In the morning we further confirmed with the motel manager, who seemed to know his stuff, that parking at that upper pullout on that forest road was legal, so we decided to go for it. We were so efficient that morning, that we were ready to start skiing up the trial at 8:45 AM.

The ski to the hut was relatively easy, as hut skis go, given the modest 1100' ascent. The uphill grade was always very gentle and there was only one short downhill stretch. We had to break trail (or I should say Tom and Glenn mostly broke trail), but the snow was only a few inches deep and fluffy. The weather was crystal clear and the sky very blue. Even though it was unusually cold for this time of year (in the single digits at the start), Colorado cold is not the same as New England cold. To me, it still felt like spring. The woods, meadows and views all around were spectacular. It took us 4.5 hours to make the 3.5-mile ascent, and we arrived at the hut at 1:15 PM.

Other people were already staying at the hut, and when we arrived a man on the deck came out and asked us if we were just up for a day trip. We said no, that we were staying 3 nights. He said that couldn't be, because his group had reserved the whole hut. We took out our reservation letter to prove to him we had reservations. It sure looked like 10th Mountain Division Hut Association made a mistake. I looked at it and the days of the week matched, although I thought maybe the dates seemed one off. But we had him convinced we had reservations. Then I asked Glenn if the letter was for the right year. Then Glenn noticed: our reservation was for February! We arrived a month late!

This could have been a disaster. The other group had every right to kick us out and make us go back down. But this was a group of 7 high school kids and 2 teachers from a fancy prep school, on a multi-hut outdoor adventure. They had plenty of extra space in the 16-person hut because many didn't show up or dropped out earlier in the week. The teacher David decided it would be OK to let us stay, especially since this was their last night of their trip. We showered him in profuse thanks and offered to do anything in return.

A glitch though: almost everyone in that group was sick, or had been sick, from a stomach ailment, causing vomiting and diarrhea (not always in approved receptacles). Only David and one of the kids didn't get sick. Although experienced taking groups of kids into the mountains, David was in a tizzy, not knowing what to do about this illness. He was hoping one of us was a doctor. The only positive sign was that people who had already recovered were only sick for about 24 hours, so it was a short disease. His main concern was whether he could get the kids down the mountain the next day. We offered to help, including carrying their packs back down, either that afternoon or the next day. We offered them whatever drugs and health aids we had.

In the sleeping area upstairs the hut has a 4-bed room, a 6-bed room, and 6 beds in the open center area. David suggested we occupy the 6-bed room and he moved the kids into the remaining spaces, the sickest ones together in the small bedroom. After we settled in, Glenn decided to ski some more, so he went up to Slide Lake, 45 minutes uphill of the hut, right up against the base of Homestake Peak. Chris and I just lazed around, enjoying the sunny deck with cigars and tequila, while Tom burnt off his remaining energy shoveling out a view, as the snowbanks around the deck were so high, you couldn't see over them even standing up. We later heard that they had 27 feet of snow so far this season—a record—and that the depth was probably about 10 feet. At the hut, instead of going up the stairs to get to the deck, you had to go down a snow ramp. At the rear of the hut the snow was up to the roof.

Kids continued to get sick on and off that evening into the next morning, while we were careful to avoid unnecessary contact. Otherwise, everyone was cheerful and welcomed us. There seemed to be no hard feelings that we busted into their outing. David told us that the day before we arrived, he and some of the kids had skied up Homestake Peak in perfect, sunny, calm weather. He said it was possible to skin up all the way to the top, and the ski down was fantastic. This was very good news to us, because every other time we went up to a summit on a 10th Mountain trip, we had terrible snow on the windblown slopes, requiring part of the ascent on foot. We figured if high school kids can do it, we certainly could.