Backcountry hut/big trip advice needed

[Danno]

So, looking for a special vacation for next winter (big birthday). Always thought places like Fairy Meadows or Battle Abbey would fit the bill, but I am not sure if they do now, given my circumstances. So here is the general criteria. Apologies for the length of this post, but the details matter.

I'm a generally fat and out of shape bc skier, so while I would certainly train for a trip like this, I will never be able to handle the monster vert day after day; 4k-5k would be a pretty monster day for me. I can, however, handle skiing down expert terrain. My wife will go on this trip with me, and she's more of an advanced intermediate skier (she is aggressive at it and can handle "black terrain", but will get tired more quickly at it), and similar in terms of ability (or lack thereof) to handle the vert.

So, a backcountry week-long hut trip is still possible, but it would have to be more mellow or at least allow for half days of skiing for some. Assuming guided and catered. And I think both of us would be happy if such an option existed; skiing 2-3k vert of some sweet powder and then lounging in a beautiful hut the rest of the afternoon, and repeating that day after day, doesn't sound too bad. But not sure if any operations easily accommodate that, and we're willing to consider alternatives, like a lodge that runs cat skiing or something (though the idea of a heli-trip-in-required lodge has a lot of appeal). Thinking the trip will be a week long (we have a kid to get back to).

Money is a consideration too. This trip will be a HUDGE splurge for us, something we actually can't afford. I always assumed that the week-long hut trip would cost $2500 each, all in (including travel), but maybe that isn't correct. In any case, $5k for both of us would be just about the max we could afford, well, more than we could afford but it's the limit we have set.

I know that we could go on a "normal" ski trip for that amount of money that would be pretty sweet, but this trip needs to be more than just a "ski trip", it needs something that makes it special, more than just a hotel room and a lift ticket. Not that a hotel room and a lift ticket can't be part of the whole thing (like, say, 4 days at some lodge and then 2-3 days at a nearby resort).

I know that there a ton of options out there, many in Canada but some in the states, and we're willing to be creative in what we consider. Thoughts?

[Cosmic Suncloud]

Powder Creek Lodge? with CAD about $2K. might be full

[hatchgreenchile]

Danno, this is the place I told you about on Molas:
http://silvertonskihut.com/photos.html

Cat ski at San Juan Untracked or Silverton Powdercats, Silverton Mtn for 2 days with a heli drop each day, and tour on Molas in between. Winning!

[cravenmorhead]

Opus Hut is the only fully-catered option I know of in Colorado. You could do a private room there plus some heli time in Silverton. The only drawback is that it's big enough that you wouldn't have the whole hut to yourselves. They have guide services on call as well.

[GeezerSteve]

McCully Basin yurts hosted/catered by Wallowa Alpine Huts is an option. Pretty rustic. Cost is quite a bit under your budget max. Sleeping yurts are 5-6 person, so no privacy for a couple, although maybe you can pay more to book a sleeping yurt for yourselves. McCully Basin has a very cool vibe in the winter, within the Wilderness Area (grandfathered in). Lots of varied terrain, sets up nice for 2K to 5K days and everything in between and lots of safer skiing if the avy cycle is not cooperating . IME the WAH guides/hosts have been a fun bunch who work to make the experience good for the guests. WAH has a deal with a B&B in Joseph for the night before and after the yurt trip. IMO, the McCully experience is much better than the other WAH huts (BigSheep, Norway).

ETA: Just looked at the WAH website, which describes H/C (hosted/catered) trips as "ski on your own." Hmmmmm. Maybe WAH changed its guiding policy since the accident out of the Norway Hut a few years ago. Maybe you can hire an independent guide?

[PNWbrit]

Highly recommend North Cascades Heli's Barron Yurt

https://heli-ski.com/trips/yurt

[whipski]

Been thinking this might be fun

http://www.catskimtbailey.com/

[skaredshtles]

Get a 2nd job and go heli-skiing.

[zion zig zag]

Go Canada, the exchange rate favors you. Most lodges will be guided and catered for less than $2500 usd. But, the problem is, you either have to get in someone else's group (of unknown ability and fitness) or get together your own group of 10. There are some places that will let you book individually, you just have to dig through the options. Next thing to consider is that most of the popular lodges are booking out for 2019 at this point. Maybe less so if you just need two spots.

Start down the rabbit hole here: http://backcountrylodgesofbc.com/places/

[Name Redacted]

Sell the kids and go heli-skiing.

FIFY

[skaredshtles]

FIFY

Ooooh... I like the way you think.

[BFD]

go to Japan. look at google earth, find a ryokan with good vertical right out the door base camp there. The exchange rate is pretty good right now. You can stay at a very nice place for 2 thirds the price of a Canadian Hut. No need for a guide just start skiing uphill. If you consider San Juans I'll rent you a room for the price of a couple of meals and you can ski powder everyday.

[auvgeek]

What are your priorities?

Rustic or fancy accommodations?
More adventure or more relaxing?
Minimal travel or an "exotic" location?
Do you desire an "unplugged" experience?
Privacy or making new friends?

Heli-accessed sounds smart if you go the hut-trip route since carrying in a week's worth of food might wreck you for the rest of the week.

Ps. For training, you might consider "Training for the New Alpinism." Uphill athlete also sells training plans, but it's cheaper to read the book and make your own.

ETA: I recommend at least considering Chamonix or somewhere in Europe—access to insane terrain with minimal effort, and guides there can definitely find fun terrain to challenge both you and your wife. Yeah, Cham is crowded, but you'd access way more terrain than your fitness level would let you on a hut trip. Might be tough to do under $2.5k pp when you add up flights, hotel, lift tix, guide fees, etc, though, depending on how bare-bones your wife will let you go on the accommodations.

[Danno]

What are your priorities?

Rustic or fancy accommodations?
More adventure or more relaxing?
Minimal travel or an "exotic" location?
Do you desire an "unplugged" experience?
Privacy or making new friends?

Heli-accessed sounds smart if you go the hut-trip route since carrying in a week's worth of food might wreck you for the rest of the week.

Ps. For training, you might consider "Training for the New Alpinism." Uphill athlete also sells training plans, but it's cheaper to read the book and make your own.

If you had more money to spend, I would recommend Chamonix—access to insane terrain with minimal effort, and guides there can definitely challenge both you and your wife. Not sure it's doable for under $5k including flights, though...

Rustic is fine, if the circumstances are right. I'm not into winter camping, but an outhouse won't bother me. Definitely want more of an adventure, but the fitness level might make my adventure someone else's relaxing. Travel sounds great, no issues there, except as it impacts the overall time we have (no more than a 10 day vacation) and the overall cost. I'm a pretty plugged in guy, but no issues going somewhere for a week with no wifi/cell; it's just not part of the decision process.

I am intrigued by the Europe skiing idea, Chamonix or elsewhere. Is $5k really not enough? Or is/are there some other resort(s), maybe not quite as epic, but cheaper?

I was also intrigued by the idea of Japan, mentioned earlier. But again, wondering about cost.

[auvgeek]

the fitness level might make my adventure someone else's relaxing.

On a hut trip, sure. But in other cases, the adventure vs relaxing isn't totally dependent on fitness. For example, skiing pow in Japan isn't as adventurous or committing as skiing something like the Cunningham in Cham, despite having similar levels of fitness. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having fun and skiing pow, but it's not necessarily an "adventure." Not trying to preach here, and maybe it's obvious, but while it can be more rewarding/fulfilling when you're pushing your limits, sometimes it's nice to relax on vacation and not be scared. It can suck to go from a high-stress job/life/school to a stressful vacation.

Travel sounds great, no issues there, except as it impacts the overall time we have (no more than a 10 day vacation) and the overall cost.

Yeah, that's really the meat of what I'm asking—how many days would you want to ski vs travel? What percentage of the cost do you want to go towards travel vs lodging or food?

I am intrigued by the Europe skiing idea, Chamonix or elsewhere. Is $5k really not enough? Or is/are there some other resort(s), maybe not quite as epic, but cheaper?

It might be, depending on how bare-bones your accommodations are. I haven't priced out a budget trip to Cham for 10 days. I would just check out flight prices and price out an AirBnB or VBRO for late-Feb to mid March. Hostels might work, too, but for 2 people, it's often almost as cheap to stay in a small flat.

Sadly, I'm not the person to give you much more info on huts or Europe because I've only skied 1 place of each and that's just not a good sample size. There are some fun TRs, and I know some mags from the US and Europe have skied many places in Europe and huts. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in—I was just trying to get a feel for what your priorities were.

I'm sure you'll have fun regardless!

[garyfromterrace]

Why not Battle Abbey? It's fucking amazing in every way. I could go on and on but...

Guided, catered (4 star both) under $2.5k usd. What's holding you back from the Abbey?

[Rideski]

Happy momentous birthday, which one?
I'll help kick your ass over the summer on hiking and biking to get you ready to ski hard and carry the weight on the b day trip.

[bfree]

I don't know the various hut options well enough to make a specific recommendation, but I will share from personal experience that you can probably do substantially more vert on a hut trip than you think you can. I think it's a combination of having all day to ski with no approach/exit, as well as the legs just getting used to it after a few days. Soreness peaks on day 3 and gets better from there.

As an aside, surely you know this, but many huts are already full for next year and/or require full hut reservations.

[Danno]

Why not Battle Abbey? It's fucking amazing in every way. I could go on and on but...

Guided, catered (4 star both) under $2.5k usd. What's holding you back from the Abbey?

I'm totally interested. But did you read my stuff about my fitness level, my wife's fitness and ability level? I'm just not sure a hut like that is best for our situation. What is the expectation of both guides and other skiers, how would we handle it, how would (could) we be accommodated, would we run the risk of bumming people out if we were with a group of strangers that were much more hardcore? I don't know squat about these huts save for what I read in TRs, and I have been dreaming of Battle Abbey since seeing pics of it in Couloir magazine many years ago, so I'm willing to be convinced, believe me!

[mmmm...pow!]

1- Rent an RV and hit the Eastern Sierra with the $25 guidebook
2- ?
3- profit

Selling the kids should still be considered.

[knowsam]

Are you ok with a shorter trip? Are you talking USD or CND? It I was you, I'd look at the British Columbia Cat operations, depending on how much you can stretch that budget, whether you're ok with the shoulder season and how far you have to drive/fly, you can get 2-4 days for 4-6,000 CND (for 2 pp). Your wife only has to do the downhill and she can sit out the odd run in the cat, skiing is good, the food/lodging etc. is all sorted in one bill (booze/tips are generally the only extras).

About Cham/Euro - I'm a Canadian, living in London, UK and I can't believe how expensive the skiing in Europe is compared to Canada. You generally have to plan ahead (the places book up months in advance) so you get snow that is there, and for lots of what we think of as the season, it's machine made snow. It really is that expensive though.

If you want to have incredible food, wine and a rocking après, all in the sunshine - Euro is for you (Italy is cheaper than France is cheaper than Swiss).
If you want steep, deep, in the woods and open alpine, with a brown bag lunch (the dinners are good though), go BC Cat - shorter trip.
For touring, there are lots of cool options. 2,500USD each is plenty (depending on how much you need for a flight etc.), maybe even a few days in Whistler, plus a 3 - 4 day trip to Tantalus Range.

Even if you find a deal on heli, maybe skip it, you'll only have enough cash for a short trip and for a short trip you might get weathered out.

Cheers

[klar]

I am intrigued by the Europe skiing idea, Chamonix or elsewhere. Is $5k really not enough? Or is/are there some other resort(s), maybe not quite as epic, but cheaper?

5k should be plenty for ten days of skiing in europe. I'm sure there are a lot of ways to spend more but imo it is not at all necessary.

[p.blz]

Boulder hut adventures is a lesser known operation in my neck of the woods that will suit your needs...they do half weeks too if you combine trip with lift skiing at Kimberley/ fernie/ pano/ kh...they fly right outta the skihill parking lot.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Danno, I can give you 50 reasons why a trip across the pond would be a better trip with your wife than a hut trip. You can spend exactly what you want. $5K is very doable. The travel really is pretty easy when you leave from DIA.

[Boissal]

So, a backcountry week-long hut trip is still possible, but it would have to be more mellow or at least allow for half days of skiing for some. Assuming guided and catered. And I think both of us would be happy if such an option existed; skiing 2-3k vert of some sweet powder and then lounging in a beautiful hut the rest of the afternoon, and repeating that day after day, doesn't sound too bad.

If you can score the Kokanee hut for a week it would be exactly what you're looking for. There is plenty of mellow trees runs around the hut, the alpine isn't very far or particularly huge, and the hut is nicer than any house I'll ever be able to afford. There was a TR posted here not long ago if you want to get an idea of the accommodations.