Although hoping to lay low during the winter break, a friend invited me on a ski trip that I couldn't turn down: hut-to-hut back-country cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the rugged San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. With the “sick” amount of snow the mountains had been getting this season and the company of friends and alumni from the Georgetown Outdoor Adventure Training (GOAT) program, I knew I'd be in for some real boy-scout stuff and a much-needed blast of fresh mountain air to clear my GIS-addled brain. The trip didn't let down.

We rendezvoused in Albuquerque, NM and crammed 5 people and 5 people's gear into (and onto the roof) of our tiny economy class car and sped up to Durango, CO, where we met three more and spent the night. and distribute group gear and food. After a morning of dividing up food and gear, we rented the necessary avalanche transceivers, probes and emergency shovels. The plan was to spend four days and three nights in the back-country, traveling to three different huts in the Uncompahgre National Forest and Mt. Sneffels Wilderness. However, the seemingly fortuitous dumping of powder over the range also created significant hindrances. The weight of the snow brought trees and brush down over the path, which greatly slowed forward progress. The deep powder itself also slowed progress and obscured the trail which led us to return to the first hut, where we would remain for the next three nights.

Losing the focus of moving on to hut after hut, we spend the remaining two days enjoying day trips without our heavy packs and training our avalanche rescue skills. First, we practiced burying avalanche transceivers and searching for them on a large slope, working as a team to find the beacons as quickly and efficiently as possible. Next, group members volunteered to experience being buried under the snow and being searched for in place of the beacons. Being buried was certainly one of the scarier experiences I have had – as the bright white sunlight darkens first to an icy blue and then to complete darkness as no light remains. The compacting snow also tightens to exert a strong downward pressure on the body. With only a small airspace, I could barely last the five minutes without breaking into panic before being dug out.

After four days of spectacular views, we spend an evening in the small mountain town of Ouray, celebrating and then relaxing in the hot springs.