Brew
Hut Attempt
5 days off over Christmas. What can you do?
Well, since we have our ski touring set up now and are keen to get out we
planned a trip to the Brew Hut. I have been there a couple of times before.
It takes about a day to get up to the hut. It is a 15 km hike with 1200m in
elevation. We checked the weather forecast, talked to a local cat ski operator
about the conditions and knew there will be a lot of snow (it snowed about
80-100cm in the last 5 days). Since we thought we might be the only one's
hiking up we took a tent in case we won't make it to the hut in one day (we
expected already a 2 day ascent). At the end our backpacks were quite heavy,
28kg and 22kg.
Seppel with his backpack
all the gear
We
left our place at about 6 am. At Horseshoe Bay (about 20 min. away from our
place) we recognized we forgot our ski boots :-). We turned around, got our
ski boots and drove all the way to the trail head. Normally you can drive up
a forest service road. But this time there was heavy snowfall going on and so
we had to park the car right at the bottom at the Highway 99.
We
digged a parking spot for the car!
Kerstin
on the first meters
The
first 1.5 km were not too bad. A car drove up earlier the morning so we didn't
have to break trail.
From
km 1.5 on the trail breaking was hard work, 15-25 cm fresh snow.
Kerstin
slogging up the road
Kerstin having a rest
We decided after 10 km or 5 hours (2 km per
hour) that we have enough for that day. Kerstin is preparing the tent platform.
Our
tent in the snow.
The
next morning we got up and wanted to continue. We had trouble to get up this
wall. I had to take my backpack off, otherwise I couldn't get up. We also couldn't
see any trial markers. We decided to turn around at this point. This was probably
a good decision. Still, it is quite disappointing to turn around on day 2 of
a 5 day trip. We were happy and sad at the same time. We did quite a bit of
planning, shopping, packing. You also don't have often the chance to go on a
5 day trip. Well, I guess that belongs to hiking in the outdoors. You have to
know your limits. We could have stayed in the tent another night but since it
was quite warm (just below 0°) our tent and sleeping bags were quite wet so
another night wouldn't have been fun.
After
we decided to turn around we played a little bit in the snow without our heavy
backpacks. Kerstin breaking trail.
Kerstin
skiing down.
sinking
in to your knees
Seppel doing one decent jump on this trip :-)
well, the landing wasn't that decent
Kerstin
on the ski out.
We
had to break trail again. The trail from yesterday was gone.
It
was warm and wet.
Kerstin
having lunch and getting soaked.
Back
at home: Having a Winter Ale in front of our fireplace, not too bad as well.
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