Experiences · Backcountry
Backcountry huts near Aspen
A night in a 10th Mountain hut is the most Colorado thing you can do in winter. Which huts are near Aspen, how booking works, and why you go with a guide.
A night in a 10th Mountain hut is the most Colorado thing you can do in winter. Which huts are near Aspen, how booking works, and why you go with a guide.
The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, based in Aspen, manages 38 backcountry huts linked by 350 miles of suggested routes. Near Aspen are McNamara and Margy's, the Benedict huts (Fabi and Fritz), and the Alfred A. Braun huts up Castle Creek. You reach them on skins or snowshoes; there is no lift and no road.
Facts below come from the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, checked October 2, 2026. 2026–27 rates and lottery dates should be confirmed on huts.org.
Paul Montiel · Aspen · Updated October 2026
Winter is booked through a reservation lottery, with members getting early access; remaining nights go on the online booking system, and there is a waitlist for full dates. Weekends and holiday weeks go first. The association is reachable on 970-925-5775.
Booking a whole hut for a group, as a family or a company retreat, takes planning months ahead. We can track the dates and prepare the request; the reservation itself is made with 10th Mountain.
Lessons, rentals fitted at the house, lunches, and a quiet evening for the parents.
The holiday week at the house: the tree up, the table set, lessons booked and every evening planned.
From the aircraft door to a warm, stocked house, with nothing to carry and nothing to chase.
Routes to the huts cross or approach avalanche terrain. Every member of the party needs a transceiver, shovel and probe and the training to use them, and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center forecast should be read the morning you leave. For most visitors the right answer is a certified mountain guide who carries the responsibility, sets the pace and knows the route in the dark.
We don't guide. We can arrange a licensed guiding service, the rental of backcountry equipment, the drive to the trailhead and the food carried up, and confirm each provider's permits and certifications before you book.
For a first taste, Aspen Mountain and Snowmass offer uphill routes on groomed runs, and Ashcroft has groomed Nordic trails to Pine Creek Cookhouse. See cross-country skiing and the sleigh ride dinner.
The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association manages 38 backcountry huts in Colorado, linked by 350 miles of suggested routes.
McNamara and Margy's huts, the Benedict huts (Fabi and Fritz) and the Alfred A. Braun huts, such as Barnard, Goodwin-Greene and Lindley.
Through the association's winter reservation lottery, then its online booking system for remaining nights, with a waitlist for full dates.
Routes cross avalanche terrain. Carry a transceiver, shovel and probe, know how to use them, check the Colorado Avalanche Information Center forecast, or go with a certified guide.
Lessons, a table afterwards and a driver home.
We find and brief a nanny or babysitter for the days the little ones aren't in ski school, or the evenings you go out: at the house, the same person all week if you like.
Come in from the mountain to the fire lit, something warm to drink and a spread laid out: set up while you ski by our chef or caterer, from groceries already in the house.
A car and driver on call for dinner and the night out, so nobody hunts for a taxi at midnight.
Reservations, timing, a driver and a picnic for Maroon Bells or a day in the valley, arranged around your group.
Hut lottery dates, conditions and the winter weeks worth planning around.
Written from Aspen by Paul Montiel. A few letters a season, only when something matters. Leave any time; we never share your address.10th Mountain Division Hut Association · Colorado Avalanche Information Center — checked October 2, 2026.
Tell us the dates and the group. We prepare the request, the guide, the gear and the drive to the trailhead.
Plan a hut trip
