Category Archives: Trip reports

History, Culture & Backcountry Skiing in Norway and Sweden

Trip Report by Jack Drury, February 17-March 1, 2019

History, Culture, and Backcountry Skiing in Norway and Sweden

All photos courtesy of Jack Drury. See also a separate photo gallery of additional photos focused on Backcountry skiing and Swedish Tourism Association lodgings. Jack’s ski trip was in the Jamptland Triangle region of Sweden.

Chapter  1 – Origin

Backcountry skiing in Norway and Sweden. My cousin Edie Konesni, a retired  PA (Physician Assistant) on Islesboro, Maine and her son Bennett a talented musician as well as garlic farmer living in Belfast, Maine visited us at Thanksgiving and planted the seeds of a possible trip to Norway. The idea was to attend a community festival and take in Norwegian folk music and dance, passions of Edie and Bennett, and then ski hut to hut for four or five days. The hut-to-hut experience would be great research for my work with Adirondack Hamlets to Huts in developing “hut-to-hut” routes in the Adirondack Park of New York. Round-trip flights looked very reasonable at under $500. The challenge was to find dates that would work for us all and get me back in time for maple syrup season as I operate a small sugarbush and mother nature determines when the sap runs.

I felt the need to be back by the first of March and Edie and Bennett were willing to work around that date. Bennett was keen to attend the Rørosmartnan or market festival in the town of Røros, a small former copper mining community of 5,600 located midway up Norway along the border with Sweden. Bennett is a student of Norwegian folk fiddle music and hoped to find fellow fiddlers to play with. Edie is an accomplished folk dancer and was looking forward to finding opportunities to learn some Norwegian folk dances.

The trip to Røros came together quickly as the market festival started February 19 and we wanted to see the opening ceremonies. So we planned a February 17 departure date from New York with a day to travel from Oslo to Røros by train. We purchased one-way tickets and started researching hut-to-hut options in the area.

As we started our research it was clear that there were lots of “huts” in the area but a number of things emerged. We were early for the typical ski season because it was still usually pretty frigid until mid-March and second, many of the huts didn’t even open until then. A Swedish friend of Bennett’s suggested we look on the Swedish side of the border and all of a sudden more opportunities started to come into focus. I studied an online topo map of Sweden along with the location of fjällstations or mountain stations and after considerable study came up with a possible route. After all my research it turns out I had stumbled onto one of the most popular hiking routes in central Sweden called the Jämtland Triangle, Jämtland being the region or state we were traveling in. I also stumbled on to the Swedish Tourism Association’s website which I thought was a government agency. It wasn’t until we got to Sweden and stayed in their “huts” that I realized it was, as they described it, “An association of committed people who seek discoveries off the beaten track, deeper into the forests, and higher up the mountain.” They operate nearly 300 lodgings ranging from hotels, to hostels, mountain stations, and mountain cabins. Edie made reservations for us to stay at three different fjällstations including a night at the same one the first and last night of our trip and a layover day at the second lodging. We were set! There were some minor train connections to arrange but we had a good plan and were excited to have a trip that included a rich cultural/historical experience in Røros, Norway and an adventurous hut-to-hut cross-country ski experience in Jämtland, Sweden. Edie and I arranged to fly home from Östersund, Sweden via London to Boston where she would fly to Augusta, ME and I would fly to Saranac Lake, NY. Bennett was to stay in Sweden for further adventures.

Continue reading →

Village-to-village trekking in Thailand and Laos

Village to-Village Trekking in Thailand and Laos

Trip report and musings

While in SE Asia recently we did two short guided treks to get a taste of the mountainous backcountry and some brief exposure to life in hill-tribe villages.  While these were standard adventure tourist treks organized by local guide companies, they take you to real working villages, not the increasing numbers of touristy villages passed off as authentic catering to mass tourism.  While most tourists would not enjoy these very simple, low-amenity, “home stay” accommodations, such treks are great for folks who want to get a sense of authentic, off the beaten-path, village life.  We loved it!

  • Riverside gardens
  • Use of elephants as beasts of burden and tourist attractions is controversial

Such treks provide an escape from the crowded cities and mass tourism hub-bub that appears to engulf much of Thailand.  In less developed Laos, we experienced the feel of even more remote villages.  In both countries we loved the experience of walking through forests and mountains, meeting some people along the way, and learning a bit about overnight accommodations and ecotourism, and about local natural history, agriculture, food-ways, spiritual life, and rural sociology.  While participating in such invasive eco-tourism is mildly discomfiting, it provides a visceral shift in perspective.  Reminded us of our village-to-village trek in Morroco’s Atlas mountains. Following is a brief description of these two SE Asian trips, both of which we highly recommend for tourists with a taste for what seems to be called “adventure travel” in the world of ecotourism. 

Thailand: Doi Inthanon National Park

The three-day, two-night trek was operated by Green Tours out of Chiang Mai.  It was pretty easy walking for fit hikers, covering about 11-15 km daily on hilly terrain with occasional steep spots.  Our guide, Taksin, was friendly, spoke English well and was easy to talk with, and was knowledgeable in assuring our safety and comfort.  The trek is mostly within the Doi Inthanon National Park (482 sq. km), one of the most popular of Thailand’s 127 national parks.  We carried day packs with a change of clothes, water and a small portion of the food.  

We were picked up at our hotel at 8AM and went to a bustling market with our guide to shop for provisions for the trip.  The 2-3 hour drive to Doi Inthanon gave us a glimpse of Chiang Mai suburbs, gradually giving way to less developed terrain before reaching the busy National Park.  Selfie-taking tourists from around the world flocked to the spectacular waterfalls and visited the monumental King and Queen twin cheddi (stupa, a type of temple) built below the summit of Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand (8415 feet). 

  • Taksin, our guide
  • A local trailfinder
  • Dinner preparation

Doi Inthanon is a fascinating instance of the world-wide challenge of conserving natural areas while allowing the people who occupy these lands to continue their traditional ways and make a living.  The park encompasses a number of villages and several markets, along with many campgrounds, glamping sites, lodges and cottages.  [In addition I saw (but couldn’t get good pictures of) some interesting clusters of huts, some A-framed and some round like a pumpkin! But encountered no hut-to-hut trekking].  The challenge of mixing conservation, tourism and indigenous communities is complicated in Thailand by the shifting presence of multiple tribal groups and government policies concerning commerce in the parks and, more broadly, efforts at village re-location to accomplish a range of rural development aims.  

An endlessly winding (and for me, nausea-inducing) 2.5 hour drive from the busy center of the National Park got us to the village of Shan, where we had lunch and began our first day of walking.

The trails are unmarked and were established by villagers (and their water buffalo) walking to and from fields and markets.  The clay soil was hard baked and the trails clear, but in rainy season (March to June) trails are very slippery.  Following a river for much of the first day we passed through rice paddies (dry at this time of year) with water buffalo grazing on the rice stubble, fruit orchards, and vegetable gardens. 

  • Dry rice paddies
  • Gardens along the trail

The first village we stayed in (Hui Khow – Rice River Village) had 39 families (about 200 people), a large school complex used by locals and offering boarding facilities for kids from surrounding villages, electricity, and a road suitable for trucks.  Our Hmong hosts for the night were among the villages who chose not to hook up to electrical service (due to the cost, we were told).  They  lived at the edge of town in a small compound surrounded by their fallow fields, which included a main house, storage building for rice, etc., an outdoor kitchen, an outhouse, a bunk house (where we stayed), and four unfinished small guest huts to expand their ecotourism business. 

We stayed in the bunk house, which had room for about 4 mosquito netting indoor tents, each sleeping two people on a simple pad on the floor with adequate blankets.  Its bring your own toilet paper and really simple accommodations.  We observed and helped with the cooking, enjoyed a few beers and chatted with our guide and haltingly with our host.  The food was mostly Thai (e.g. fish soup, stir fried vegetables with fried rice, though we had scrambled eggs one morning), and nicely flavored with more than ample portions.  They toned down the spice level for us as tourists, but there were always chilis and sauces available at table to punch it up if desired.

  • Bunkhouse
  • Inside the bunkhouse
  • Huts to expand eco-tourism

The walk to the second village (Hui Hoy – Snail River Village) was through more mature forest in the park, in which we encountered many more species of trees and insects, including large termite mounds.  We had an extra guide who was very familiar with the local trails network and who carried his slingshot and machete along in hopes of finding ingredients for his family’s soup pot that night.  This village was larger and included two Christian churches as well as several Buddhist temples.  Along with the school, these structures seem to be the center of formal community life, along with daily life in the vicinity of the tiny local “convenience stores” at the village center.  The second nights accommodation with a Karen (ethnic group) family overlooked their beautiful sloping rice paddies with mountain views all the way to Myanmar.  The open sided “bunk house” with requisite mosquito netting was lovely place to hang out after the walk, and the ample dining tables provided places to sit and read/write/talk, as well as enjoy our home-cooked dinner (disappointingly, the mother of the house wouldn’t let us help with the cooking!) with our host family and guides.  

  • Second bunkhouse
  • In the kitchen

Laos: two day trek north of Luang Prabang to Kmhmu village

Operating out of the charming, slow-paced city of Luang Prabang, Tiger Trails offers this brief trek (the also do longer treks), which was a highlight of our trip.  We met our guides in the city at 8AM and drove an hour north, then transferred to a boat to motor about 35 minutes north on the Nam Kahn River.  Along the way we observed massive infrastructure development underway as part of a major Chinese railroad development (a Belt and Road project).  We started the trek at the village of Hoy Ngen, named for the cold stream tributary to the Nam Kahn with its lush beds of water cress.  This village seemed comparatively prosperous, and had the feel of a fairly recent government rural development initiative, with an impressive school complex and substantial houses.

Outside Hoy Ngen we passed a number of farms and steadily up into the mountains where we got an up-close view of shifting agriculture (aka slash and burn) fields rotated every two years and lie fallow for 4-10 years to regenerate the forest.  Clearing these steep mountainside fields looked like a lot of hard work.  We were amazed to learn that these steep hillsides are planted with upland rice (no paddies).  The sticky rice they produce is prized by locals but, while it can be a cash crop, it is not in great demand in the larger national and international markets for rice.  It wasn’t entirely clear whether they used soil amendments (beyond ash from burning) in this largely subsistence crop system, but it seems unlikely.  Some steep uphill climbing brought us to Tik Pha (Foot-of-the-Mountain), a Hmong settlement where we had a picnic lunch.

The mostly downhill trek to our overnight destination, Hoi Fay (Irrigation-Stream Village), was through a mountainous, thickly vegetated environment with towering, steep-faced mountains towering over us.  We encountered locals foraging and farm fields along the way.  A Kmhmu (largest ethnic group in Laos) village, Hoi Fay has about 400 people and no electricity, other than small solar panels for lights (although a few houses have generators and TV’s and charge villagers to come and watch the tube).  The villagers are mostly old folks and youngsters; the teens and young adults mostly work, live and study in the cities.  There is a school for ages 6-12, but no health center.  There is no temple or church as the people seem to be solely animist in spiritual orientation.  There is a community building where the elected village leaders meet. 

Our hosts were, like most village folks, shy and spoke little or no English.  They had built a long, narrow bunk house with about 6 separate rooms, each with a mosquito net tent and a thin mat and ample blankets.  The indoor kitchen had no ventilation for the two fires and could be quite smoky.  The hosts did the cooking and to our disappointment the guides said it was the custom for them to eat separately with the hosts rather than with us or altogether.  But after dinner we talked into the evening about all manner of topics.  

Musings:

Altogether it was fascinating and sobering to briefly stay in and travel between these remote villages.  Village life is hard and young people are leaving the villages to work and live in cities.  Even in these somewhat remote areas the environmental impact of human activity is pretty profound.  We barely scratched the surface in learning anything about the region and its people.  While our understanding of the following topics is naïve, woefully incomplete, and superficial, these are some of the things that left lasting impressions and/or made me want to return and learn more:

  • Foraging: Our guide Taksin was a very knowledgeable ethnobotanist and pointed out many plants used for kidney and stomach ailments, headache, healing wounds, etc. In our short time in the bush we saw villagers in the bush foraging and hunting:
    • for ant larvae to dry as protein source,
    • temporarily damming small streams to enable foraging for tadpoles, small fish, crawfish, etc.,
    • a broom-like plant to prepare for export to China,
    • using selected roosters tied by the foot as lures to attract wild chickens for hunting,
    • using up bamboo traps to catch rats and prevent their raiding of stored rice and other foodstuffs, and to supplement the soup pot,
    • fish traps in the rivers.
  • Ant larvae drying
  • Crayfish and small fish
  • Fish trap in river
  • Diet: Nearly every family has a pig and some chickens pork is used in many dishes. Sticky rice is grown in upland areas and is favored in rural areas we visited. Widespread use of bamboo shoots in cooking apparently causes stomach upset and kidney problems.
  • House-raising: While on an early morning walk in the village it was interesting to see a man setting up a series of tall posts, which an hour later were the site of a house-raising by a group of about 20 villagers.
  • Forestry: Thailand has apparently largely exhausted much of its timber reserves and buys teak, for example from neighboring countries.
  • Rural development: Village government includes three elected leaders serving four year terms; meetings seem to take place in a designated meeting room. There seem to be government programs in both nations that encourage or require hill tribe villagers to move to villages with schools and health centers, and perhaps to land more suitable for crop production and less fragile. Some of these projects pay for new houses. We were told some villagers move willingly, others resist or refuse to move. In one Lao village we saw at least four vault toilets under construction to help reduce water pollution. Protection of village water supplies seems to be a lever for teaching principles of environmental protection and forest management, and the presence of “ordination trees” is part of an ongoing effort to inculcate an ethos of not cutting trees in protected areas as a means of ensuring clean water supply to villages.
  • Shrines and animism: We encountered nature and ancestor shrines and practices (e.g. plant symbols on doorways) along the way, as well as shrines that seemed to mix these currents of totems to the spirits of plants, animals, places buildings and ancestors.  Animism is a key feature of the culture of the Hmong, Karen and Khmu hill tribe villages we visited.  Our guides were steeped in Animism, including Taksin, who spent 13 years as a Buddhist monk.  Encountering first-hand the deep mixing of Animism and Buddhism was a powerful revelation of something previously only theoretical to me.  It was clear that the belief that plants, animals, rivers, mountains, etc. have souls (or spirits) influenced the world-view of our guides and hosts.  Our contact was so fleeting that I was unable to understand how these beliefs translated into day-to-day human interactions with the environment.  Nevertheless, it seems clear that while animism predisposes people to revere nature, it does not necessarily translate into sound and well-informed environmental practices in agriculture, foraging, and rural life.  This gap between ancient animistic resonances between humans and nature and their effect on day-to-day practices of humans interests me.  On these treks I became intrigued with the potential for updating and incorporating aspects of animism in our 21st century civilizational challenge to bring humans and nature into reciprocal balance. 
  • Local schools: As we walked through a village in Laos we stopped to watch the kids rehearsing a traditional dance routine that apparently is performed at sporting events, replete with patriotic music and flag-waving. [couldn’t figure out how to insert video here]
Thailand and Laos trekking
Animistic shrive to spirits of fungi and the location of a beautiful waterfall.
Rural development exhortation…..
  • Impact of ecotourism: It was not possible to determine the impact of trekkers on these more remote villages, but it appeared minimal. However, our guides had a somewhat disconcerting tendency to joke about the numbers of tourists in the region and how they tried to avoid those places. One was showing us around a temple site and said he would never bring his family to this site during the tourist season. They seemed to be indicating that we were OK and their model of tourism was OK, but that tourism in general was problematic. That was even more true of our guides in the cities. It struck me as a slightly odd posture for out Buddhist guides in terms of the Buddhist principle of “right livelihood”.
  • Trekking business model: The trekking companies seem to rotate their home-stay business among 3-4 village families. Some of these families have been doing this ecotourism hosting for about 20 years, and several seem to have invested in constructing separate bunk rooms in the past 10 years. Formerly trekkers stayed in family homes. It appears the tour operators pay the host family about 15% of the payment received from trekkers for the trip. A portion of this is transferred by the host family to the village coffers per an agreement with the village. The tour operators overhead costs include vehicles for transport, guides, maintaining an outpost for boat transfers when needed, and space rental in the city.
https://issuu.com/aalpineclub/docs/2014_guidebook_to_membership

Bomber Traverse Trip Report, Alaska

Bomber Traverse Trip Report

Illustrations by Emma Longcope, American Alpine Club

reprinted with kind permission from the artist

Following is a delightful artistic trip report on Alaska’s Bomber Traverse Circuit.  This three day ski traverse ties together two huts operated by the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, Mint Hut and Bomber Hut and one operated by the American Alpine Club, Snowbird Hut.  I was curious about the Bomber Traverse and thrilled when I came across this beautiful trip report in the American Alpine Club’s “Guidebook to Membership 2017”, p. 32-33.  Emma, who works for AAC kindly granted permission to reprint it here.  See the AAC “Guidebook to Membership 2014” for a great little article on the building of the new Snowbird Hut (to replace an older one that was deemed unsalvageable) by a group of determined AAC volunteers over a period of two years.

See also a photo gallery of shots of Bomber Traverse kindly supplied by Emma Longcope.  Featured image of one of her paintings at beginning of post is also by Emma.

By Emma Longcope, American Alpine Club

Bomber Traverse Alaska

Day 3 of Bomber Traverse

Anapurna Base Camp

Trekking and Tea Houses to Annapurna Base Camp — Trip Report

            Trekking and Tea Houses to Annapurna Base Camp — Trip report

by Rachel Swift, all photos by author

Trekking Annapurna Base Camp.  In October 2017 my husband Bill and I decided go trekking in Nepal!  This is a description of the trip with an emphasis on the accommodations, teahouses, and meals.  [See also Rachel’s trip report on High Sierra Camps.]

We signed up for a guided group trek to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 13,500 feet in the Himalayas through an outdoor adventure company called Active Adventures based in New Zealand.  October and November are the best months to do this trek as it is after the summer monsoon season but before winter sets in. The adventure started and ended in Katmandu where the only international airport in Nepal is located. It included 9 nights in teahouses on the trail and a few days in Katmandu and Pokhara on the front end and the back end. What an adventure! Continue reading →

Pilgrims Progress: New Zealand Hut Peregrinations

PILGRIMS PROGRESS:
Halfway through our three month pilgrimage in hut heaven, we’re hunkered down in our cozy camper van waiting out the fierce wind and rain of a passing cyclone. Organizing notes and reflecting on our journey thus far, I find we’ve tramped about 29 days on 12 tracks covering 296 km, and visiting 31 huts.

Best of all, along the way we have met many friendly, knowledgeable and kind people. It’s been a blast and we’re looking forward to the next six weeks. And I’ve started a list of people, places and things for the next trip to New Zealand.

Next we’re off to serve as hut wardens for a week on the Travers Sabine Circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park.

The journey thus far has included walking a variety of tracks/trails:

•Two Great Walks: Tongariro N. Circuit (3 days) & Heaphy Track (5 days), and one day on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.
•Several classic NZ tramps:
•S. Tararua Crossing (4 days)
•Queen Charlotte Track (3 days)
•Cobb Valley historic huts (4 days)
•An urban walk: Coast to Coast in Aukland
•Coromandel Coastal Walkway, and a number of other one or two day walks, including some in Kaweka Forest Park and Ruahine Forest Park.

Some other fun and instructive highlights include:

•A marvelous four hour lunch talking with Shaun Barnett,
•Meeting with Robbie Burton of Potton and Burton publishers,
•Attending a BBQ of the Tararua Tramping Club,
•Two highly instructive meetings in Wellington with Brian Dobbie, the DoC official in charge of huts and my DoC liaison,
•Spending time in the DoC library, such as it is after massive downsizing,
•Gathering a wide range of perspectives and interesting hut-related documents from a number of the unfailingly helpful DoC rangers we’ve met,
•Spending two weeks in the Golden Bay/Kahurangi National Park area and meeting lots of interesting people, including writer Gerard Hindmarsh, tramper and hut user extraordinaire Paul Kilgour, DoC rangers Neil Murray, Tony Hitchcock and John (JT) Taylor, hut restoration pioneer.
•Recovery from a ski knee injury and revolutionizing my walking gait after advice from a Wellington physiotherapist,
•Beginning to learn about the other categories of NZ huts beyond the 970 run by DoC, including more than 30 privately operated multi-day walks, a variety of ski and tramping club huts, groups of front country huts and bachs (such as the Orongorongo Valley), and more,
•Beginning to learn about some of the many community-based hut restoration and maintenance initiatives, and the Backcountry Trust formed to support such public/private partnerships, and of course,
•Lots of swimming in lakes, streams, tarns and rivers wherever we tramp.

On, on!

Sam Demas, February 2018

Tenth Mountain Division

Trip Report: Sampling Tenth Mountain Division Huts near Leadville & Breckenridge

Sampling the Tenth Mountain Division Huts in Breckenridge and Leadville Areas

by Sam Demas, December 2017

Want to experience some of the best winter ski/snowshoe huts in USA?  Spend a week experiencing the pleasures of some of the 34 huts in the nation’s premier winter hut system, the Tenth Mountain Division Huts Association.  The Breckenridge and Leadville regions are closer to Denver (than Aspen) and have some of the easiest huts to access.  

As an intermediate skier, but a beginner to true backcountry skiing, I spent a week visiting six of these splendid huts/cabins in the Breckenridge and Leadville areas.  After my skiing buddy Peter had to drop out, what was planned as a 4 night ski traverse turned into a series of one night stays at some of the more accessible huts in the region.  While not what originally planned, it was a great way to get a sense of the range of 10 MD huts and amenities, and to meet lots of people in the process.  To top it off Laurel joined me at the end of the week for a final night in the huts.  A fun climax to this hut trip was spending a glorious night glamping at the Tennessee Pass Ski Yurts and Cookhouse, where we enjoyed fine dining in the backcountry.  

It was a terrific hut2hut field trip!  I’ll definitely go back — in winter and in summer — to do some h2h traverses and to visit more of the 34 huts in the 10MD system.  If you like skiing and huts, these notes will help you plan your own winter hut trip.  Note: the navigation notes in this trip report are simply  to give a sense of the difficulty of navigation.  Be sure to use proper map, a compass, and the detailed guidebook discussed below for full navigation advice.  NB: See sections below on determining if you are ready for such a trip and for tips on  advance planning

Hut Amenities:  Briefly, the huts are self-service: you bring a sleeping bag, your food, and emergency gear.  Huts have beds and pillows, wood stoves and firewood, propane cook burners, pots and pans and utensils, and comfortable spaces for lounging. Water is from snow melt. See 10MD website for details and an equipment list.  

Trip itinerary:

Day 1:  Francies’ Cabin  –  Summit Huts Association, 11,390 ft.

Navigation: via Crystal Creek Trail from Spruce Creek Trailhead – 1.3 miles

65 minutes up, 40 minutes down on snowshoes, elevation gain 1,000’.  10th Mountain Map: Boreas Pass, USGS map Breckenridge.  Start at Spruce Creek Trail Head and at a fork within a few hundred yards you will choose: a. to ascend to the hut by bearing left at the fork for the Spruce Creek Trail (2 miles), or b. by bearing right to follow the Crystal Creek Trail (1.3 miles).  Trail corridor through woods is quite obvious and marked only occasionally with blue diamonds.

Francie’s Cabin, Summit Huts Association

Hut notes: Francie’s Cabin is very popular due to its proximity to Denver metro area and easy access from  the trailhead.  A beautifully designed log hut with 20 beds, Francie’s slept about 18 people the Friday night I was there.  Among the 3-4 different  groups sharing the hut experience, the hallmark was conviviality in friendly, elegantly designed spaces around the wood stove.  I was alone, but easily fell in with several different groups.  It’s all about conversation, cards/games, art materials for table-top drawings, and an opportunity to contribute to the log book.  Plenty of opportunities for snowshoeing, ski touring, skiing and snowboarding on the slopes and ridges behind the hut.  We saw moose by the cabin and mountain goats in the distance.  

Francie's Cabin

Frances Lockwood Bailey Portrait

The idea for a hut in Breckenridge was conceived in by local dentist and former mayor John Warner.  He and a group of friends was staying at the 10MD  Friends Hut (named for a group of friends who died in a private plane crash near Maroon Bells) and as he looked through an album documenting the conception and construction of that hut, he said, “Hey, we can do this!”.   After much planning and fundraising, the hut was built as a tribute to Francis Louise Lockwood  Bailey, a mother, friend, and graphic designer who died in a plane crash at age 36.  Francie was was described as “a gentle artistic and lovely person who never forgot the small things in life that mean so much.” 

****

After a comfortable night at Francie’s Cabin, I spent the following night in an AirBNB near Breckenridge.

Day 2: Ken’s Cabin, Summit Huts Association, 11,530 ft.

Navigation notes: via Boreas Pass Trailhead, 6.2 miles via Bakers Tank Trail, which meets up with Boreas Pass Road.  Took 4.6 hours to ski to Kens Cabin, and  about 2.5 hours to ski out the next day. Elevation gain 1,130 feet.  Going up to the cabin I took the more varied Bakers Tank Trail, which meets up with Boreas Pass Road at Bakers Tank.  Skins not necessary.  Skiing out all the way via Boreas Pass Road makes for a long gentle downhill all the way down.

Hut notes: Skiing up to Boreas Pass at the Continental Divide the mountain views in all directions are spectacular.  The often windy pass and has a reputation for cold conditions, and was named after the Greek god of the North, Boreas. The main trail follows the railroad bed of the South Park Highline, a 63 mile narrow-gauge railroad built to connect Denver to the mining and timber districts around Breckenridge and Leadville that operated from 1884 until about 1934.

Ken’s Cabin

Ken’s Cabin (1864) is one of a cluster of four historic buildings at Boreas Pass.  Owned by US Forest Service, Ken’s Cabin (built as Wagon Cabin) and Section House (1882) were built as living quarters for railroad workers and their families.  Through a unique public/private partnership, Ken’s and Section House are operated in winter by Summit Huts as ski huts, and in summer by USFS as an historic  interpretive center.   

Ken’s is a rustic, cozy log structure that sleeps 3, with a brass bed, a couch shelf, a wood stove, cooking area, and a table with three chairs.  The 3 solar powered light bulbs make for good reading and social ambiance at night.  The logbook is filled with appreciative references to its suitability as a romantic getaway or “love shack”.  

Section House (sleeps 12) is a delightful period structure that evokes the history of this lonely railroad outpost with a restoration that took place in mid-90’s, a great old wood kitchen stove, metal bunk beds. There are two pit toilets (in “John’s John”) with fabulous views out of the picture windows in each of the two throne rooms.

Dedicated to the memory of Ken Graff, MD, who died in an avalanche near Francie’s Cabin on the first weekend it was open.  Family and friends raised funds to restore this cabin for use as a ski hut in honor of Dr Graff, a beloved figure. Ken’s Cabin is a fitting memorial to a kind man and avid outdoorsman.   

****

Stayed in the comfortable, affordable and convenient Leadville Hostel the night before departing for Continental Divide Cabin.  The friendly lodging establishment, the highest hostel in USA, is the perfect place to rest and regroup between hut trips.  It has a fully-equipped kitchen, hot showers, wireless access, washer and dryer, interesting people, and ample spaces for lounging.  Hut groups coming from different places around the state and region frequently gather at the hostel in preparation for a hut trip, and then unwind there afterwards.  

****

Day 3: Continental Divide Cabin, 10,555 feet

Navigation notes: Start from Tennessee Pass Trailhead on East side of Rte. 24, near the Tenth Mountain Division Memorial (a must-see memorial to these influential soldiers).  An easy .8 miles ski in with 95’ elevation gain; 25 minutes. Follows the Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail.

Hut notes: As the shortest and gentlest distance to ski in to any of the 10MD huts, this is a hut trip for families and for first-timers.   Built in 2007, this well designed log cabin (and its neighboring twin, Point Breeze Cabin built in 2011) sleep 8, are very nicely appointed and have a high level of amenities.  It is very comfortable,  with hand-crafted furniture and attractive furnishings, comfortable seating areas for lounging, rocking chairs around the stove, games, etc.  There are several food storage options, including a solar-operated refrigerated chest for summer use.  The covered breeze-way to access firewood and toilet is very convenient.

One Must Prepare, from The Analogue

Built by Lee Rimel, these two cabins seem to hit a sweet spot, and gave me the sense of seeing one strand of the future of hut development in USA.  They are artfully designed, very close to the trail-head, not far from Denver, offer great comfort, and are very family and kid friendly.  The snowmen and snow caves left by recent parties, along with the sleds and nearby kids fort and the tipi The atmosphere and signage clearly convey and ethos of caring, for the cabins and for those who will come after us. This is well expressed in the quote from Mount Analogue, a posthumously published novel by Rene Daumal that concerns and expedition to climb a mountain that unites heaven and earth. 

 

Day 4: Tenth Mountain Division Memorial Hut, 11,415 feet

Navigation notes: Skied from Continental Divide Cabin to Tenth Mountain Division Memorial Hut: 5.5 miles, 4 hours.  Elevation gain 1,150’, elevation loss 290’.  Well marked with blue diamonds and Colorado Trail signs, the trail follows the Colorado Trail.  There is a tricky section between the intersection with the Crane Park Trail and Lily Lake that requires extra attention to trail markers, map and compass.  There are many intersecting trails and roads in the area so care is needed to stay on the blue diamond trail to the hut.  Skins very helpful for last 1.5 mile ascent to hut.  On the return trip to Tennessee Pass Trailhead took Wurtz Ditch Road to the intersection with Crane Park Trail.  It seemed easier than making way through the dogwood thicket N. of Lily Lake.  2.75 hours return trip to Trailhead after a nice 3 “ dump of powder overnight.

Tenth Mountain Division Memorial Hut

Dining and sitting area

Hut notes: It is a pleasure to arrive at this high hut, perched near Continental Divide in a spectacular setting below Homestake Peak.  People frequently stay for several days and have access to a variety of ski terrain, can climb Homestead Peak for great views, and visit nearby Slide Lake. This large, well appointed hut sleeps 16 and is very well appointed, with a large kitchen and dining area, comfortable sitting areas, a library (put together with help from the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies), games, and lots of log books.  The kitchen has a “Household Charm” cookstove (which I had no need to use), and the living area has a mighty “Defiance” wood stove that heats the living area quickly.  This two-story log hut is very well built and designed.  It is typical of the huts owned and operated by the Tenth Mountain Division itself.  

This hut is a memorial to the namesake of the hut system: the U.S. Army’s Tenth Mountain Division ski troops that trained just north of Tennessee Pass at nearby Camp Hale during much of World War II.   These mountain/ski troops were the first unit in US military history that were trained for mountain warfare.  They played an important role in several European battles during the war.  

During their training and service the men of the Tenth Mountain Division developed great cameraderie, and many came to love Colorado and to see is potential for recreational skiing.  After seeing first-hand the advanced recreational skiing infrastructure in Europe, many returned to Colorado (and elsewhere in U.S.) and became leaders in the post-war ski industry.  They brought a vision of large alpine ski areas and hut-to-hut systems to America.   Many provided leadership in founding and managing ski resorts; others became ski instructors, coaches and racers; some wrote about skiing and founded ski publications; and others became ski school directors.  Among this wave of enthusiasts for skiing was Fritz Benedict, a landscape architect in the Aspen area who inspired, along with others, the founding of the Tenth Mountain Division Hut Association and for whom the Benedict Hut is named. This memorial hut is graced with a number if interpretive plaques and posters, and is a great place to get a feel for the roots of this unique winter hut-to-hut system.  

****

Stayed another night in  the highly functional Leadville Hostel before meeting Laurel at Copper Mountain the next morning for final hut trip.

Day 5: Janet’s Cabin, 11,630 feet

Navigation notes: See Ohlrich book and Summit Huts web site for details on parking, shuttle to trailhead, and securing ski pass.  Started skiing from Westernmost ski lift (Kokomo) of the Copper Mountain Ski Resort, up along the edge of the ski slope.  This is the location of the Union Creek Trailhead.  One can take the lift up to gain about 800 feet of elevation.  Total ski in is 4.6 miles, much of it along the Colorado Trail, marked with blue diamonds.  Following the west side of second ski slope (above Kokomo lift), one turns right (West) on a marked trail leading off the slope and into the woods.  A pleasant ski through the woods leads to a bridge crossing Guller Cree, which drainage one follows most of the way to the hut.  After crossing the creek again to ski along the left side of the drainage, there is a final, really steep and strenuous   30 minute ascent to the hut.  Elevation gain of 1,390’ and loss of 410’.  The ascent took us 3.5 hours to the hut (we were running late and really moving) and 2.5 hours back down to Copper Mountain ski area.  

Herb’s Sauna, with helpful rope stair rail

Hut notes: It is hard work to get there, but the hut is rewarding.  In design, Janet’s Cabin is something of a twin to Francie’s Cabin.  Janet’s sleeps 14 and has a great mud room at the back entrance with cubbies to store boots and other gear.  Off the mud room are two indoor composting toilets.  The kitchen is well supplied and has ample stations for cooking and cleaning up.  The hut has a cozy feel and is kept warm with a centrally located wood stove.  As with most of the huts, the building retains much of the heat overnight and it is not necessary to keep the fire going all night.  The beautiful sauna building is close by, down a steep set of steps, but with a helpful rope handrail to aid in steadying wobbly legs.  Some skiers do a traverse to reach Janet’s from other huts such as Jackal and Shrine Mountain Inn.  There is great skiing (beware avalanche danger) near Janet’s near Searle Pass, on Elk Mountain, and on Sugarloaf Mountain.

Named for Janet White Tyler (1926 – 1988), this comfortable cabin is a memorial to a passionate skier and a woman of uncommon graciousness, exuberance, and joie de vivre.  As she was dying of cancer she approved the idea and location of a hut in her honor and we are lucky to benefit from the hut inspired by her spirit of hospitality and kindness.

 

Day 6: The Unique Tennessee Pass Sleep Yurts and Cookhouse!

Navigation notes: The Tennessee Pass Nordic Center is located across the parking lot from the Ski Cooper alpine ski center.  It is just up the road from Tennessee Pass Trailhead to the Continental Divide Cabin and the Tenth Mountain Division memorial hut.  From there it is an easy 25 minute ski in from Nordic Center to Cookhouse, and then another 10 minutes to the ski yurts.  The staff at the Nordic Center will lead you through the drill of parking, gear shuttle, reservations, etc.

Yurt notes:  As the climax if our hut trip, we treated ourselves to dinner at the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse and an overnight stay at their Sleep Yurts.  A common hut logbook lament that folks are not ready to return to “civilization”.  The backcountry Cookhouse and Ski Yurts are a truly  unique kind of half-way house in making the transition from the rustic simplicity of hut life back into the full set of conveniences and complexities of our ordinary lives.  Highly recommended!

For more detail, see my “Featured Yurt” post on Tennessee Pass Cookhouse and Sleep Yurts.

We treated this pricey indulgence (yes it’s glamping) as a fun culmination of our hut trip and a fond farewell (for now)  to the mountains.  The four ski yurts are elegant 20’ diameter yurts, each sleeping up to six people in a heavy timber queen-size bunk bed and a separate queen size bed.  The very comfortable beds all have cozy flannel sheets and luxurious down comforters.   There is a small kitchen set-up with cold running water in the sink.  The outhouse is close by.  Altogether a cozy atmosphere, with the “oculus” of the yurt ceiling always reminding you that you are in the woods and under mountain stars and skies.  The wood stove quickly warms up the hut and its fun to relax with a glass of wine in the warmth of the fire before the 6:00 dinner, a very short ski away in the Cookhouse.

The Tennessee Pass Cookhouse was born out of the observation of the owners that the picnic table they located along the trail at a spectacular view-point overlooking the Sawatch Mountains was a very popular lunch spot for skiers and hikers.  So why not build a backcountry restaurant on that spot?  The rest is history.  The menu has a “bounty of the woods” theme and the elegantly appointed 30’ diameter yurt offers fine dining in a rustic setting.   The service is friendly and efficient and the wine and beer selections are great.  Lunch is served Saturday and Sunday during winter.  This is a popular dining spot for family groups, couples and friend groups.  

Reservations are required and the place is very popular with folks from Denver as well as those in the Aspen, Leadville and Vail area.  

*****

Caveat: Backcountry ski trips are not to be taken lightly

If you are an experienced backcountry skier in the mountains, you can skip this section.  

If not, you should know that ski touring is a physically demanding and logistically serious undertaking.  It takes a higher level of skill than hiking and backpacking.  While there are short, easy routes to a few huts, most are 6-7 miles into the backcountry.  Winter hut trips require:

  • well honed safety, navigation (use of both map & compass and GPS), and skiing skills;
  • proper ski and outdoor equipment/gear;
  • an understanding of how to avoid altitude sickness;
  • a high level of fitness;
  • logistics of getting to and from trail-heads can be complicated; having a car or hiring a shuttle is essential; traverses require two cars and/or shuttles, or some hitch-hiking;
  • wayfinding experience in mountainous terrain (some of the trails are not intensively marked); and
  • gear and knowhow necessary to spend the night outdoors in case of emergency.   

To determine your readiness for such a trip, buy a copy of Warren Olrich’s 10th Mountain Hut Guide, 2nd ed., Peoples Press, 2011.  It has great introductory section covering the essentials of  trip planning, equipment selection, winter navigation, hut procedures, and safety and emergencies.  And the bulk of the book comprises clear and detailed information on the routes from the trail-head to the huts, between the huts, and getting to the trail-heads. It also indicates level of difficulty for each route.  Perusing this essential guide is the best way to determine your fitness for such a trip and to plan a series of safe hut visits.  

Advance planning:

  • Buy a copy of Warren Olrich’s 10th Mountain Hut Guide and use it to identify possible itineraries;
  • Visit the Tenth Mountain Division website for:
    • Detailed trip planning information, including videos;
    • Hut amenities;
    • Information on hut availability and booking (online or by phone);
    • Equipment lists;
    • Transportation options/shuttles;
    • Information on guides and outfitters;
  • Call Tenth Mountain Division reservations number to discuss your plans and ask for advice and recommendations.
  • Purchase relevant paper maps from Tenth Mountain Division; and
  • Download to a GPS app (e.g. Gaia, Hiking Project, National Geographic) the relevant maps.  Downloadable versions are available on the 10MD site.

 

Book Review: “Walks of a Lifetime: Extraordinary Hikes From Around the World”

Book Review: Walks of a Lifetime: Extraordinary Hikes From Around the World

by Robert and Martha Manning, Falcon Press, 2017.

Hurrah! Another elegant invitation from the Mannings to ordinary folks to try long distance walking!

Martha and Robert Manning on the Kumado Kodo Pilgrimage Walk, Japan, Courtesy Robert Manning

Walks of a Lifetime (2017), like the Manning’s first guidebook, Walking Distance (2013), alternates compelling descriptions of 30 exceptional walks around the world with brief essays on aspects of walking. With these intelligent companion volumes, Robert and Martha Manning are now firmly established as discerning and trusted guides to some of the world’s best walks.  Their approach goes way beyond your typical “trail guide”.

Essays in Walks of a Lifetime delightfully amplify themes in the walk chapters, connect the reader to the larger world of long distance walking, and inspire closer attention to the world we walk.  The 30 topics include trail angels, pilgrimage, urban walking, philanthropic walking, place, and the philosophy and ethics of walking.  The authors celebrate the joys of advance research, discuss how to prepare and how to enjoy serendipitous “misadventures” along the way, and offer advice on answering the inevitable question, “how long will it take?”.  Further, they explore the expanded field around walking by musing on ecotourism, health, walking as political statement, walking as art, and they contemplate the existential conundrum of journey vs. the destination.

Each walk portrait presents the sort of information that never goes out of date, for example natural and cultural history, land management context, weather and terrain.  Descriptions are useful, satisfying, but hardly exhaustive.  Instead, the reader will be stimulated toward further research, and to embrace walking as a process of life-long learning. Robert contributes knowledges honed by decades of research and teaching on national parks around the world, and he also provides hundreds of high quality photos.  Martha, an artist, speaks and writes as an astute observer full of practical advice.  Both husband and wife have an eye for natural beauty, topography, and unique landscape features.  They also share their infectious enjoyment of people, culture and cuisine.   Specifically, the walk descriptions include:

  • Orientation to the landscape and its natural history, including geology, wildlife, botany, weather, soils, bodies of water, etc.;
  • Cultural highlights of each area, including history, archaeology, museums, culinary traditions, agriculture, architecture, language, thermal baths, and local lore;
  • The context of the trail/traverse: how the trail came to be, how it operates, nearby and connecting trails, the challenges and unique features of the parks and natural areas it traverses, the broader trail system and walking culture of the nation/region in which it exists; and
  • Photographs that visually define each experience.

And, of course, practical information and advice is included:

  • Getting to the trail head and back, getting around in the region;
  • Availability of food, water, accommodations, bathrooms, campsites, etc.;
  • How to hike the trail in sections, other possible modifications, and adjacent trails;
  • Level of difficulty, type of terrain, safety considerations, and tips about gear;
  • Trail protocols (important do’s and don’ts) and environmental ethics.

In Walks of a Lifetime the authors expand our concept of long distance walking beyond hiking remote woods and tramping distant fields to include sauntering through some of the world’s most populous cities (Sydney, New York, Paris and San Francisco).  They also include a range of bucolic to backcountry walks in places like Arizona, Hawaii, Georgia, Utah, Colorado, Maine, N.H., China, France, New Zealand, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Scotland, England and Wales.  And they take us on treks in some of the most isolated locations in the USA such as Denali in Alaska, Havasu Canyon and Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness in Arizona, and Popo Agie Wilderness in Wyoming.

The Manning’s continued emphasis on long distance walks for ordinary people is a refreshing corrective to the current craze for “through hiking” on such trails as the Pacific Crest and Appalachian Trail.  Such hikes, requiring months of time and almost superhuman effort, are not for ordinary people. This book is a tonic for the rest of us.  In fact, in Walks of a Lifetime, the Mannings offer even gentler and more accessible walks than in their previous guide.  They include four urban saunters, and also describe a higher proportion of domestic (U.S.) walks (seventeen) than in the 2013 volume (twelve).  As to level of difficulty, this latest guide includes seven walks of low challenge (compared with two in the previous book) and eight that are categorized as high challenge (compared with twelve in the previous book).

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, an Urban Walk, Courtesy Robert Manning

The latest volume is published by Falcon Press, a specialist in trail guides.  The earlier guide, published by Oregon State University Press includes an index, further reading suggestions at the end of each chapter, a bibliography, and a sprinkling of sparkling quotations throughout.  The Falcon Press publication omits these extras.  I missed these.

One quibble: the maps in Walks of a Lifetime are extremely rudimentary.  While providing the highly detailed topo maps necessary for walking the walk is clearly not within the scope of this guide, better maps would definitely aid in amplifying the author’s text and in supporting the walker’s planning.  Falcon Press is capable of doing better by its authors and readers.

Readers new to long distance walking will find themselves in good hands as they select a walk and plan for their first trip.  Experienced walkers will enjoy perusing the options shared by the well-travelled and insightful authors. Written with intelligence, grace and gentle humor, the Manning’s two guides are perfect gifts for friends and family.  Each volume effectively encourages new readers to get off the chair, take a long walk, and savor the wonders of nature and culture at a slow pace.  Both guides are also highly recommended for libraries serving communities with interest in outdoor recreation.

Sam Demas, October 2017

Trip Report: Three Sisters Backcountry Hut-to-Hut Ski

Trip Report: Three Sisters Backcountry Nordic Traverse

By Perrin Boyd

The Three Sisters Backcountry hut-to-hut ski traverse is a self-guided 22-mile trek from Dutchman Flat near Mt. Bachelor traveling the eastern edge of the Three Sisters Wilderness boundary to Three Creeks Snow Park outside Sisters, Oregon.  This great ski adventure involves three days of skiing with overnights in two comfy, fully stocked, self-service huts.

Six friends from Northfield, MN gathered the night before our trip for a feast and discussion of logistics. Kelly, Mike, Sofia and I now live in Bend, Oregon.  Sam Demas, researcher for hut2hut.info, invited us all on the trek along with his wife, Laurel.  It was an opportunity we could not pass up. Continue reading →

Alta Via 1 (Italy) Trip Report

by Marlies Souverein, from movesbynature

ALTA VIA 1

The route I’m about to describe is not the full Alta Via 1, but an adaptation to fit it in one full week. This route is also known by the name Alte Via Dell Adamello. It is a 8 day hike and 1 resting day, 9 days in total. It is possible to skip the resting day if you are fit.The route starts out easy and gets tougher every passing day. This helps the participants that aren’t that experienced in this terrain to prepare before getting into the heavy stuff. It is possible to do the route the other way around, although it might get a bit boring at the end. If I have to repeat the route I would do it again south to north. I walked this route in 2016 and it might not all be the same in a year’s time. Also a different time of year or different weather might make that you will experience this route completely different.   

Continue reading →

Island Trek in the Azores & Eco-Cottages

ISLAND TREK IN THE AZORES

LEAVE A COMMENT

“To awaken in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world” — Freya Stark

Island Trek in the AzoresI wake up to the sound of the surf — waves crashing on rocks somewhere outside my window.  As I come out of my dreamstate I remember that today is a day for walking.  Not just any walk at that — the Grand Route of Santa Maria Island in the Azores is in my sights for the next five days.  The “Grande Trilho Santa Maria” is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of walking around the circumference of the island with a hike up over the highest peak on the island, Pico Alto, thrown in for good measure.

Continue reading →