Aspen – Skiers who visit backcountry huts with photographer John Fielder don’t need to stuff alarm clocks into their backpacks. They will hear him clomping around in his alpine touring boots before first light, getting ready to capture another glorious alpine sunrise.
Fielder is fond of the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association system, which is celebrating its 25th year, for the access it provides to some of Colorado’s most spectacular scenery in the winter, not to mention the ski mountaineering opportunities they present.
But he’s also grateful for the careful way 10th Mountain has situated its 14 huts in the backcountry between Aspen and Vail. On a trip to the Alps in 2005 he was struck by the proliferation of man-made structures on high peaks and ridges.
“They’ve put trains and trams and chair lifts and structures pretty much all the way up to their highest mountain, including Mont Blanc,” Fielder said. “Thank goodness, our ethics have been to preserve what’s left of our wildest places – high-altitude places, at least – and that’s a beautiful thing.
“That’s why I’m proud of our hut systems, including the 10th Mountain Division. They’ve been discreet in how they’ve positioned and built these structures in ways where there isn’t a lot of visual imposition.”
Tenth Mountain huts tend to be located adjacent to exceptional backcountry skiing but tucked in places where they aren’t easily spotted. The Eiseman Hut is located 6 miles north of the Vail ski area, but it’s almost impossible to see it from the top of Vail Mountain without binoculars – even for a skier who has been there and knows where to look.
Fielder has, and he can’t.
Since its inception in 1982, the system has accommodated 410,000 “user nights” and has been averaging about 48,000 annually in recent years. Tenth Mountain handles reservations for 15 other huts, including those in the Summit Huts and Alfred Braun systems, which are owned by other not-for-profit entities.
Equipment and user patterns have changed considerably over the years. Even the name has changed. Initially called the 10th Mountain Trail Association, the word trail was replaced by hut after seven skiers got lost in a blizzard near Aspen in 1993. The highly publicized search and rescue didn’t involve 10th Mountain huts, but 10th Mountain didn’t want to risk legal exposure if a similar fiasco occurred within its network.
The system was the brainchild of the late Fritz Benedict of Aspen, an architect and 10th Mountain Division veteran. Benedict envisioned an “American Haute Route” – inspired by the European version stretching between Chamonix, France, and Zermatt, Switzerland – as a memorial to the ski troops, their service in Italy and their contributions to American skiing.
“The huts have illustrated over 25 years that you can have a very good partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and a nonprofit and provide a really good experience at no cost to the government,” 10th Mountain director Ben Dodge said. “There actually is a positive cash flow to the government.”
Better alpine touring gear
In the early days of the system, users were apt to use lightweight cross country gear – 210-centimeter skis and leather boots – for touring from hut to hut.
“Back then, people would ski to a hut, enjoy their time there and go out on day trips, but they would be more likely to link their hut trips,” Dodge said. “It was a super-important part of our system to be able to connect those huts. It was a major factor in where you put the huts.”
In those days, there wasn’t much alpine touring gear, and it was heavy. Now more user-friendly, AT gear makes it possible for downhill skiers who never mastered the telemark turn to climb backcountry peaks and ski them confidently.
“What we’ve observed recently is that because of the equipment, some people are more likely to stay at one hut two nights and just do laps, rather than connecting the huts,” Dodge said. “A lot of people are connecting the huts, it’s still a very important part of what we’re doing, but the skis and boots are much more suited to spending time in a hut and just doing laps.”
And there’s another user group now. About 25 percent of hut users are snowshoers.
New huts on hold
The planning and approval process for new hut proposals has evolved as well. The public is more involved, from environmental entities to advocates for motorized backcountry users. There are roadless issues, concerns over impact on lynx habitat and other wildlife. All of that has come into play over a hut 10th Mountain would like to build between Ski Cooper and Camp Hale.
“People are viewing backcountry development, and anything that is happening in the backcountry, entirely different now than they did in, say, 1998 – the last time we built a hut,” Dodge said. “In my mind, that’s a very positive thing. People should have an interest, they should participate in the public process, and when they do, the end result is much better.”
Some backcountry skiers believe the mountains around Steamboat Springs offer prime hut potential, but Dodge says that’s for residents of that area to pursue if they want, and not much has happened there.
“We’ve got our area of geographic knowledge centered around Aspen, Vail and Leadville,” Dodge said. “It makes a lot of sense to stay within those realms. How many more huts are we going to build? We’ve only got a certain amount of area. At a certain point, you kind of run out of places, there’s no more good hut sites within that region. I think we’re pretty close to that.”
Some might think it’s pretty close to the end of hut skiing season, but Dodge begs to differ.
“In my mind, April is one of the best times to go on a hut trip,” Dodge said. “If you’re willing to walk a little bit through some mud, you get remarkable snow, the safety factor (reduced avalanche risk) and longer days.”
