Eiseman Hut is one of 16 10th Mountain Division Hut Association huts that's located north of the town (and ski area) of Vail. The hike in is 6.8 miles, gaining nearly 3000 feet of elevation - a gruelling slog to say the least. This trip had a rather sedate group of 12 and saw very snowy weather, only yielding views on the last day of our trek.
Doug presents the gift of French Vanilla and Jasmine hand lotion to Roy, in memory of the Harry Gates hut trip
Rurik struggles to lift his pack
Doug and Shaun
Hiking up the Spraddle Creek road
Lonny looks up at the trail across the valley
Roy on the trail
Jim hikes down off the road to the trail after missing the turn
Hiking up through the aspens
Shaun tackles the tough aspen hill
Mount of the Holy Cross and Vail
Lonny hides behind Jim
Aspens
Brian and Jay hike another steep section of trail
Lonny climbing "The Wall", already about 150 ft up
Arriving at the hut - just a little bit of snow on the roof
Vail and Holy Cross
The empty hut
The empty hut
The back bedrooms
The back bedrooms
The back bedrooms
Lonny arrives at the hut
Rurik recovers from the hike in a unique way
Jay, Jim, and Roy reach the hut
Mount of the Holy Cross, Vail, and Beaver Creek, all from the hut's deck
Rurik, always a slave to fashion
Shaun decides the best way to recover from the hike in was to crawl into his sleeping bag
A knarly looking ridge in the distance and the Eiseman snow fence
Tory and Doug "All In" Allen arrive at the hut
Tory admires the French Vanilla Glade Candle that Lonny brought up
mmm....Glade Candles....
Rurik filters some water
Hearts (Denver rules, not Cincinnati rules...)
A birds-eye view of the hut
Doug brings in snow for water
Visibility: low
Falling snow the morning of Day 2
Jay uses the "loft" to take some pictures
Making breakfast
Buckets of snow
Relaxing around the fire
Brian chops wood
A photo from inside the snow cave
Shaun inside the snow cave
Jay inside the cave
Jay and Shaun
The two outhouse stalls...note the cow jumping over the moon
Lonny preps for our wintery excursion
Snow drifts above the hut
The low visibility creates an interesting effect with the trees
Brian in winter garb
20 foot tall snow drifts on the ridge crest
A snowy bowl below the ridge
Lonny has fun descending a snowy ridge
Eiseman Hut from up above
Scrabble and Texas Hold'em to pass the time
Everyone's doing Sudoku
Shaun, sledding on one of the snow shovels
...and wiping out
Rurik goes for the run
Tory boils some water on the wood burning stove
Rime frost on hiking poles
About a foot of snow fell during the night
Shoveling off the porch before our departure
...but not everywhere
Dark skies to the north
Brian's ghetto tripod (mini tripod+snow shovel) for the group shot
The Eiseman Hut group: Doug, Jim, Lonny, Roy, Gerri, Shaun, Rurik, Tory, Jami, Susan, Brian, and Jay
Snow shovels on the hut wall
Leaving the hut
Snow and rime frost covers the trees
Susan, Jami, and Gerry
Our first casualty (but not the last) to the deep snow: Susan
Roy breaking trail
Rurik descending the deep snow
Shaun descends the fast way
Shaun reaches the precipice of "The Wall"
Another snow casualty: Rurik does a faceplant
Descending The Wall with fresh snow
Recovering from multiple face plants, Shaun and Rurik are ready to go
Jim goes down!
Jay tackles The Wall
Jami and Gerry tackling The Wall
Jami
Jay and Shaun
Mini avalanches off to the side of the trail on our descent
Roy and Lonny
Shaun makes a snowman
Moss and snow
Jim stops to catch his breath - Vail in the distance
