16.5 mi . 5400 ft gain. 12900 ft high

Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests

A few months ago, I was invited to a hut trip in Colorado and I had zero clue what I was getting into. I had no idea where the Fowler-Hilliard Hut was or what it entailed. Needless to say, I couldn’t say yes any faster! It’s always been a dream of mine to go on a skiing hut trip, but I thought those only existed in Canada. Colorado has, in fact, several dozen huts available to use even throughout the winter. But the real piece of information that you need to know is that much of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains sit at an elevation above 9000 ft with most peaks rising to 12000 ft or higher. And yes, that meant that a hut on a ridge line would be at high elevation.

My journey with altitude sickness has its ups and downs. I’ve felt it hit me at 8000 ft as I bonked on Eldorado, yet I’ve also been completely fine backpacking to and sleeping at 13000 ft in California. Truly the key is breathing, eating, and drinking water. But at last, I’ve titled this blog “elevation is no joke” because it truly isn’t.

Day 0: The Pre-Trip

A few of our crew flew into Denver from sea level cities the night before, lacking proper sleep and acclimation to the attitude. Eh, we’re sleeping at 5000 ft, that should be fine right? We also had more than half the group who lived in the Denver area, well used to weekend mountain adventures. So my theory was that I would let the locals do more of the heavy lifting of group gear and let myself manage my own backpacking weight. Good thing was we only really needed to carry clothes and a sleeping bag and food. Bad news, we still had to pack the night before and my pack still weighed a lot because I decided to go with a few luxury items like my day pack for our middle day of skiing.

Day 1: The Uphill Battle

It would be an understatement to say that getting to the hut was an uphill battle. Our cars arrived around 11am but we didn’t get going until noon for the most part. This was definitely a set back, not knowing how slow going uphill at high elevation would be. Our first task: find a way to cross the cold, quick moving water. We hit a few dead ends until we decided to walk the extra half mile each way for a solid, known crossing just south of our parking spot. Even this flat walking had my heart rate racing. How am I ever to make it up 2700 ft to the hut?? This felt impossible.

Eventually our flat skiing came to an end and I came to terms with the uphill. The first section that follows a valley was honestly more pleasant than expected. It was slow going and everyone ended up splitting into smaller groups. My pace dropped and dropped as I let others pass while I took long food breaks. I just couldn’t bear my heart racing as fast as it did. Conversation was hard to maintain since it took extra energy beyond just deep breathing while moving my legs forward.

The second section of the uphill was much steeper as we followed a summer trail up and up with no real switchbacks. In Washington, it would have been no big deal, but here in Colorado, at 10000 ft above sea level, it was as arduous as it gets. No, my legs weren’t much tired, but my heart and lungs were. It took everything in me to just focus on my steps, singing songs in my head, taking 30 step breaks and forcing air into my lungs. More than once did I contemplate turning around and seeing if others wanted to do the same.

But the closer I got to the ridge, the more I realized I could make it! There’s always a point on a trail when it’s is more worth getting to the destination than turning around. We became a group of 4 motivating each other (Tarah especially was great at that) and slowly moved our caravan traversing across the last stope just a mere 400 ft so we could descend to the hut. To quote her “the ridge is our Roman Empire”.

The thought of a warm hut and lounging and getting sweet alpine views the next day was pure motivation for me. I couldn’t have been happier to have reached the ridge, ready to give my lungs a rest. A thrilling downhill skin over 200 ft of descent, we finally found ourselves taking off our boots and warming up by the wood stove. I was thankful for the people ahead who had set the skin track and warmed up the hut for us. A low-key perk to being slower!

We took our time to unpack and settle in as we waited for the last couple people to arrive, cheering them as they got to the hut. Never has 2700 ft of gain felt so hard!! I think everyone agreed on this. Tarah and Colin were the real heroes of this trip, organizing and planning and making sure that everyone was enjoying themselves. For our first dinner, they made chili stew with plenty of toppings and leftovers that were consumed for lunch the next day. Easy meals are key for big group dinners. But even easy meals still take time, so huge thanks to everyone who helped because I sure didn’t feel like I helped much around the hut.

Day 2: The Day of Powder Hunting

While we didn’t get much of a sunset, I was hoping for a good sunrise. I set my alarm early but to no avail. At this point, people started to wake up, so it felt like no point in me trying to go back to sleep. Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for breakfast was the perfect way to start the day! Eventually everyone had their breakfast and started to get ready to ski. From the hut, there’s so many options, and plenty of low-angle ones for questionable avalanche condition days. Weirdly enough the avalanche forecast stated low risk even though it had recently snow. Hmmm… Well at least we all agreed to keep it low angle and safe for all!

Our first descent was straight down from the “porch”. It was incredible to just strap on skis and ski without having to work uphill first. I suppose we did that the day before. The top 100 feet was incredible! Super soft and buttery, as some might say. But then as soon as I finished taking photos and started to ski further, the snow became quite crusty all of a sudden. Crusty enough it grabbed me and yanked me down, camera and all. It definitely gave me some sort of whiplash, though I didn’t know it then. We quickly decided not to keep skiing and head back up to the ridge.

At this point, I was thinking this one lap could be it for me for the day. Bad snow, tired lungs. But then Rachel suggested that we go to a different aspect since yesterday as we traversed, we found very soft snow. I was intrigued! No way did I want to descend the same way again. So our group split up. And mine of course, decided to make life hard and go up to Resolution Peak. Extra up, yay my lungs [sarcastically]. I was thankful that no one was in a rush and we all stayed together as a group. I took zero photos of the skiing except on my phone and wow oh wow was it sooooo nice! We kept going as far as we could, just barely into the trees. I honestly felt like this was the best turning and best skiing I’ve yet done in the backcountry. Certain better than the first lap.

It was so good we all wanted to do a second lap till our stomachs got the better of us. We climbed back up 800 ft (I even surprised myself) and instead of doing a second lap, we did a sort of half lap that ended us back to the hut. Everyone else had finished lunch when we got back and I was so hungry! Thankfully, there was still some chili left over and freshly cooked ground beef to pair it with. No longer hangry, I was able to contemplate how many more laps I wanted to do. My crew wanted to go back to the same spot, but everyone else ended up checking out the north-facing trees. By the time they came back and reported great conditions, we also decided to check it out. It would be fun to ski with everyone!

The tree lap was super fun and full of laughter. 600 feet of navigating between trees and following each other’s voices. There’s no point in waiting for all 12 of us when we were spaced out just enough to be in eye sight of at least one other person. We turned back uphill once we reached the forest road. Climbing through trees is somehow mentally easier than in the open alpine. Before we knew it, we were back at the hut! This time, I was convinced, no more uphill and skiing for me!

But then someone suggested the option of going back to where we were on Resolution Peak or another lap in the trees. Well, Resolution Peak meant only 400 ft of uphill vs 600 ft for the trees. And it was sure enticing, so I recommitted myself back to more skiing! Slow and steady, I lead the way up to the peak, everyone closely following me. But surprise! Half the group actually wanted to ski below Resolution Peak, but I had no more strength to climb again, so we split yet again, and I got to just ski down to the hut. Some of my most favorite turns of the weekend were here on the slightly steeper slope.

At the hut, everyone was already in lounge mode, getting ready for charcuterie as we waited for the last group to come back from their longer descent. I feel like no hut trip is complete without a charcuterie board. Nearly everyone contributed to the charcuterie and we had a lovely spread of cheese, crackers, chocolate and more! And me? Well, per the weekend, I still didn’t contribute beyond carrying 2 pounds of dry pasta. Bringing us to pasta dinner! It was choose-your-own-pasta night with veggie and meat options, tomato and pesto sauce, and a variety of toppings. The cherry tomatoes were definitely the highlight. And at the end of dinner, we got to surprise one of our friends with a birthday cake, candle included!

Oh and yes, we finally got alpenglow this second evening and it was so cute that everyone watched the sunset together before dinner.

Day 3: The Exit

I woke up early again to watch the sunrise and 2 others joined me! It was beautiful and quiet and I loved the frost on the windows. I only took a brief nap this morning for a slow wake up but I really liked getting up before everyone else. It’s so peaceful. Soon, everyone started slowly getting ready, making breakfast and packing up to go. It’s amazing how slow you can move when there’s little motivation. If we were camping, this would’ve been done in a mere half hour to an hour. But we got the cozy cabin, so we took a couple hours to tidy up and be mentally ready.

Clean up was made easy by 13 helping hands! It feels like you’re hardly doing anything when everyone is pitching in, though I’m sure plenty of people helped more than I did. We left the cabin as clean as we could get it before shuffling our gear and skis out the door. Someone noted a potential different path to take down directly from the cabin instead of going up and over. But myself and a few others were interested to take a look at the fun ski line we had found yesterday, hoping for the same snow.

However, I think I almost wished I had gone down with everyone else, if not for the beautiful views at the summit of Resolution Peak. The other path would have also been a fairly crusty descent before an easy ski out on a forest service road. Our descent was a survival ski through our uphill tracks and icy surfaces where going off the path was slightly but not significantly more pleasant. It was thrilling to say the least. Finally, we neared our flat ground with one last challenge: how to cross the stream again.

Fortunately another group had just come up so we could see if an easier crossing was possible instead of the extra mile of flat walking. From afar, it looked much easier than in reality. With their longer legs, the guys crossed with ease. The rest of us shorter folk threw our stuff across, some narrowly missing the rushing stream. And with poles planted in the creek, we made the jump over with assistance. It was possibly more thrilling than the icy descent itself! Our last little hurrah before reaching the cars again, where we met up with the rest of the group just as they loaded up their cars. What a fun trip! (And I shan’t think of the arduous uphill on the first day)

Notes

• The mileage and elevation gain will vary depending on the laps you take! Nominally it’ll be 2700 ft of gain and 200 ft of loss to get to the hut via the normal route over the course of 6 miles. It took us 4.5-7.5 hours to get up to the hut.
• Elevation is no joke – yes this is the title of the blog, but seriously if you’re not used to the altitude, be cautious as you make your way up and make sure you eat/drink/rest enough. Ibuprofen was generally helpful to keep the heart rate low and the nausea at bay. But the true remedy to altitude sickness is to descend, as much as you might not want to do that.
• Don’t forget to check the Colorado Avalanche Information Center before you go. If you’re coming from Washington, be sure to truly review the avalanche risks since they vary greatly from the maritime zone. In general, be much more cautious in the Rockies and limit your exposure to non-avalanche terrain when uncertain. Backcountry skiing is inherently dangerous, and I am not a professional, so make your own judgements wisely. Have fun but most importantly be safe!
• Reservations: There is a winter lottery every February the season prior to when you want to go, but sometimes things will just open up due to cancellations. You can read more about the 10th Mountain Division Hut Lottery/Reservations and more specifics on the Fowler-Hilliard Hut
• Parking: There’s various ways to get up to the hut but we went via the Resolution Road, 16 miles north of Leadville on US-24. It’s about 2 hours from the Denver area.
• Cell service: There’s hardly any the whole way up but some people found some small amount of service in the hut (or by the toilets). I found the best service at Resolution Peak.
• Remember to clean up and leave the hut cleaner than you found it!

Photos taken on Canon EOS R5