A Backcountry Ski Adventure: Camping Out at the Benson Hut

Last week I was lucky enough to get invited along on a back country skiing hut trip to the Benson hut in the North Lake Tahoe area. We had a great crew of a combination of both new and experienced back country skiers. For me it was one of my first real back country skiing experiencing and a great chance to test out and learn all my new equipment. I was stoked.

Getting ready to go and testing out our avalanche beacons

The trip started out with a ride up the chair lift at Sugar Bowl to cut off a few miles of the ski in to the hut, which allowed us more time to enjoy the hut when we got there. Getting on and off the lift with a big and heavy backpack was probably the most nervous I was the entire trip.

Annie and Scott riding up the lift at Sugar Bowl

After getting to the top of the ridge via the lift, it was time to head out of bounds and into the back country. Before heading out though we took some time to check out the map and scout our route.

Scott pointing out our route

Heading out of bounds and into the goods

The route to the hut involved about 3 miles of skinning and a little bit of hiking due to the less than ideal snow conditions. Overall though it was a beautiful skin in and only took us a few hours.

Skiing up to the hut

Riley checking out the view from the top of the hut

After getting settled in, it was time to get what we came for- some fresh powder turns. Before skiing though we needed to evaluate the avalanche danger to make sure it was safe to go. So we dug a pit and did a stability test on the snow. Lucky for us, we were able to determine that it was safe for us to ski!

Digging the pit

Testing the snow stability

Because the Benson hut sits on the top of the ridge rather than the bottom like most, rather than skinning up and skiing down, you ski down then skin up. The conditions were pretty sweet and the turns were all fresh. We did a couple laps on the face below Mt. Anderson and next to the hut before settling in to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Riley giving it

Alex charging the slope

Riley making his way back up to the top

Beautiful sunset with an awesome group of friends

After a great day of skiing it was time to cook up some dinner. The wood burning stove worked out to be a great stove top for cooking up our burritos. The rest of our night was spent enjoying dinner, drinks and good company under a full moon.

Cooking inside the hut

The next morning we woke up excited for another day in the snow. We decided to start off with a hike to the summit of Mt. Anderson to ski down its face. It wasn't an easy hike to the top, but the view and the ski descent made it well worth the effort.

Riley making his way to the summit

Scott taking a break while the rest of the group made it to the top

Me on my way down from the summit (Photo: Nick Uruquart)

Fresh Tracks!

After making it down from the summit, it was time to start moving in the direction back to Sugar Bowl. Instead of going back out the way we came in, we decided to ski down into the bowl below the ridge and skin our way back out. This allowed us to get to ski a lot more and really enjoy the snow. It turned out great and the skin back up to the ridge turned out to be pretty relatively chill.

Deciding where to go next

Eventually we made it back in bounds to the Sugar Bowl resort, where we skied down some groomers and back to our car. We finished up the trip with Mexican food and beers in Truckee before everyone went on their way in various directions. What a great trip with a great crew!

The crew: Riley, Annie, Nick, Me, Alex, Alex and Scott