When I woke up Tuesday morning at the Eiseman Hut, I had a bad headache. I had actually slept until 8 o’clock and the other guys were about ready to head out for some skiing. They were going to ski off the ridge behind the hut and would be coming right by the hut on their way back up. It seemed that my headache was coming from a big knot in my shoulder. I took some Tylenol and put some sports cream on my shoulders and started feeling better. Besides the headache I was finally sluggish.

One the guys came back up I still wasn’t ready to head out so I told them to stop on their next trip up. By the time they were back, I was ready to head out and try out the deep powder. There must have been close to 2 feet of fresh powder. Once I dropped off the top of the ridge, I found I couldn’t make many turns or I’d lose all my speed.

We did 2 runs which took about an hour each round-trip and then decided to stop at the hut for lunch. If we’re skiing farther from the hut, we don’t generally stop for lunch. I was already feeling tired and was needing a break.

After lunch I made it through another 2 runs before I was too tired to feel like doing another run. I hadn’t quite skied 5 hours and normally I can get in at least 8 hours. I’m really out of shape but this felt like much more than just being out of shape. It really felt like I hadn’t fully recovered from the nasty virus I had the week before.

In the evening I talked a little with Ralph from the other group about his plan to ride from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska all the way to Tierra Del Fuego at the tip of South America. Although he says some people have done it in 11 months, he plans on taking in the sights along the way and take 2 years. He said he plans to start in June.

Interestingly just after I got back, Biking Bis posted about 3 cyclists that started last July. They ended up in jail for 48 hours because they rode through the Grand Canyon and the trails are off limits to bikes. They also had to pay some fines.

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When I left the house a little before daylight last Monday morning, it was cold but clear. It was forecast to get into the 50s. I was heading out for my annual Eiseman Hut Ski Trip. I was a bit concerned about what snow conditions we’d have. A couple weeks earlier I had skied the Peaks Trail between Breckenridge and Frisco and the snow was more like concrete than snow. Vail had gotten some snow the week before so I was hoping conditions wouldn’t be too bad.

Soon after we passed Georgetown the road was icy. We saw a few cars that had bounced off the barrier in the middle and an SUV that had crossed the median and oncoming lanes and was parked half way over the guard rail. Fortunately no other cars were involved. By the time we got to Vail Pass the snow was really coming down. It was looking promising for some fresh powder.

As we finished packing our packs at the Spraddle Creek Trail head, the snow was continuing to come down. Tom and Jaime had left about an hour before us so the trail was broken but the was fresh snow on top of their tracks. Matthew took off while I was finishing taping my shins since I always get blisters. He’s almost always the slowest to the hut and a lot of years I’m the fastest so he didn’t see any reason to wait.

Soon after Matthew left, David and I headed up the trail. I only made it 10 minutes before remembering my sunglasses were on the dash of my car. I told David I’d be fine and to keep going while I went back. When I got to the point where the route to the hut leaves the road and goes over the ridge to the Middle Creek drainage, I could see David skiing through the trees above me.

By that point I was starting to feel tired and it’s not much over an hour from the trail head. Ever since I’d been sick the week before, I had felt really tired. Sunday night when I was packing I was so tired I was just staring at my stuff and had trouble getting packed. I could tell it was going to be a long day getting to the hut. At least it was beautiful with the new snow.

Once I got over the ridge and dropped into the Middle Creek drainage, I saw David and Matthew. Just then my McDonald’s breakfast decided it was going to make me pay. I had to make a couple trips into the woods. Not only did I lose some time stopping but my already low energy level dropped some more.

I took my time skiing up the Middle Creek drainage which for the most part isn’t steep at all. Just before I got to what we call “The Wall” I caught back up to Matthew. David was stopped at the bottom of the wall but was ready to go when we got there.

I took a quick break to get a drink and a snack and then pushed on. From that point it usually takes me 40-45 minutes to get to the hut. I knew with the way I was dragging it was going to take me at least an hour. This last section to the Eiseman Hut climbs quite a bit and comes when you’re already tired. It ended up taking me just over an hour which made my total time 5 hours and 35 minutes.

Because of all the new snow and the trail not being packed it took everyone longer than normal. Even so most of my slowness wasn’t because of the conditions. I’ve never taken over 4.5 hours before and my best time has been 3:24. I’ve never been so happy to be at the hut. Usually I do one or two ski runs after getting there but this time I was plenty happy to hang out by the wood stove.

We had half the 16 slots for the hut. It turned out another group had the other 8 slots and had skied in on Sunday and were staying until Friday. It was a group that had been there 2 years ago when we were. You never quite know what type of people you’ll be sharing the hut with so it was nice to see a group that we got along well with. Actually the Eiseman Hut is hard enough to get to and there’s no way to connect to another hut so most people that are there are hard core tele-skiers. That means that they’re tired by evening and don’t stay up late partying and you can get plenty of sleep.

This year’s pictures are here. There are great views from the Eiseman Hut but it never cleared enough while we were there this year to see them. If you want to see the awesome views you can see when it’s clear, take a look at my pictures from last year.

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I’ve been in the backcountry for the last 3 days. It was supposed to be a 4 day trip. I still wasn’t feeling 100% after being sick last week and came out a day early. It snowed pretty much the whole time. It’s been a long time since I’ve skied in such deep powder. I’ll write more about the trip soon.

Update