Goodwin Greene Backcountry Skiing Hut Trip, Aspen, Colorado
For President’s Day weekend this year, I booked the Goodwin Greene Hut in Aspen for two nights. It’s a hut that sleeps 10 so Mike and I invited 8 friends to join us for the weekend. It’s been one of my favorite hut trips to date.
The ten of us carpooled and met at the trailhead in Ashcroft around 9 am on Saturday morning. We divided up the dinner food I had bought for the group and set out from the trailhead. The first several miles of the trail were on what felt like it would be a dirt road in the summer. In the first few miles, we also crossed some avalanche paths that we had discussed crossing one at a time before starting the trip. We didn’t have any issues with any of the paths at the time of our trip, but it’s something to be aware of for anyone reading this blog without any avalanche education.
The views for the entirety of the tour in to the hut were beautiful. It was probably one of the prettiest skins in to a hut that I’ve done. The route finding for the last 1-2 miles becomes a bit more confusing as there is no longer a clear road to follow. We had heard stories about how hard the hut can be to find even when you are right next to it. Knowing this, we really kept a sharp eye out. After we transitioned for the final ski down to the hut, Mike and Jake led the way with me behind both of them. Not too unsurprisingly, they both skied right past the hut, and I noticed it when I was ~100 ft below the hut out of the corner of my eye. They both had to transition to get back up to the hut while I side stepped my way up to it which was a much longer side step than I would have liked.
After we got to the hut, we all picked beds and settled in. The hut has a mostly open layout with beds around much of the perimeter of the room and one other double bed tucked away by the front door. It’s not a big hut by any means so it was cozy. Some folks went back out for a quick lap near the hut before it got dark. Dinner that night was steaks, which was a first for me at a hut, and it was a big hit with everyone.
The next morning we split into smaller groups and did some touring around the hut. Personally, I checked out some trees below the hut as well as a few alpine runs above the hut. I really enjoyed the snow in the alpine. We didn’t have the stability to ski any of the lines on Gold Hill that were facing the hut, but it looks like it would be a really fun mountain to ski once the snowpack stabilizes in the spring.
After a full day of skiing, we all hung out at the hut and exchanged stories for the rest of the night. Dinner was chicken burritos which were delicious after a day of skiing. Bedtime was pretty early that night.
We woke up the final morning to a bluebird day. A couple of people went out for a morning lap while the rest of us cleaned up and organized the hut to leave it in better condition than we found it for the next group that would be at the hut. On our way back to the trailhead, Mike, Liz, and I made a quick detour to the top of Gold Hill and skied down the very mellow south face. Otherwise, we headed back out exactly the same we came in.
I really enjoyed the Goodwin Greene Hut. I would only recommend going to this hut in the winter if you understand what avalanche terrain is, know how to assess the stability of the snowpack (and are comfortable with it at the time of your trip), and have good navigation skills as it truly is difficult to find the hut. I’m not sure I would have found it without having Gaia GPS on my phone. That said, it’s a beautiful approach to get to the hut, the terrain around the hut has some really great ski options, and the hut itself has great views from the windows. If you can combine all of that with nine of your friends, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where you wouldn’t have a great experience.
Stats to the hut from the trailhead: 6.2 miles, 2800 ft of elevation gain
