A Small Hut for Big Skiing in the San Juans: Aladdin’s Lamp

Four of my hut companions and I leaned into plastic deck chairs facing the wind-scoured peaks looming over Silverton, passing around a flask of cheap mezcal, recounting the day’s ski runs. Calling the conditions harsh would have been an understatement. Sketchy avalanche conditions pushed us into thousands of vertical feet of jump turn survival skiing through breakable crust with painfully brief pockets of semi-soft powder. So bad it was almost funny. Almost.

I traded the flask for my weathered guidebook, flipping to a page that had been dog-eared for six years running – a backup option in the event our annual Aladdin’s Lamp hut trip landed over conditions like these. That’s the beauty of Aladdin’s Lamp Hut; you’re never stuck to a single zone. It’s a backcountry hut in Colorado’s San Juan range that gives skiers easy access to virtually any ski zone near Silverton or along US Highway 550 between Purgatory resort and Ouray.

So the next day we pivoted, driving instead ten minutes south to a zone more protected from the March sun. Conditions, fortunately, were opposite the previous day as if a genie had granted our powder wishes (sorry, I had to).

 

Aladdin’s Lamp is a private hut situated just two miles north of the summit of Molas Pass in the heart of Colorado’s San Juan mountain range, or about 4.6 miles south of Silverton on US Highway 550. It’s not your typical backcountry hut experience, though. It’s functionally a front country hut with major backcountry energy. The approach is less than a quarter mile. Most years you can walk to it on a packed snow path without skis.

That also means the packing list can, if you wish, expand to near car-camping capacities. A few trips to the car is well within reason. Fresh vegetables, extensive and intricate dinner ingredients, and an entire (intact) birthday cake found their way to the hut. My wife didn’t hesitate to add enough Aperol, seltzer, and prosecco to my duffel to intoxicate the adult population of Cortina d’Ampezzo with Aperol Spritzes– glass bottles and all.

I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little bit anxious about sharing this little slice of backcountry heaven with the good readers of Wildsnow. But alas, this little gem is too good not to share.

 

The Hut

Owned and operated by Kennan Harvey, a 30-year adventure photographer, the Lamp could hardly be in a more impressive location thanks to the view of the Grand Turk and the intimidating east-facing Zipper Couloir slicing down its face. The hut is perched at 10,500’ in an opening in the trees that fully block the nearby highway, delivering a near-backcountry feel.

Named after the 1880’s mining claim beneath it, the hut has a brief 30-year history. Before its evolution into a backcountry skiing refuge, the original owners were aiming instead for a water bottling plant. You won’t convince me that it turned out the wrong way.

As you walk up and onto the modest but accommodating deck, a look back to the east reveals an entirely new, equally impressive view of the jagged peaks of the Weminuche Wilderness. We’ve spent a lot of time on that deck over the years. Especially in the spring, when the ski days start and end eye-wateringly early, the deck gets drenched in afternoon sun. It paired particularly well with this year’s post-skiing theme, “Euro après through the decades,” which of course was accompanied by Aperol Spritzes, alpine charcuterie, berets, retro shades, bulky sweaters, and heavy zinc sunscreen.

The front door opens into the main room, a cozy squeeze for tight-knit groups. A small kitchen, generous dining table, wood burning stove, and a few window benches round it out. Just enough to feel like plenty and nothing more. “A perfectly proportioned little hut for a group of eight that really like each other,” described my wife, Rachel.

From the kitchen opposite the front door is another door to a storage room where the wood lives that doubles as a gear staging area. There are hooks for backpacks and spots for skis, as well as simple coolers and other storage nooks and crannies. You’ll also find a crate of emergency Crocs for post-skiing foot bliss. The narrow room triples as a hallway leading to the toilet. That’s right – the bathroom is inside. I can’t overstate how important this feature has been to a handful of group members over the years.

A narrow staircase leads upstairs from the north edge of the living room to the sleeping quarters. The A-frame room is spacious and graced with big windows into the Wilderness. Bunk beds lie in two corners, and a queen occupies another. Plentiful accommodations for eight with some bed sharing.

 

Backcountry Skiing Access

The quintessential A-frame character is worth a visit in itself, but the backcountry skiing immediately surrounding the hut, as well as the easy access to any of the other zones around Silverton, Red Mountain Pass, and Molas Pass a short drive away, is what sets Aladdin’s Lamp apart from others in Colorado and even other huts in the San Juans, many of which are deeper into the backcountry.

Be warned, though. This region isn’t known for its abundance of mellow terrain or avalanche safety (other than the plentiful low-angled options on Red Mountain Pass). Some of the most impressive slide paths in the state slice through these mountains in every direction. Fortunately, there are ski touring options for most conditions, and they’re detailed in Beacon’s Backcountry Skiing Silverton Colorado guidebook by Josh Kling.

When the avy conditions do settle down in the spring, Aladdin’s Lamp is an ideal basecamp for dozens of classic, challenging, and aesthetic ski lines.

 

Accessed From the Hut: Grand Turk / Wishbone Couloirs 

In previous years, stable conditions allowed our group to venture just 1,400 vertical feet and one mile to the northeast from the hut up into the south bowl of 13,160ft Grand Turk, which is filled to the brim with ski lines. The Wishbone Couloirs off the south of Grand Turk form a fun objective on their own, but they can also be combined with descents of the North, East, and/or West of Grand Turk. The route description for the iconic Zipper Couloir, perched above Aladdin’s Lamp when viewed from the East, is detailed in Brittany and Frank Konsella’s Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes Colorado guidebook.

One basin to the South, Sultan Creek, is a quick jaunt from there. It contains its own suite of fun, open ski lines and faces, as well as a few steep, techy options. Going one basin further south, to the Molas Creek basin, opens more moderate ski lines, including short, fun, lappable mini-golf couloirs.

Kling’s guidebook also details a longer, more complex Turk-Sultan Traverse that begins right at Aladdin’s Lamp. Skiers can head up and over Grand Turk via the Wishbone Couloirs, across the Deadwood Basin Traverse to Sultan Mountain, and down the technical and committing North Face of Sultan Mountain into Northstar Basin and all the way out to Silverton.

South on US Highway 550: Coal Creek / Deer Creek

Our March 2024 trip landed in the midst of a relatively complicated snowpack, rising danger, and several nearby skier-triggered slides. Fortunately, just ten minutes of driving south on US Highway 550 brought our group to an excellent, relatively safe option: Coal Creek (detailed in the aforementioned Kling guidebook). After a short approach, we enjoyed fluffy north-facing laps filled with pillows, nicely spaced glades, and a quick car shuttle.

Combine the Coal Creek descents with the next drainage to the north, Deer Creek, for extra vert and similar turns, all of which are scrumptiously lappable.

Accessed from the same parking lot lies Engineer Mountain and its surrounding ski terrain, ranging from steep, technical lines to glades and open meadows. It’s all detailed in Jon Kedrowski’s Classic Colorado Ski Descents guidebook.

Even closer to Aladdin’s Lamp is the access point for Mt. Snowdon’s Naked Lady Couloir, a sporty line demanding stable conditions, detailed in the Konsellas’ guidebook.

North on US Highway 550: Red Mountain Pass

Virtually unlimited skiing exists within twenty minutes of driving north on Highway 550. Roadside classics include the steep, north-facing Chattanooga Chutes (detailed in Kling’s guidebook) and of course the plethora of lines off Red Mountain Pass, which are featured in just about every backcountry skiing guidebook covering the San Juans.

As mentioned before, Red Mountain Pass has some of the best low-angled ski terrain in the area, and fun lines exist on every aspect and for most skill levels.

 

Notes and Considerations

Aladdin’s Lamp is a self managed hut, not a full-service hut like those proliferating on Red Mountain Pass and elsewhere. Kennan noted that there’s been some confusion in the past. Guests pack it in, pack it out, cook, and clean for themselves.

What should you bring other than hut trip basics? Kitchen rags or paper towels, pillowcases, sleeping bags, and all the food you can dream of. Need inspiration? Check out these hut meal ideas from Julia Dubinina. And like any backcountry gem, natural or built, treat Aladdin’s Lamp with respect and an ethos of stewardship so future generations of skiers can enjoy it, too.

Lose another splitboard bolt while your skier friends heckled you during a transition? Cripple Creek Backcountry is a ten minute drive away in Silverton. Come down with a case of pneumonia like I did at the Lamp in 2012? The closest hospital, as well as most other big-city accommodations are in Durango, about an hour away.

 

Conclusion

I can’t state it better than my friend, ski partner, and hut critic, Quinn Snowdon, when prompted for a quote: “With an approach shorter than a dash around a high school track, gobs of great skiing accessible from the backdoor and an adjoining, mellifluous water closet, (sans water, of course), there’s not much more a backcountry skier could ask for than Aladdin’s Lamp. A pilgrimage to the hut, as well as the bold and unsparing lines that surround it, should sit firmly atop any winter devotee’s bucket list.”

To learn more about Aladdin’s Lamp, visit https://silvertonskihut.com/AladdinsLampHut.html