Hand-carved script welcomes you to the Lost Wonder Hut. Photo: Trevor Plath
Booking a backcountry ski hut in Colorado is more like trying to score Taylor Swift or Phish tickets than it is booking a hotel room. If you weren’t smashing a keyboard the second they went on-sale, you probably aren’t getting choice dates.
That said, it’s still early enough that most huts have at least a few ski season slots left. Rally a crew and put something on the calendar for this winter. Booking might be competitive, but Colorado huts still provide the quiet, camaraderie, and untouched backcountry lines we dream of all summer.
At publishing time, these highlighted huts all had dates available, but that can change quickly. Colorado has dozens more backcountry huts than what we’ve highlighted here, many with great backcountry skiing terrain close by.
February and March dates tend to book up first with hut-goers dreaming of deep pow days, but considering Colorado’s notoriously temperamental avalanche conditions, the less-popular dates in late spring can be a great time to catch a more stable snowpack paired with a good chance at big April/May storms.
If you’re solo or a small group, there are almost always a few slots here and there in 10th Mountain Division Huts since you’re allowed to make partial bookings and groups often don’t have the exact number of friends a particular hut will hold for a night.
Colorado Ski Huts
One of the current owners, Shawn Gallus, inspecting the Seipel Hut in summer. Photo: Matt Walker
Polar Star Inn / Seipel Hut
These two side-by-side huts are privately owned but operated under the well-known 10th Mountain Division Hut System. John Seipel spearheaded the construction of five (!) huts in a span of two years starting in 1988, two of which are the Seipel Hut and Polar Star Inn. You can learn about the history of the huts in this short recent film about John Seipel and the current hut owners touring to visit all of Seipel’s huts in one trip. Both Seipel and Polar Star stand out for their incredible west-facing sunset views from their perch on the side of New York Mountain. Treeline is close-by and so is great backcountry skiing. The smaller Seipel Hut provides an intimate experience for a small group or couple but is close enough to socialize with the larger groups at the Polar Star–and share the large wood-fired sauna hut.
Winter Access
Vehicles can only go to the Yeoman Park Campground in midwinter, so the skin from there is a substantial 5.7 miles and the plethora of spur roads and retired logging roads can be confusing, even in summer. If you have snowmobiles for shuttling bodies and gear, the approach is much more reasonable, bringing you within 1000 vertical feet from around the town of Fulford.
Terrain
The above-treeline slopes directly above the hut on New York Mountain provide large tracts of lower-angle terrain, making it a strong choice for midseason touring in Colorado when avalanche danger is usually substantial on steeper pitches. The South-facing aspects that descend to Nolan Lake provide options for longer tours when coverage permits, but keep in mind you’ll have a climb back out from the lake and descent back down to the hut.
Booking
Bookings are handled via the 10th Mountain Division at huts.org.
Cost
$50 per night per person for Polar Star Inn, $66.67 per night, person for Seipel Hut. Spaces can be booked individually.
Ascending Clover Mountain ridge above Lost Wonder Hut with Mount Aetna in the background. Photo: Justin Park
Lost Wonder Hut
This privately owned hut sits just East of Monarch Ski Area and provides access to some epic high-elevation descents when conditions allow. This is an affordable, barebones hut in the same style and spirit as the simpler 10th Mountain Division offerings. Running water isn’t guaranteed, but a short hike to a year-round spring-fed creek means you don’t have to haul in water or melt snow. There is a propane stove for cooking and a wood stove for heat. Bathroom is an outhouse a few steps from the front entrance. Some locals access the area for longer day tours but you often have the valley to yourselves. Because of the spring, you don’t need to melt snow for water which allows LWH to be one of very few dog-friendly huts.
Winter Access
This is a great first hut trip as access is fairly short and mostly gradual to the hut. Mount Aetna delivers some avalanche concern along the route in, but it’s navigable with a short workaround in high-danger periods. The 2.8-mile skin track is open to snowmobiles if you want to save your legs for ski tours or, say, to bring in a portable pizza oven as we have the past couple of years. Lower portions of the track can melt out in early April in lower snow years which can lead to some brief transitions in and out of your gear at the start.
Terrain
The best ski descents from the hut are Mount Aetna (nearly 14,000 feet high) to the East and Clover Mountain to the West (you can scope lines easily from the front steps). Both present significant avalanche concerns during high-danger periods, so choose your routes carefully and read the forecast before you go. The East-facing slopes of Clover provide almost 2000-foot vertical runs that start with intimidating steep drop-ins but the South-facing slopes hover around 30 degrees and provide less daunting but still satisfying runs. Aetna is best as a late spring mission when the snowpack is stabilized, but is a classic treeless steep run that ends steps from the hut. Lower angle options abound in the sparser trees to the Southwest of the hut and more Nordic-style tours up the relatively flat drainage are always in play. The hut website provides links to access and ski touring routes here.
Booking
Visit Lost Wonder Hut’s website for a calendar of availability and bookings. Winter openings go live for booking in early August each year and ski season weekends disappear in less than an hour.
Cost
$379-$429 per night for the entire hut. Hut sleeps 14.
Francie’s Cabin near Breckenridge. Photo: Huts.org
Francie’s Cabin
This very popular cabin just south of Breckenridge Ski Resort in the 10th Mountain Division system is a great first hut experience and so it’s often booked out solid early in the year from January through March. I live on the road you drive from Highway 9 South of Breckenridge to the trailhead and tour several days a week there and meet hut guests coming and going. Access is short and fairly gradual so you often see parents tugging young children up in sleds and there’s relatively stable South-facing hot laps above the cabin to the North. A wood-fired sauna and some recent improvements make this a comfortable stay without losing the traditional charm of a 10th Mountain Hut.
Spring receives far less competition for hut slots and boasts superior skiing options for intermediate and advanced tourers. April, May, and often the front half of June provide access to more ambitious high-alpine tours to the top of the Tenmile Range that most Francie’s visitors wisely wouldn’t even consider in midwinter.
Winter Access
Park at the Spruce Creek Trailhead and take one of two main routes to the hut that split about ¼ mile uphill from the trailhead. The direct route via the Crystal Creek Road to the right is a straight line to Francie’s but has some punchy climbs that make it less popular, especially for folks dragging a pulk behind. The Spruce Creek Road Access is mellow if a bit longer. Neither route will break any but the most novice tourers.
Terrain
Herb’s Bowl near Father Dyer Peak is only about 2 miles of steady climbing away and has lots of options for starting in the bowl, plus even the runout is a blast. Crystal Peak is just a bit longer to the summit, but the Southeast face descent off the summit hovers right around 30 degrees with a steep, speedy rollover down to (frozen) Crystal Lake and back to the hut. Peak 10’s Fourth of July Bowl is also an option, using Wheeler Trail to drop back to the hut from the ridge above. Detailed routes and more options abound in Fritz Sperry’s Making Turns in Colorado’s Front Range.
Booking
Bookings are handled via the 10th Mountain Division at huts.org.
Cost
$50 per night, per person. Hut sleeps 20. Individual bookings allowed.
The OPUS Hut, freshly covered in snow. Photo: OPUS Hut.
OPUS Hut
I first visited the OPUS Hut when original owner and builder Bob Kingsley first opened to the public in 2010. The operation was barebones then, though the hut has always been beautiful and the terrain incredible. Kingsley spent a decade welcoming guests to the big mountain touring on offer around Ophir pass, but sold the property and the business in 2022. New owners are continuing the European-style all-inclusive model where food is included (no BYOB). The cost is higher than 10th Mountain Huts, but your pack-in and planning will be much easier.
Winter Access
While the hut is technically accessible from the Ophir side close to Telluride, most people approach from the Silverton side via Highway 550 just south of Red Mountain Pass. The mellow 3.5-mile access road approach does cross through some avalanche terrain, but the ~1700-foot elevation gain happens slowly.
Terrain
In low-snow periods, the safer, mellow terrain along the road to Ophir Pass (and over and back again if you don’t mind mileage) is a fallback, but when the San Juans get big snows (and they do frequently), OPUS Hut delivers great turns right around the hut and myriad more aggressive options surround you in Paradise Basin and beyond. If you want mileage more than vertical, the day trip to the town of Ophir and back is doable and provides a fun finish back to the hut for afternoon soup. Beacon Guidebooks’ Silverton Guide covers the OPUS Hut terrain plus the popular Red Mountain Pass routes you can hit before or after your stay.
Booking
Bookings online at opushut.com
Cost
$72 per night, per person, plus food $72 per night. Total $144 per day. Hut sleeps 20. Spaces can be reserved individually as can individual rooms or the whole hut for $1440.
Eiseman Hut
This northernmost of the 10th Mountain Division huts also has some of its best, most technical skiing. The jagged peaks of the Gore Range loom above the hut to the East with views back toward Vail ski area. There’s a long approach, but the reward is high alpine glades, couloirs, and bowls just North of the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness that you’ll have to yourselves. The hut itself was built in 1996, heated with wood, and served by an outhouse for a classic Colorado hut experience.
Winter Access
Snowmobiles can ride up the adjacent Red Sandstone Road in winter and technically get fairly close to the hut, but the more direct human-powered route keeps you in the Middle Creek basin until you climb the final pitch to the hut. The six-mile distance and 3000-foot elevation gain weeds out beginners and usually keeps the hut from being fully booked as early as more accessible options in the 10th Mountain system.
Terrain
While the intimidating Gore Range is known for steep, technical lines, the Middle Creek basin it serves has surprisingly mellow, yet still high alpine, terrain for skiers above the hut. Treeline also extends high up the slopes here, so there are plenty of lower-angle glade lines to be had. An unspoken agreement among ski authors has kept the Gore Range mostly out of guidebooks, so you’ll need to handle your own route planning. If you’re game to log some miles and leave the basin, Backcountry Recon has a few adjacent routes.
Booking
Bookings are handled via the 10th Mountain Division at huts.org.
Cost
$37 per night, per person. Hut sleeps 16. Spaces can be reserved individually.
Justin Park is the Editor of Wild Snow. In 2009 while living in Hawaii, he got invited on a hut trip in Colorado. He had no backcountry gear, found Wild Snow, read up on backcountry skiing and bought some frame bindings for a pair of G3 Reverends so he didn’t have to buy touring boots. He moved to Breckenridge, CO a year later and today he skis 100+ days a year, most of them backcountry.
