10th Mountain to Uncle Bud’s to Skinner

Heading up Longs Gulch on the traverse between the 10th Mountain Division Hut and Uncle Bud’s in the northern-Sawatch, March 30th.

A few months back Rick and I got an invite from our buddy Brandon to join he and his crew on their annual “Hardman” Hut Trip in March. I’m not sure how many years in a row they’ve kept up the tradition, but the general concept of the trip is a 10 to 15 person group, big traverses between multiple backcountry huts, and lively evenings with lots of cooking, drinking, and other shenanigans along the way. This year’s trip was no different and it wound up being a really good time.

This go around the guys planned to link up the 10th Mountain Hut in the northern-Sawatch to Uncle Bud’s Hut east of Galena Mountain to the Skinner Hut west of Turquoise Lake/Leadville. The stats on the entire traverse were something like 30 miles and 5,500 ft of gain.

Morning at the 10th Mountain Hut as a storm rolled through the area.

We began at the Crane Park TH, which is the same approach we used when we skied Homestake Peak a few years back. I had always remembered sitting on the porch of the 10th Mountain Hut after that descent, thinking it’d be cool to stay in there sometime. Well, that hut was our first stop for Hardman 2018, and it was pretty cool to finally stay in there.

The huts in the 10th Mountain Division system are nice. Most of them sleep up to 16 people in separate rooms and come stocked with a full kitchen, a lineup of board games and a library, among other amenities.

After a fun night at 10th Mountain Division Hut, we saddled up the next morning and began the 7 mile traverse south towards our second destination – Uncle Bud’s Hut. The routes between the huts are marked but there’s still a decent amount of route finding and GPS work that goes into it. After winding around through multiple drainages and climbing up and over the ridge line east of Galena Mountain, we were able to rip skins and ski down to Uncle Bud’s.

It snowed on us for half the day before the sun came out. Photo by Brandon.

Skinning up and around Pt. 12,313 on the Colorado Trail, just east of Galena Mountain.

We arrived at Uncle Bud’s Hut around 3 in the afternoon and had a long time to just relax, play cards, and cook dinner.

One of the best parts about having a big group and a full kitchen to work with is lots of good food gets brought along. From fondue to pancakes, to Thanksgiving dinner and a taco bar, we ate like kings the entire time…

Apres ski fondue courtesy of Derek sure hit the spot.

The next morning, pancakes and raspberries were served.

Mt. Massive seen from the front porch of Uncle Bud’s.

The next day we continued the journey south from Uncle Bud’s to the west end of Turquoise Lake, then headed into the Glacier Creek dranage towards Hagerman Pass. From there we headed east out along the ridge line to the Skinner Hut, our last stop of the trip.

Skinning in Glacier Creek west of Turquoise Lake.

Having a little more leftover energy after the skin than the previous day, J, Brando, Dylan and I headed out for some evening turns. The north facing chutes coming off the ridge line from the hut held stable powder snow and were perfect for a few laps in the waning light.

Brandon enjoying the goods.

J on our second lap.

…and Dylan. Our approach route can be seen in the background.

Taco bar dinner is served. 

On the morning of the last day we packed up and reversed our route down towards Turquoise Lake, then paralleled the southern shoreline to our vehicle shuttle. We did get a few more turns however in the same chutes we skied the evening prior. The heaver packs made things a little more interesting.

One of the chutes we skied the prior evening made for a perfect way to exit the Skinner Hut in style.

The entire group at the lake – Jesse, Brandon, J, Chuck, Derek, Matt, Nico, Mikey, Joel, Scott, Steve, Rick, and I.

…and lastly, an overview of our route with the huts marked.

To everyone who came along and made this trip a reality, thanks! Sure was a good time up there…