A little over a year ago, Jim and I completed a 3 day, hut to hut, ski traverse in Oregon. We loved it so much that I went searching for another traverse to do in 2022. When I found the Sneffels Traverse in Colorado, I immediately booked it. After over a year of waiting, last week we finally got to go on the traverse.
Several days before the start of the traverse, Jim, Kevin, and I flew into Denver. Jim and I wanted to do some sightseeing and acclimating. Kevin wanted to spend a couple of days with his dad who lives in Denver.
Thursday, Debra and Yoko flew into Denver. Friday morning, we packed everyone and all their gear in our rental car and headed for the San Juan Mountains. The fresh snow made our drive extra beautiful. We were all thrilled when we got our first look at the San Juan Mountains. This mountain range is definitely more rugged than the other mountains in Colorado.
From this view, we could see almost the entire traverse. We would start off to the right of the photo and end off to the left. 6 days, 5 different huts, 34 miles, and 7,300 feet of elevation gain.
We drove onto Ouray where we would spend a couple of nights acclimating.
Jim, Kevin, and Yoko chose to acclimate by walking around town, watching the ice climbers, and hiking up into the Box Canon.
Debra and I chose to acclimate at the spa. Mineral hot springs and rock salt massages was more our speed.
The day had finally arrived to begin our traverse. We had fresh snow and a moderate avalanche forecast (a 2 out of 5 ; this is a good forecast). We hooked up with our shuttle in Ridgeway, dropped our car at the trailhead we would finish at, and then the shuttle service drove us to the start of the traverse directly across from Telluride ski resort.
Our weather was a bit blustery but the didn’t damper the excitement of the group.
The traverse started out with a 3+ hour ski up a logging road.
When we reached the higher slopes, Kevin stopped to build a test pit and assess the snow conditions.
We arrived the hut to find two walls of bunks with mattresses, sleeping for 8, and one wall setup as a kitchen complete with a 2 burner propane stove, pots and pans, dishes, cleaning supplies, and lanterns. There was a wood stove in the middle of the hut. It was perfect for the 5 of us.
We took the next several hours to refresh our avalanche knowledge and create a group dialogue. Kevin, having the most avalanche training, setup an avalanche scenario so we could take turns locating a buried beacon.
All and all, it was an afternoon well spent. We went to bed feeling good about what tomorrow would bring.
Day 2 was to be our most challenging day. Not only did we have fresh snow and absolutely no sign of tracks but Yoko was suffering from the altitude having some trouble getting enough oxygen. Good thing she had brought a pulse oximeter with her.
We left the hut, did our morning beacon check (making sure everyone had their beacon turned on and it was transmitting), and immediately found ourselves skiing down a slope full of light fluffy powder. It was sure to be a great day.
At the bottom of the slope, we regrouped, read over the first few lines of our trail description, then headed off looking for our next landmark.
Our route description said we were looking for a small group of aspen trees followed by two spruce trees entwined approximately 1/2 mile down the Last Dollar lodging road. These were the typical directions we were given.
As soon as a member of our party would see something that looked like our landmark, we would stop and discuss. If we agreed, we would move to the next route description bullet. Jim took the lead. I do believe this was his favorite day. Puzzling out the route. We did have a GPS track to keep us from getting completely lost.
Travel was slow. With no evidence of where the route was, we had to be careful to make sure we stayed on route and took the easiest line. We had several avalanche chutes to work our way down and around.
When conditions looked good, we would cross the avalanche terrain one at a time.
Late in the day, Yoko started having some more sever issues with the altitude. Dark was coming soon and even though we had emergency gear in case we didn’t reach the hut before dark, none of us wanted to use it. We needed to remove a bunch of Yoko’s pack weight. In the end, Kevin volunteered to carry her entire pack. He definitely lives up to his nickname “The Animal”.
Once Yoko was relieved of her pack, we all started moving faster. Though we had our headlamps ready, we all wanted to reach the hut before dark. Once we crested our last hill for the day, we turned a glided through the basin toward North Pole hut. Home for the night.
Yoko spent the evening drinking extra water, forcing food down, and resting. Keeping close eye on her oxygen levels which continued to increase nicely but she was left with quite the headache. She woke the next morning feeling much better and ready for another day.
As we left the hut, we once again performed our morning beacon check before heading off to find our next bullet point on the route description.
Our travel today was quite similar to the day before except we did have a faint track to help us stay on route. We got several inches of new snow over the last two days. There were also more trail markers in the trees.
Just before our first break, the route description noted that we would be crossing an open aspen grove with views of the valley followed by a short uphill climb with views of the mountains. We decided this would be a great break spot. We could see the valley floor but the clouds were keeping us from enjoying the mountain tops.
Shortly after our snack break, we descended to the low point of the traverse, crossed a marshy basin, and then began to climb once again. It was here that we saw our first people. They were coming from the next hut. From here on out, we would have tracks to follow. Route finding was no longer an issue. Or so we thought.
All afternoon it would alternate between snow flurries and partial clearing. At least we could see a short distance which allowed us to both assess and enjoy the beauty of the avalanche chutes we had to cross.
As we reached Blue Lake hut, the skies completely cleared. It would be a cold night but from here on out we had full sun.
Our 4th morning started with our first and only gear failure. Yoko’s ski pole broke. She fell on it the day before which must have weakened the tip because as soon as she put weight on it, it snapped. Kevin went to work twiddling a wood dowel to use to strengthen the shaft and then he covered it with a metal brace. Finished it off by duck taping it all together. Pretty sure the pole was stronger after the fix than before.
During the morning beacon check, we had our first and only route finding mishap. For most of the trip, I was suffering from dehydration due to the altitude and extreme dryness. Over the last 24 hours, I had doubled my water intact and my bladder was definitely hard at work.
As I passed the beacon check, I headed off to our first land mark. a trailhead parking lot with an outhouse. I was focused on the tracks in the snow and completely missed the junction into the parking lot and the outhouse.
With Yoko in tow, I skied about a half mile before realizing my mistake. We pulled out our GPS units and quickly discovered we had passed the junction a ways back. Yoko and I turned around and processed to climb back up to meet the rest of our group who had not made the same mistake I did. Opps! Good thing the sun was out and today was not an especially long day. Or so we thought.
After rejoining the group, we all head out in our lightest weight shirt. The sun was out and the day was quickly getting warmer. Good thing we had no avalanche terrain to deal with today.
As the day heated up, so did the snow. Before long the snow was sticking to our skins making them incredible heavy and unruly. Kind of like skiing in high heals. At our next break, we all waxed our skins before starting the long climb to our high point of 11,000 feet.
The climb was full of peak-a-boo views and warm sun.
When we came to our pass, we were in the trees. As we reapplied skin wax, Jim read the route notes and found that the 2nd best view in Colorado as a couple hundred yards up the ridge. We all dropped our packs and headed up.
This view point was as spectacular as they said. We were at 11,000 feet and still the Sneffels Range towered above us. Front and center was Mt Sneffels. Mt Sneffels is the tallest mountain in the Sneffels Range at 14,158 feet.
This was our first day of full sunny. We were so lucky to get to enjoy this amazing view. We could see all the way to the south end of the Sneffels Range near where our traverse started. Our first hut was around the end of the range to the left.
After we returned to our packs, we headed down the backside of the ridge. Though the front side had been in the sun all day, the back side was in the shade leaving the snow light and fluffy. There was no time for photos here. We were having way too much fun descending.
Kevin took off his skins and enjoyed some fabulous telly turns including a 5 foot airborne launch off a log. He was glad he scarified weight to bring heavy skis and boots.
As we got closer to Ridgeway hut, the number of tracks increased. This was the most popular hut and it was easy to see why. Views and powder terrain.
With clear skies in the forecast tonight and a short mileage day tomorrow, we all voted to sleep in and have a slow morning. We hoped to give the snow a chance to soften before we continued on to our next hut.
Even though we left Ridgeway hut shortly before 11am, the snow was still quite hard. Enroute to Burn hut, we had a wonderful wildlife sighting. A pine martin.
The photos above were captured by others in the group. My photo is the one with his butt up in the air as he dug in the snow.
After the pine martin, we were all in extra happy moods as we skied in the sunshine toward Burn hut.
We arrived Burn hut early afternoon. We took a short break to eat something and take a break from our boots. Then we headed back out looking to do some skiing a find a good view. I think we found it.
We were expecting our last day to be a ski out to the car in the trees. We were so wrong.
We did get an early start because we all wanted to stop in Ridgeway for lunch before heading back to Ouray and dipping in the hot springs. The snow was rock hard and a bit too fast for my soft skis and boots. I ended up keeping my skins on until we broke out into full sun. It was at this point that we looked back and saw the view.
As we climbed the views kept getting more expansive. We even got another full view of Mt Sneffels.
The closer we got to the car, the more of the Sneffels range came into view. Once we could see the entire range, I did a panorama. The mountains look so small when the pano requires a full 180 degrees turn.
Our view stayed with us all the way to the car.
Once we loaded the car and changed out of our ski boots for the last time, we drove into the town of Ridgeway to enjoy fresh veggies, hot paninis, and fresh baked goods… plus coffee of course.
We all fully enjoyed the traverse. If it was easier to get to, Jim and I would do it every year. What an amazing adventure!
The huts are made possible by San Juan Hut Systems. The company is father / daughter owned. The huts are used for skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. They also have several mountain biking huts. They offer a mountain biking traverse in the summer from Telluride to Moab.