Every winter, we plan an epic trip to one of the 10th Mountain Division Huts. This winter, we went to Fritz Hut.
Fritz Hut is located just outside of Aspen, Colorado - a short jaunt from home. We started our skin up at 9:00 am. The first portion of the trail is gradual and lovely. The second portion is long and steep. I was grateful to have skins on my cross country skis; without skins I would've been hiking up.
After 5 tricky miles we arrived at the hut. We quickly made a fire and began preparing appetizers. We were lucky to find an old guitar at the hut, and we enjoyed singing (poorly) and playing the guitar into the night.
The next day we woke up early and headed out to go exploring. We ventured up Bald Mountain, which was an easy skin-up and a fun ski down - especially on cross country skis. The remainder of our afternoon was spent sledding, throwing snowballs and drinking hot chocolate on the porch.
The ski down consisted of cramping legs, a powerful snowplow stance and an inevitable broken pole. I tried to ski the remainder of the downhill with only one pole, but struggled to keep my balance. I ended up walking the remaining mile and a half to the car.
