Christmas Hut Trip - 2009

We left for a hut we have been to 3 times now... SANGREE M. FROELICHER HUT to celebrate Christmas with friends! We set out on Christmas morning and it was DARN COLD! The hike into the hut is only 3.5 miles and we had done it several times but with temps near and below zero it became a chore for at least one of us - Karyn. Sounds like Becky and I both showed up at the hut a little hypothermic. I also succeeded in getting a little 'frostnip' on 8 of my fingers and perhaps frostbite on two of those - time will tell. Frostnip is "the reversible freezing of superficial skin layers that is usually marked by numbness and whiteness of the skin". My fingertips were white, i.e. frozen, and I have numbness and swelling in those fingertips today - 4 days later - which can last up to a year.

Some parts of one finger are turning black (right around the nail) but I'm not going to worry about it because I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for early next week - will be fun to explain to a doc I've never met before, huh.

Seemed like time to take a nap....


Xander (9 months old) got a ride up in the Chariot and still thought it was a good time for a nap.

We got settled in and the turkey got started! we had a phenomenol dinner of veggies, cranberry sauce, gravy, giblets, and TURKEY! Another Brinkelman wonder of hut tripping!


The next day we had a fantastic breakfast and headed out for some skiing - Jake took some great pics that I will post later!




Saturday night, after the sun had gone down, Russ came down with some sort of illness... not sure what still but he was immobile. Perhaps food poisoning? Or altitude sickness or both? We discussed our options - sled him out Sat night in the dark or head out first thing in the morning. Xander was dehydrated as he hadn't had any liquids (that had stayed down) in 2 days so we were already considering an early departure for him.... We set alarms for 6am and when we went downstairs to see how Russ was doing, he was sleeping soundly. David put breakfast burritos in the oven and sausage rolls and we all tried to sleep another hour. At 7 we started moving, cleaning, packing, etc. Fred, Karyn and Russ headed out first - about 30 minutes ahead of the rest of the group as we figured that although Russ was moving on his own power he wasn't going to move very quickly. We were back at the car about the time Tucker sailed to the bottom of the trail. Karyn brought the Jeep up to get Tucker and his stuff - and David and Becky showed so they got a ride too. We took them to the parking lot where Russ and Fred were patiently waiting. They left in an attempt to get Russ to lower elevation - and a flush toilet? Back to the trailhead to get the Lewis family. All 3 of them and their gear shoved into the Jeep and back to the parking lot - to a dead battery in their car. A quick jump start and Tucker and Karyn were off to Copper Mountain to ski the afternoon with Drew - a friend who now lives in California and we don't see nearly enough! What a great weekend!

Looking forward to next year's trip already!