Eiseman Hut Backcountry Skiing Trip, Vail, Colorado
A few days after Margy’s Hut, we had reservations to go to the Eiseman Hut with two friends. We met at the Spraddle Creek Trailhead on a Sunday morning and started heading in to the hut. The weather was beautiful, allowing us to truly enjoy the trek in. After a little over 6 miles, we made it to the hut. There were already several other groups at the hut so we knew it would be a pretty full night. We picked beds, unpacked, and relaxed for a bit. The guys decided they were going to go for a scouting tour while Kate and I decided to stay at the hut and hang out. When the guys got back, we were told that the wind and warm temperatures had made the snow pretty variable. We had plans to ski some bigger lines, but a windstorm with winds up to 100 mph the day before we headed in plus this snow report made us go with a plan B as we were less confident in snow stability as wind slab avalanches were being reported. This made us decide to have more of an adventure-focused day the following day, rather than an objective-focused day. After some burritos for dinner, we headed to bed early.
The following morning we headed up the ridge behind the hut. We decided to tour up the even bigger ridge behind that and took some time to stop and enjoy the views. After a short descent, we decided to try our luck with a north facing area that ended up having some really great snow that wasn’t wind affected. We did a few laps here and decided to head back to the hut around mid-afternoon. That night the hut was pretty quiet as there was only one other group of 3 also staying at the hut.
The final morning we all decided to head back to civilization first thing in the morning. We mostly went out the way we came in and found ourselves back at the car in time to go get a second breakfast. Overall, it was a great trip with better snow found than feared. I already can’t wait for my next trip to this hut!
Stats: 6.3 miles, 2950 ft of elevation gain from the Spraddle Creek Trailhead to the hut
