Maybe we鈥檙e assuming too much, but we鈥檙e going to guess that your perfect day includes some of the following: a hard workout, a beautiful place, enough of an adrenaline rush to make things exciting, good food, friend, a fire, and not having to answer emails or put real pants on. Correct? Then you鈥檙e probably going to enjoy a hut trip.
How are you getting there?
Make sure that you鈥檙e comfortable on you gear for a long slog with a heavy pack. Hut trips can be a good intro to backcountry travel because they鈥檙e often on low-angle, heavily traveled routes, but you鈥檒l be skiing with more weight than you鈥檙e used to, on gear that might be unwieldy. Get familiar with your gear, and how it works on the uphill and the down, before your trip, so you won鈥檛 be out of your element when you鈥檙e 10 miles from the trailhead. 鈥淪kiers should be able to rip their skins, change their clothes, lube their lips and fuel up their bodies in under 5 minutes,鈥 says Silverton, Colorado-based guide Sheldon Kerr.聽鈥淎 well-organized pack and a few sessions peeling and applying skins will help with this,鈥
What are you bringing?
In addition to the ski gear and avi gear you鈥檇 bring on any ski tour, pack extra layers. Temps can change fast and it can be hard to warm up once you鈥檙e cold. Once you鈥檙e at the hut, long underwear as outerwear is totally acceptable, but don鈥檛 forget to bring something to wear on your feet鈥攄own booties are ideal鈥攕o you鈥檙e not stuck clomping around in your ski boot liners. 聽As far as camping gear goes, check your destination before you go, but huts often come stocked with cooking gear, and bedding supplies, which will lighten your load.
What is the snow like?
You鈥檙e probably heading into a zone where you haven鈥檛 been skiing recently. To get a sense of the snowpack, monitor the local avalanche forecast, which you can find at avalanche.org, before you go. You should have avalanche education before you head out. 鈥淚f skiers do not have avalanche training they should not enter avalanche terrain,鈥 Kerr says.聽The trick, then, is to be able to recognize avalanche terrain in order to avoid it. 聽Bring a clinometer and stay on slopes which are 20 degrees or less. Don’t travel underneath steep terrain.鈥 聽If that limits your options, take an AIARE or AAA level 1 avalanche class, or go out with a guide.聽
Who are you going with?
The people in your party are going to play a big role in how your trip turns out. 聽Group dynamics are a serious factor avalanche safety and risk, and, according to UIAGM guide Margaret Wheeler, those dynamics are set in the first two minutes of a trip. So make sure you鈥檙e comfortable with the group, you feel like your voice is heard, and everyone is on the same page in terms of communication and the risks they鈥檙e willing to take. Not to mention, if you鈥檙e cooped up in a hut with the same people all weekend, you probably want to get along with them.
What are you going to eat?
Probably bacon, and boxed wine. The biggest benefit of a hut trip is that you鈥檙e probably not trying to be fast and light, and you鈥檙e not hauling in a structure to sleep in. That means that you can burn some packweight on fancy food. Break eggs into a water bottle before you leave the house for breakfast omelets, pack hearty veggies like sweet potatoes for dinner staples, and remember that snacks are crucial. It鈥檚 cold and you鈥檙e going to be working hard, so calorie dense treats like cheese, nut butters, and pepperoni are good.
What are you going to do?
Skiing lines right outside your door is nice, but it鈥檚 often just the icing on the cake. At the hut, play Bananagrams, build a kicker, get in that sauna, read, drink whiskey, melt snow for water, talk to people, do not look at your cell phone.
A few of our favorites:
An hour west of Bozeman in the Tobacco Root Range, the Bell Lake Yurt gives you access to every kind of skiing you could want, from mellow meadow skipping runs to the couloirs of Branham Peak, to bowls in Bell Lake Cirque.
10th Mountain hut trips are a rite of passage in Colorado鈥檚 backcountry community. The 30 huts in the system are well loved and well maintained, some of them even have saunas and running water. Their access varies, from Francie鈥檚 Cabin, just 2 miles from the trailhead outside of Breckenridge to the Friends Hut, which is 10.5 miles from the nearest road.
Oregon鈥檚 Wallows hold an untold number of ski lines, and you can access a lot of them on 3-5 day 鈥渉osted鈥 trips from the Wallowa Huts.