How to Prepare

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR HUT SKIING TRIP

During your Hut Skiing adventure, you will stay at one or more of our backcountry huts.  All of the huts are very comfortable and well equipped.  Each hut is heated by a wood stove, has a full kitchen and table service and a washbasin with soap.  There are bunks fitted with comfortable mattresses for sleeping (you only need to bring a warm sleeping bag).  For light there are solar-powered Goal Zero lanterns, although a headlamp for personal reading and late night bathroom runs is useful.  The toilet facilities at each hut are covered outhouses with insulated seats and toilet paper is provided.  Fishhook hut has a wood fired hot tub and Bench, Tornak, Coyote, Pioneer and Boulder all feature wood fired saunas for your bathing pleasure.  It is a good idea to bring a small pack towel for these facilities.

To prepare for your trip, we recommend you carefully review the Hut Ski Equipment List.  To have the right stuff  and keep a light pack, we highly recommend bringing everything on this list and little if anything that is not listed.  It is possible to rent sleeping bags, headlamps, shovels, avalanche rescue equipment, backcountry skis, boots, poles and backpacks directly from our local outdoor stores: Backwoods or The Elephant’s Perch.  Both stores carry the latest models of Telemark, Alpine Touring, XC-skiing and Snowshoeing Equipment.   For backcountry snowboarders, the Board Bin will be your best resource. 

Plan your food carefully. Sharing tasty and nutritious food with your group at a cozy backcountry hut after a day of adventure is one of the great pleasure of a hut trip. Food should be light weight (repackage as necessary) and relatively easy to prepare. Each hut has a well appointed kitchen that will allow you to prepare most anything that can be cooked on a propane stove or wood stove. There are no ovens at the huts. Don’t forget your tasty beverages! Lighter weight options like cocktails and hard alcohol are preferable to the heavyweights like beer. Most do-it-yourself groups divide the menu planning among “teams” or couples. Each can team plan, buy and prepare/serve a dinner/breakfast/lunch for a particular day.

The first and last day of your hut trip will involve skiing to/from the hut.  You can check out the approach maps for each hut by clicking on the appropriate hut here. There are many variations and possibilities for alternate approaches and descents.  Be prepared with a pack large enough to carry your personal equipment and food or hire a porter or guide to take care of the logistics and load carrying.

Fit skiers are happy skiers.  Hut skiing is backcountry skiing, which means you will be hiking/skinning for all your turns. The more physically fit you come, the more fun you will have!  Prepare for your hut skiing trip by training physically with backcountry skiing (if possible), hiking, running or other cardio-vascular exercise.   

Please visit our Links page to find relevant links such as: weather forecasts (for each hut), avalanche forecast and other useful information.

Please contact us if you have any questions and enjoy your upcoming adventure in the amazing Idaho backcountry!