Approaching Sisters Cabin, Colorado. Six thumbs up.
Colorado’s newest backcountry skiing hut, Sisters Cabin, opened for business this winter. I visited a few days ago on a media trip. The architecture and location blew me away.
In Colorado, we lack lower angled, somewhat avalanche safe backcountry skiing, so hut sites for the typical backcountry skier are hard to find. But after working through 21 options for sites, Summit Huts received approval for a location on public land, just below timberline on the north side of a blunt hump known as Bald Mountain (near the resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado). A locals favorite for backcountry laps, Bald has a variety of ski options, from low angled to steep, timbered or alpine. Access to higher, steeper mountains is limited, though the summit of Bald is 13,638 feet — a worthy objective if you’re looking to tag a peak instead of lapping powder (or doing both if you’re strong).
Seeming as most hut customers in Colorado are seeking moderate terrain and easily reached huts, the place is perfect (the approach is a short four miles of low angled trail). Sisters is booked solid for the entire winter, proving the point. The $50/night per person fee seemed high to me as you’re not getting running water or meal service, but I found out $10 of each fee is put towards an endowment. That’s important, as these high altitude huts are expensive to maintain.
In all, I’m happy to report another fine addition to the astounding preponderance of more than seventy Colorado backcountry huts and yurts. Reservations. Check out a few photos, many more on the Summit Huts website.
While the exterior architecture is too busy for my taste, it works, and the interior layout is nearly flawless. Only mystery is why they located two bathrooms downstairs instead of having an upstairs toilet. If you need a few nighttime visits to the facilities, navigating a flight of stairs while you’re half asleep at 11,445 feet elevation is not fun.
Great room is, well, great.
The kitchen nicely featured (only lack being running water). Our media media trip was catered, the kitchen functioned for the cook though she found the propane oven needs tuning.
Bob and Ruth volunteered to cook breakfast. I had no idea that involved hauling a steel griddle and fresh eggs.
Dinning area is adjacent to kitchen, boasting an enormous table. Maximum capacity of the hut is fourteen, the table easily seats that.
I found this interesting. Due to Americans With Disabilities Act, they had to provide a first floor sleeping location with doors. I slept in there after the party died down. Premium accommodations.
The cabin honors groups of women who enjoy the backcountry. Specifically, it cost about a million dollars to build, with funding coming from Sue Sturm and her husband. Sturm had in 1998 experienced her first hut trip, with a group of inexperienced “mothers.” Apparently the trip was life changing, now we get a new cabin! Wonderful how the backcountry changes people, isn’t it?
Post and beam construction along with super-insulation result in an old world texture but incredible efficiency. Burning the wood stove is nearly unnecessary.
Several bedrooms. A lager with both stacked and continuous bunk takes the beds up to the fourteen person limit. As with any lager in the world, bring your ear plugs.
In all, Summit Huts has succeeded in setting the bar to heights I found unimaginable just a few decades ago. Next frontiers are probably smaller huts on private land, and easily reached cabins with affordable meal service. I suspect both are coming. More, I’m excited to see who tries to exceed the design, finish, and amenities of Sisters — that’ll be fascinating. WildSnow six thumbs up!
A happy couple at Sisters. Why are they happy? Instead of joining the poor souls at the Breckenridge resort skiing you can see in the distance, they will ski fresh powder under their own power, then retire to their own million dollar home.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
