Just keep scrolling for the pictures – there is a long winded back story here….
As my husband and I outgrow hyped consumerism of Christmas gifts to exchange each year – I get really, really – super excited as in ‘I wish I had a wiggle tail’ like Muki excited when my hubby puts an effort in for a surprise. He’s not perfect, he neglects, forgets & after 9+ years, finally remembers my birthday – but – when he puts effort into a present or card – it’s 150% beyond expectations, usually.
My bestie from High School came up for a visit back in November & fed him some inspiration for my present. I knew he had booked a destination to ski, however I did not know the location nor the dates.
Christmas Day – with my parents having flown in the previous night & my sister’s family having arrived prior, we had a house full of family, albeit a sickly one. I open my present – he had acrylic painted a cigar box from his uncle’s house in Chicago with a mountain scene underneath the aurora borealis. The coordinates for our destination painted on the front.
BlueBird Backcountry – located east of Steamboat Springs for the 2022/2023 ski season. He booked a ski-to hut for an overnight stay on a Friday night in a couple of months. Bluebird allows dogs in the ski area, so we planned to bring our pupper.
Fast forward to mid-January – Bluebird announced difficulties booking huts, they put a hold on reservations for the ski-to huts. Brian paid for our ski-to hut in November, we didn’t think anything about it not receiving any notification regarding our reservations.
February arrives, the Monday prior to our Friday night stay – we get the email. ‘We apologize, but your ski-to hut is not available,’ mer 😦 . Bluebird offered us a hut located at the base camp, with car campers & other huts. We declined, choosing to ski for the day, eventually receiving our refund for the ski-to hut later in February. I searched for other lodgings in the area. Steamboat Springs was a bit far for the high prices during Ski Season & I lost motivation quickly due to limits with the pupper.
Drive we did for 3+ hours on I-70 to get to BlueBird Backcountry. We were in traffic most of the way there – not letting up until we approached Silverthorne. Traffic was just as horrendous on the drive back.
We found the turn off with helpful signs. Off the highway, we enjoyed the gorgeous scenery approaching Base Camp. The road is pretty much a single vehicle with spacious pull offs.
Happy little huts snuggled together just to the left in the center of the photo.
We parked the pickup and suited up – skins on, beacons tested, we ventured to the check in site. Boy – it was a super cold wind blowing that day, the temperature was around 3 degrees that day. Muki would not have had as much fun as she would have thought she would.
We did climb about 1000 feet of elevation & got a couple of runs in. The powder is too much fun – I’m sure Brian was tired of seeing me constantly falling in the powder, floundering like a kid.
A notch off of the bucket list. I’m not confident re-booking with them – I do not see us going back to ski here. I would recommend this place for anyone who has no experience with back country for the exerpience.
I feel confident enough in my skills to continue enjoying our much closer back country places to ski – even if we have to rise earlier to fight the crowds.
SquirrelyGrl Tales 