This past week 2 other CMS Guides and I were fortunate enough to go on a 4-day hut tour in the Aspen area. On day one, we skinned from the Ashcroft trailhead to the Lindley Hut, situated at 10,480ft. The skin was relatively straightforward, on a forest service road. Lindley is one of the more popular huts in the Braun System and rightly so. It was fully renovated in 2002 and now accomodates 18. We arrived early and went on a quick tour to break trail for the following day.
On day 2, we skied from Lindley and over Pearl Pass that separates Aspen from Crested Butte at just over 12,000ft. Our descent took us down a 1500ft South Face and straight to the door of the Friends Hut at 11,370ft. That day, making it hut to hut in 4 hours we were able to go on a "satellite tour" and skied a 1,000ft west facing shot on on sub-ridge of Star Peak.
Day 3 was a relaxing morning sipping espresso in our backcountry "condo." This day was spent touring around the cirque. With some others who had been there before, we skied a powder stash on some North Facing aspects just south of the hut. Temperatures warmed into the 40's and foolishly none of us brought/drank enough water for our tour and were left dehydrated.
The final day was a pre-dawn start so we could ski out the 11 miles before the afternoon sun warmed some hazardous slopes. From my lack of water intake the previous day, I found it hard to recover during the grueling final day. Our exit involved skiing the Southeast Col of star peak, descending into the Taylor drainage, then over another pass on the Taylor Ridge and a long descent back to the car. Despite the long distance, we covered ground quickly and arrived back at the car around 11am, and were eating pizza in Carbondale by 1230pm!
Over the course of the 4 days we logged around 15,000 vertical feet and skied over 20 miles. This was a fantastic weekend spent with great company.
