December
Snowshoe the 10th Division Mountain Hut System
The Way to Wake: The 10th Mountain's Skinner Hut
Photo courtesy 10th Mountain Division Hut Association
Ring in the New Year by inverting the mayhem of Times Square and escaping into total wilderness! Corral a group of your nearest and dearest; buy or rent a pair of snowshoes from your local REI; stock up on warm winter woolies, supplies, and bubbly; and dip off the radar into the Colorado backcountry between Aspen and Vail. There, a network of 29 lovingly maintained alpine huts await. America's answer to Europe's well-established Alpine hut-to-hut networks, the 10th Mountain Division Hut System was developed in honor of the troops who trained in the area prior to deployment to the mountainous combat zones of World War II. (Seven of the 29 huts are technically part of the separate Alfred Braun & Friends Hut System, though these fall under the remit of the 10th Mountain collective.)
| A "Snowshoe" to Go |
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Snowshoes have come a long way since the days of those clunky wooden foot pallets. These days gear makers like REI (www.rei.com), Atlas (www.atlassnowshoe.com), and Redfeather (www.redfeather.com) market lightweight, tough, and well-priced snowshoes for feet of all shapes and sizes. L.L. Bean has gone one step further, with its newly released Boreal Ski ($249, www.llbean.com), a 120-centimeter creation that functions like a cross-country-ski/snowshoe hybrid. A grippy climbing skin gives you traction on uphill pushes, the shorter length helps you glide quickly over flat terrain, while the ski profile allows you to do what snowshoes can't—schuss downhill!
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Although today's huts were mostly constructed in the '80s in tribute to the fallen 10th Mountain troops, they exist to embrace the unit's love of the beautiful mountain wilderness. Huts range in size from an intimate three-person wood cabin (Ken's Cabin, ideal for "a couple and small child") to more modern "party" structures that can hold up to 20 slumbering explorers. Some are equipped with saunas and wood-burning stoves, perfect to soothe the aches of a quad-burning day of snow travel. The huts are all communal, so you can either share with fellow backcountry skiers or book an entire hut to accommodate your own larger party.
Of course, winter in this beautiful Colorado region also means 10,000-foot mountain passes loaded with snow, hard 1,500- to 2,500-foot uphill slogs, and unpredictable backcountry snow conditions. If you're not a skilled and confident winter backcountry traveler, don't even think of linking up any of these huts—stay at home to do your avalanche-prep homework and hone those out-of-bounds skills.
However, that shouldn't put a kink in your New Year plans. The 10th Mountain huts are open to another type of snow-bound Journeyman: the plodding yet maneuverable snowshoer. Yet while this mode of transport is certainly a slower way to go, the trails are still traversable and just as beautiful whether you're on skis or snowshoes. Stomp out the seven miles to Harry Gates Hut at an elevation of 9,700 feet and enjoy the year's last sunset over spectacular Avalanche Ridge. Or you can hook up several huts on a multi-day trek, like the 25-mile one-way route that joins Margy's, McNamara, and Benedict huts just northeast of Aspen.
The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association's website (www.huts.org) contains a wealth of information about the huts, seasonal advice, news alerts, and reservations and availability. Be advised that holiday slots fill up quickly, so forego the usual December 31st party-planning procrastination and get onto this before your 2005 resolutions have had time to slip. Prices range from $26 per person per night to flat fees of $250 to book an entire cabin. For those who would prefer to travel with an accredited guide, the website also has a list of authorized winter (and summer) outfitters.
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 Snowshoeing 101
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