Raven's Nest Hut

Nestled in the convience of I-70 between Georgetown and Silverthorne, Colorado is the Raven's Nest Hut in the shadows of Grays and Torreys Peaks. I have been scouting Colorado huts in the I-70 vicinity the last few years in the spring to try to find some good spots to run tours in the future. The location suits my current seasonal migration pattern. The Raven's Nest Hut is also a high-quality candidate for a variety of reasons as well. From location, to comfort, and access this hut has a plethora of qualities I like for tours. Part of my program when I scout new locations is a trip to get boots on the ground, and I like to invite a media crew to join me to both have solid partners in the field and to make the scout trip more productive than just a scout with some content work. The last two years I have invited CJ Coccia of Tele Colo to join me with a telemark crew. I have grown to really enjoy the folks that CJ assembles each spring and it is also nice to try to contribute to the telemark industry as best I can when I can as it obviously always has a special place in my heart. 

^The crew on the approach from a nice parking zone right off the interstate. We hired some mechanized transport support for the bunch of film gear, batteries, and such. Snowmobile gear sled tow was clutch for the film crew. The rest of us all carried our personal gear to the hut on the road closed in winter, but open to snowmobiles, and cabin owner snowcats or tracked UTVs. 

^The tour is simple, pleasant, and interesting with old mining structures and cabins littered throughout the forest. The location has its convenience, which also means that it is not as remote and isolated. That is a plus for me in scouting for a certain kind of trip where some level of convenience is an important factor. 

^Approaching the hut its charm is evident. Eben and Darcee Mond are the owners of the hut and old friends of mine from my skiing glory days. Ebon and I used to compete in telemark freeskiing comps together as well as a variety of film & photo trips and such. They are an eclectic family with very cool style and grace that I have always admired. Now-a-days we are family men and have boys of a similar age. I loved seeing their subtle family touches on this place.

^The hut is at the base of the glory of the canyon amongst a smattering of cabins that are accessible by car in the summer, but not in the winter. The views and the ski lines become more and more impressive when ascending from the hut towards Grays and Torreys Peaks at the head of the drainage. 

^Spring bluebird glory.

^Mellow skin track approach through the grandeur of ridges on both sides.

^Being a scout trip, and our first time in the zone it always good to start by checking out the mellow tree skiing in a zone. As a ski guide this is really the most essential kind of terrain that a location needs to have. My trips have to get scheduled and sold months ahead of time. That means I have to take people skiing no matter what Mother Nature has planned for that date on a calendar. Mellow tree skiing is a must have for any hut I want to guide. The Raven's Nest hut has it, and it is yet again... conveniently located. In this pic above Gunnar Stoltenow is getting some goodies with some of the impressive lines of the zone in the background.  

photo: G. Stoltenow

Making telemark ski movies in the trees. On this trip the persistent weak layers in the forecast where just starting to transition to a better situation, but for this crew and I we were still feeling intimidated by the uncertainty so we stuck to tree skiing and window shopping, which is perfect for a scout mission as well. 

^Sweet view from the windows.

photo: G. Stoltenow

^The locals were out too. Some of the human locals pushed a rad descent of Torreys Peak while we were out there, which was really cool to see. These wilder locals in the pic above were milling about the sunny ridge above us all day as well. The bluebird spring vibes were in full bloom. The big lines that come online in the spring in this zone are the real attraction of the whole experience. There is some tree skiing, but the steep rocky chutes and faces are the obvious star of the show. For my efforts this really is a perfect fit for the timing of my migration pattern through this area in the spring each season. I would be coming here for those kinds of spring time lines that really only begin to become skiable in the Colorado continental snowpack right around this timing in early-mid April. 

photo: G. Stoltenow

^That is why it is also good to have some fun tree skiing in the zone as well because if the timing is not right to go after those bigger lines, then I gotta have some skiing still. I like powder tree skiing as evident in the pic above!

^What a gorgeous and...

photo: G. Stoltenow

^... comfy spot. The hut as a plethora of amenities including electricity, an indoor bathroom, wood stove, kitchen with all the tools, camp stove, etc. There is a separate loft bedroom above that is a perfect guide suite, which is a bonus for a ski guide situation. This is a guide's job and we are on point the whole trip, but it is nice to have a space of your own in a hut or lodge that can allow for some ability to turn it off a little.  

photo: S. Whitefields

^The common room is spacious and comfortable for the surprising amount of capacity that the hut can hold. The back bunk room stacks up the sleeping arrangements and the common room can accommodate sleepers as well if needed with some simple furniture conversions. I like to keep my groups on the smaller side, but it is nice to have the flexibility with this hut to pack it tighter for larger groups or upsell comfort with smaller groups in the space. 

All-in-all the Raven's Nest Hut is a really good location for me to have in my quiver of trip options for the coming years of my seasonal guiding migration pattern that has me coming through this area each spring. The location is central and convenient to a large population in nearby Denver on the east end of I-70 and the benefits that can come with that, but also just far enough to allow me to deliver folks into a truly beautiful big mountain experience. The hut is really nice with quite a few next level backcountry hut amenities for some added comforts from other more remote hut situations. The ability to get some mechanized gear transport allows for even more ability to have some luxuries beyond what can be carried in. When I am considering the long list of factors that I need for a great guided hut trip in the spring, the Raven's Nest Hut aligns with a lot of them and has moved near the top of my list of options for my trip catalog to add to my guiding calendar.