TR-Markley and Goodwin-Greene huts 3/14-3/17

TeleTree · Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 643 Location: Evergreen

I lucked into a hut trip a few weeks ago for the Braun huts. We didn't have any vacation left, didn't have a group together, and didn't really have time to go, but somethings are way too good to pass up. We rounded up an old friend of Colin's from RMNP, a friend of mine from work, and Nurse Ben from here to ditch work and go skiing. We had a lot of fun. We lucked into very good weather for most of the trip, and we look forward to spending some more time in the Braun huts soon.
These pictures are courtesy of Nurse Ben, and we will post some of him once we get ours uploaded.
Our official trip photographer posted a bunch of amazing photos here: He got some really neat avy shots, panoramas, and action shots.
http://lagemaatphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/4550604_L45wp/

This is my first time posting photos, so here goes...
Obligatory truck photo at the start

Heading up to Markley in the snow. The snow conditions were really good with a very solid snowpack. We were careful across the runouts, which had obviously run HUGE earlier in the year.

The remodeled Markley cabin - Thanks Braun hutkeepers/donors for doing such an incredible job!!!

The view from Markley. There is a ton of incredible tree skiing that we didn't get time to explore around here.

Enjoying the view on the way out of Markley

The ridge traverse over to GG. It is very easy to see how this could be much less fun in a white out. GPS is a very good idea.

Me heading into the GG hut after some turns on Saturday. The hut is almost completely buried up to the vent pipe.

Hubby skis pretty well with a full pack

Skins off, time for lunch on the way home...

Nurse Ben then lead us to delightful (and cheap) pizza in Aspen then helped us deal with the fresh foot of snow in our driveway when we got home.

TeleTree · Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 643 Location: Evergreen

A few more pics of happy travelers...

Nurse Ben, Me, Colin, and Jao inside the new Markley hut.

The front yard at Markley

Out the window at Markley - we were feeling pretty good about having a day this nice to make the trip to Goodwin-Greene. Jao has a picture of what we think is the lynx den just past the hut on his web page.

Doug crossing the last of the big slide paths in Express Creek. There were some small sloughs in here when we came down.

Nurse Ben at the top of the Express Creek valley

Jao checking out the view from inside Goodwin Greene.

The view of Gold Hill from the front window (after a good shoveling)

The wind kicked up on Sunday, and it snowed a few inches. Gold Hill looked like fun skiing until it did this. We skied a nearby ridge and the trees below most of the day instead of going up there.

Fortunately, Monday morning looked like this. We were sort of hoping to get stuck, but we were thankful for the great weather, solid snowpack, good company, and nice turns.

QuiverQueen · Joined: 22 Apr 2005 Posts: 1961 Location: Boulder

Nice pics, TeleTree. Thanks for posting.
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teletub · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 429 Location: SE Connecticut

Looks like a great trip! Those are great photos.

Thanks for sharing.
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Nurse Ben · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject:

Teresa, thanks for posting a TR I've been kinda wrapped up in family since I got home. Like Teresa said, it was a great trip, some sketchy avy path crossings on the way in, but it all turned out to be pretty bomber.

The hike into Markley wasn't too bad, kinda wound around a bit to find the hut in the trees, but well worth as the Markley hut is very nice after the remodel. We didn't end up skiing around Markley since we got there late and left early for the big hike to Goodwin-Greene.

The real trip began once we left Markley, serious avy exposure, more difficult route finding, and steeper climbing. We got lucky on the way up Express Creek drainage, where we met the GG outgoing group and they kindly left us some tracks to ease the skinning. Still a pretty tough climb up that drainage.

It was really awesome once we topped out and caught sight of Gold Hill, of course there was still another down-up, but we were getting a wiff of the barn so it was non-stop from there on.

Once we got to GG, eveyone took at least one run, but for the most part we were all pretty hammered. The GG hut is really nice, maybe a little simpler than Markley, but a welcome respite from being out in the cold and white. There was a lot of snow up there, a whole lot, pictures just don't do justice.

I would certainly head into GG again, but I think it'd be cool to try coming in from Barnard, maybe get a couple days skiing there, then work out into GG for a couple more days. Though we had some great turns at GG and on our way out to Ashcroft (trailhead), another day at GG would have been sweet!

I wanna' go back!!

hutguy · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 4235 Location: Breckenridge CO

Yeah, since it's such a hump to get into GG you need at least two nights there and three is better. You can explore several of the neighboring drainage's but that's best done from a place of leisure.

Cool place
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TeleTree · Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 643 Location: Evergreen

Hutguy - we had two nights at Goodwin Greene, and I agree that 3 would have been better. There is a lot to explore out there.

The group coming out of the hut had been there 5 days, which would have been fun. Still haven't figured out how none/very few of them had packs on the way out. I guess they humped all of their stuff over in paper bags and burned it all before they left.