Comments on: Colorado’s 10th Mountain Huts — New Route and More

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:33:40 +0000

I might have been exagerating about my love of blue diamonds, but more huts is indeed something I’m a fan of!

By: Tom G

Tom G — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:28:23 +0000

Lou, I fully agree on the GPS, and am now doing the same thing you are but with a Garmin unit. GPS is a great tool, but battery life is still an issue and hopefully that improves with newer units. And I agree with you on the hut reservations for ski throughs, although you can request consecutive huts in the lottery and the 10th staff seems to be good about trying to accomodate. Still, it would be tough to get reservations for 4 or 5 huts in a row for a party larger than about 6. I’ve often thought that given the growing demand for hut space that perhaps it’s time to consider not letting one individual reserve an entire hut. I love having the hut for just my group, but I rarely take a group of 16 so this isn’t a very effcient way to maximize hut usage. On the other hand the huts can be crowded with 16 people. Perhaps the best answer is build more huts!

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:02:48 +0000

Hi BDC, yeah, the crux isn’t finding the route but rather finding the hut nights. Also, are you aware that much of the hut-to-hut skiing with the 10th huts is low angled touring through forests?

One way to hit some highground would be to hook up various high route variations using Shrine Mountain Inn, Janet’s Cabin, Jackal and Fowler/Hilliard. Those routes are all detailed at http://www.hutski.com, and you can see system maps here: http://hutski.com/map-10th-system.html and here: http://huts.org/hut_details/map_10th_main.html

With 5/7 days you could lay over at several of the huts and enjoy skiing in the area. Janet’s is good for that.

The reservationists at 10th Mountain (http://www.huts.org) can help you hook up some nights at the various huts.

It’s actually somewhat of a disappointment that the 10th huts don’t have a better way of accommodating reservations for ski throughs. The huts were founded with that sort of skiing in mind.

By: Bdc

Bdc — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:44:40 +0000

Hey Lou: In your opinion, if you had 5-7 days available for touring the 10th mountain hut system what route would you choose? After doing the Haute Route a couple of years ago I was surprised to see how many variations there were, so I would expect the same with the 10th. The Canadian dollar makes travelling to the States more attractive right now. Also, how long in advance should you look at reserving space, or is it too late. Thanks in advance.

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:05:51 +0000

Thanks for the comments Scott!

Tom, The thing about blue diamonds is that they’ll eventually be made obsolete by GPS. It may not be this year or next when that happens, but my prediction is that it’ll happen. Right now I can put a route track in my Delorme Earthmate, and have topo maps on the GPS screen along with my exact location and a route. Sure, it’s too easy and I’d rather do it the old fashioned way, but the writing is on the wall with this one, in my humble? opinion.