Hut Trip report: The Final Day

This is a four-part post about backcountry hut skiing in Colorado. To read the previous post in this series, click here.

The Dawn Patrol. An event stewed in meaning in my psyche. A goal of my life, a true test of dedication, a day I could point to and say, "Yes! I did it." This day was my final chance, and I did not miss it.

Long before dawn I woke up. I didn't need to wait for... the groggyness to clear; I knew immediatly that this was the Dawn Patrol. My pack was ready, and I joined the rest of the crazy souls from our group who were willing to sacrifice sleep for a catnap, all just to watch the sun rise. All told, we were a strong party. Brett, Mike, Ted and I set out in the blackness after moonset.
At 11,000 feet on the edge of a Wilderness Area, nothing interrupts the starlight. The glimmers normally obscured by city lights are fine points of brilliance against a perfect black, joined by thousands of thousands more stars. In silence we ski upwards, our physical labor deepening our thoughts. Soon we are above treeline, and even sooner at the ridge of New York Mountain. From here we can look down the valley. Far, far is the town of Eagle, near the western horizon. To our east is a viscous looking ridge, like a ragged knife wound against the steady terrain of our mountain. And behind the ridge? Only the faintest hint of gray.
The temperature is steady at 3 degrees Faranheit. We bundle up, taking photos in the darkness to distract from the biting, then numbing cold. Slowly, slowly the sky brightens. We are joined by Mark, and we are silent again, watching the light waken.
And then, seriousness given its day, we are giddy, ecstatic. The snow is perfect, and we are going to ski it! The guys let me take first turns. I was nervous, since the day before the snow was crusty, prone to randomly bucking me. But in the first turn, I could feel a difference; Overnight the conditions came together, tweaking minutae to make one of the most perfect, wide-open face runs I've ever taken. And then we got to the trees. God, I love skiing trees.

Suffice it to say, we returned to the real (hut) world, and went about all the tasks required to take our leave. And I'll leave it at that.