Summit County’s newest backcountry refuge will begin taking reservations for its inaugural season on Jan. 7, with a grand opening five days later.<\/p>\n
Summit Huts Association’s new Sisters Cabin is thirteen years in the making. The state-of-the-art cabin is located in Weber Gulch on the northern flank of the 13,684-foot Bald Mountain, or “Baldy,” just east of Breckenridge.<\/p>\n
The cabin will sleep 14 people and will only be open in the winter.<\/p>\n
At the cabin, guests have the opportunity to access sprawling views of the Ten Mile and Gore ranges. The hut is perched on an alpine knoll at 11,445 feet.<\/p>\n
“We can’t wait to introduce Sisters Cabin to the public,” Summit Huts Association president Rich Rowley said in a press release. “It’s been a long process with a lot of ups and downs, but we are so happy with how the cabin turned out and think everyone who visits will love it.”<\/p>\n
January’s grand opening was enabled by what the association describes as an “enormous” effort from Summit Huts staff and board members. The association was also aided by Turner Mountain Construction, which built the 2,200-square-foot cabin in six months despite Summit County’s historic early-season snowfall.<\/p>\n
The Sisters Cabin site was inaccessible to vehicles larger than an ATV, so materials were either flown in via helicopter or towed on a trailer. Breckenridge architect Robbie Dickson led the design team, who worked pro-bono. Summit Huts also said a number of subcontractors donated services to the construction effort.<\/p>\n
Like Janet’s and Francie’s Cabins in the Summit Huts system, the Sisters Cabin includes a sauna. It also features what Summit Huts Association describes as cutting-edge insulation and efficiency, as well as indoor toilets.<\/p>\n
The opening of the Sisters Cabin will also open up the opportunity for backcountry recreators to travel between the new cabin and the Section House\/Ken’s Cabin on Boreas Pass in a day. The makes that traverse the first pavement-free hut-to-hut route in the Summit Huts Association network.<\/p>\n
The Sisters Cabin was funded by the Denver-based Sturm Family Foundation, which supports non-profits that aim to impact their local communities.<\/p>\n
Guests will be able to access the Sisters Cabin from French Gulch via Sallie Barber Road. A new overnight parking lot was also built in that vicinity to accommodate cabin visitors. Reaching the hut from the lot requires a 3.9-mile ascent, which gains 1,300 vertical feet.<\/p>\n
Summit Huts is advertising the per-person nightly rate for the Sisters Cabin’s inaugural season at $50. To book a spot on or after Jan. 7, you can visit olb.huts.org or you can call (970) 925-5775.<\/p>\n
The late Hannah Taylor also played a critical role in the Sisters Cabin coming to fruition, working as Summit Huts Association’s managing director. Taylor died in a mountaineering accident this summer during the cabin’s construction.<\/p>\n