Margy’s Hut Backcountry Skiing Trip, Aspen, Colorado
View from the dining table at Margy’s Hut
Mike and I had plans to head in to Margy’s Hut at the very beginning of April for a 3 day/2 night trip. We would just be heading in ourselves, with no idea about who had reserved the remainder of the beds at the hut. We woke up early on a Sunday morning and drove over to the Lenado trailhead outside of Aspen. When we arrived, there were 3 other cars parked along the side of the road so we found a spot, put on our gear, and started the 5.8 mile skin in to the hut.
The skin started out gradually along a dirt road. At about exactly 1 mile in, we took a turn off the road and started skinning up what felt like a summer trail. The next 1.8 miles were the steepest of the trip, with over 1400 ft of elevation gained in that time. At 2.8 miles, we hit an intersection with another road where we turned right. This road traveled through forest with occasional views of the mountains around us. The road was mostly flat, with some slight ups and downs, which we realized would mean we’d be putting our skins back on on the last day when we would be returning to the trailhead. Just before the 5.2 mile mark, we hit another intersection where we made another right on to the road that would essentially take us to the hut. We followed this mostly flat road until a clearing where we made a right and then were at the hut within a couple hundred feet.
We arrived to a very snow covered hut with no signs of anyone else around. We settled in, got some water, took our boots off, and picked the one bedroom upstairs that had a double bed in it. We were pretty tired from the early morning so we decided to read by the fire until it was dinnertime. When dinnertime rolled around, there still were no signs of anyone else that would be joining us that night at the hut. We had dinner and made some hot chocolate for dessert and enjoyed a quiet night by the fire. When we decided it was time to call it a night, it was still just the two of us, and we couldn’t believe there was no one else joining us!
After a nice, quiet night of sleep (I’ve never had a quiet night in a hut - there’s normally some snoring!), we got up, made breakfast, and headed out for a full day of ski touring. We were pleasantly surprised with 6 inches of fresh, light Colorado powder. We headed up to Mount Yeckel where we did some runs off the north and west ridges. The snow was fantastic. By the time the late afternoon had rolled around, we’d had our fill of skiing and were ready to head back to the hut.
All smiles on a powder day
We had taken bets about if there would be anyone at the hut when we got back that afternoon, and I had assumed there HAD to be some people that would be joining us for the night - we wouldn’t possibly be so lucky to get 2 nights at the hut all to ourselves. However, Mike ended up being right, and we had no hut roommates again that night. This was one time I was content being wrong!
After another quiet night, we woke up the next morning to another few inches of fresh snow. Not wanting to let it all go to waste, we did a lap below the hut before starting our return to the car. On our way out, we added in a small adventure that involved skiing from a small little knoll that was west of the hut. The snow was so great that day we were bummed we had to leave. As expected, and especially with the new snow, we had to put on our skins for the slightly rolling road on the way out. We saw a few glimpses of Aspen and Aspen Highlands on our way out. We made it back to the car in good time and decided it was time for some Chinese food on the way home. While we were eating lunch, we decided it wouldn’t be our only detour on the way home and stopped at some of the hot springs in Glenwood Springs to relax our muscles after 3 days of skiing. It was a detour I’d highly recommend.
Overall, we really enjoyed Margy’s Hut. We got lucky with great snow and having no one else using the hut. Even if we didn’t have this luck, I believe we would have enjoyed the terrain around the hut as there is terrain for all ability levels in all snowpack conditions. It’s a hut I suspect I’ll go to again.
Stats: 5.8 miles, 2600 ft of elevation gain from the Lenado trailhead to the hut
