weight powder. Will was so happy to have his skis as he skied through the trees and down slopes that were off trail. We had some funny moments falling in the snow, Christian dumping me head first into the snow, and just being giddy as we enjoyed our beautiful Easter Sunday in a snowy winter wonderland. When we arrived back in Aspen we commented on how different and how much more beautiful everything looked with so much snow on it instead of the way we had seen it on Friday when we left.
We were back at our cars at 1:15pm and headed home. We ran into snow along the way and skiers coming home from their last day of skiing for the season, many resorts were closing today. I was so bummed that I had bought 10 days to Vail/Beaver Creek this year and didn’t get to use even one day, my fault, but still a bummer and today was the last day to have taken advantage of my cheap tickets… a little too late.
We arrived back in Golden at 6pm to a wonderful dinner my mom had made for Anslee… Somewhat of an Easter dinner. Anslee had a great weekend too, full of baking with Nana, easter egg coloring, and getting an Easter basket from the Easter bunny. I made Christian grab a basket on his way home so she would know the easter bunny came to her house too. She was very happy to see us. We swung by to pick up all of our 4 legged kids at Pet Camp and then came home to shower the dogs and us. That shower was the best feeling after being so dirty!!
The one thing I love about hut trips is that you really get to appreciate what you have in life. When you have to melt snow for water, charge the solar batteries in the hut to have electricity, go outside to an outhouse to go to the bathroom, and take wet wipe showers, you really get a taste of what life is like without all of those daily luxuries. I had a great weekend of being outside in Colorado, in the snow, on top of a mountain at 11,000ft, getting some amazing exercise, and relaxation all at the same time. I can’t wait to do it again!!!
Anslee asked me on the way home where we were and when I told her she asked why couldn’t she go? I told her how hard the hike was and she said I can do it, I promise. SO I made a deal with her, we are going out for a hike on Saturday afternoon. If she can start hiking with us then she gets to go on another hut trip. Probably a summer one again and maybe in a few years she can do a winter one. :-)
