Point Breeze Hut

This adventure started last February, when we put ourselves into the very popular lottery for a hut from 10th mountain.  We were lucky to get a Sat night in the Point Breeze Hut, which sleeps 8 people.  It's near Leadville, CO at 10,500ft.  We convinced another family to join us in the winter camping adventure to have some fun together and share the costs.

We went with another family: Kate (who runs with Jason/paced him at UROC 100km, and is about 6 months pregnant), Keith (really fun Dad), Lucy (age 3, 2 months older than Rachel) and Ellie (20 months). 

Fri Jan 10

Spend all day with the girls packing up our stuff for our trip, getting food and gear organized, etc.  After kids go to bed we still had lots to get organized, and were tired getting into bed Friday night.

Leaving Boulder

Sat Jan 11

We left the house at 7:10am and drove toward Leadville.  I-70 was very busy and everyone seemed to want to get into the mountains and enjoy the awesome snow we've had.  We had hoped to make it to the trail head by about 9:30am and into the hut by lunch, but that didn't happen.  We stopped in Silverthorne at 10:30 or so for a snack, and then had a brief lunch at the trail head.  Kate and Keith were even more delayed in their car, but caught up before long and we got organized. 

After we assembled everyone, our gear, the chariots, etc in the parking lot, we set off.  It was only a 0.8mile trail in and did not climb too much.

I was on skis with skins and carrying a heavy pack.  Jason was on skis with skins carrying a small pack and towing a full chariot (on skis) with 2 kids and lots of stuff.  Kate was carrying a baby in her tummy and on snowshoes.  Keith was hiking in snowshoes, towing his two girls in a borrowed chariot (on skis) and carrying a heavy pack. 

The only issues with the hike in were:

1) Kate had a very sore back, having done something to strain it the day before, and was not comfortable

2) The trail width was a little smaller than the width of the chariots in many spots, sometimes requiring some shuffling, heaving, and pushing around a rock or tree on the side of the trail.

3) Rachel was not keen to sit in the chariot next to a sleeping Ava and wanted to get out and hike up.  We didn't let her, and she was upset.

Otherwise, the hike in was a lovely stroll through the trees.  It was beautiful and fairly quiet, but the trail was packed down and we saw a few other people on skis or snowshoes.

We arrived at the hut by about 2pm or so and it was lovely.  10th mountain huts are very fancy and set up with lots of extras - pretty luxurious by most hut standards.  There was one main room with wood stove, 4 sleeping pads, a small table, several chairs, a larger dining table with chairs, a bookshelf with maps/toys/games/books, a fairly set up kitchen with sinks and a gas stove, solar-powered lights with light switches, a small solar-powered fridge, a small adjoining room with a sink and private area to change and store cleaning supplies.  There were two identical rooms attached with 2 beds each and enough space to open up and pack and play on the ground.  The hut had two small high chairs and two pack and plays in it.  The outhouse was 'outside' but was attached to the house and under cover, and even had a timed light in it.

After getting settled, starting the fire, having some food, and playing in the snow, Jason and I left.  We went out on a small exploratory tour while everyone else played in the hut.  We skinned around a bit and wondered where to try and find a few turns.  We were mostly in the trees and didn't have any steep slopes anywhere nearby.  There were a few cross-country/snowshoes routes around the hut, so we skinned around one loop.  We took off our skins and skied down a small slope toward the hut... maybe 8 turns worth in the trees.  I was disappointed how chicken I was because I was afraid of rocks and trees under the snow.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner and then worked on getting the kids to bed.

Unfortunately, it was a tough night.  The four of us were in 1 bedroom and the kids seemed to take turns waking each other up.  Ava normally goes to sleep by crying for a few minutes and then settling down.  The few minutes of crying woke up someone else, and then I'd feel badly and pick Ava up.  We didn't get much sleep and neither did the other family.  Kate and Keith sang soft lullabies on and off all night to help their girls try to sleep.

Anyway, we woke early and had a pancake breakfast as the snow started to come.  The wind picked up and Kate wanted to get home before traffic got bad.  We were disappointed to leave because we had hoped to get in an outdoor adventure before going home.  But a storm was blowing in, so we all packed up and hiked out. 

Rachel hiked most of the way out on her own, before getting in the chariot near the end.  We packed up the car in the cold blowing snow, and then drove toward Frisco.  There was a decent amount of snow on the ground and lots coming down, so we drove slowly.

We saw that traffic was not good due to an accident between Frisco and Silverthorne, so we stopped in at Safeway and had lunch.  Then we got in the car and headed East.  Sadly, there were many cars stuck and wheels spinning in the 2 mile stretch between Silverthorne and the tunnel.  I-70 was a disaster.  It took us 2.5 hours to get to the tunnel and then slow driving home from there.  We got home for dinner, thankful that we have a great car, and thankful the kids put up with being in the car all day, but mad that we live on the front range and have to share the highway with all of Denver.

The hut was lovely.  We'll be going again in a few weeks, since we actually got another Sat night in Feb in the lottery.  We might change a few things so we can make the next adventure a little bit more rewarding.