I had a great weekend with some friends at their backcountry cabin in the San Juan Mountains south of Telluride. The cabin’s a real gem, situated in a rugged San Juan setting surrounded by prime ski terrain. Cecily’s parents are avid skiiers and they built this cabin back in the 70′s when it was somewhat reasonable to do such a thing. Nowadays we can only dream of building a little cabin in the high country like this… there’s just no more places to do it, and too many regulations (though this is probably a good thing). But I digress…

It’s about five miles along a snowed-in road to the cabin, and we loaded up some sleds with all our gear and beverages to pull behind us on our way up. We left after dark on Friday, so it was a big surprise to wake up on Saturday to the magnificent vistas all around. We had incredibly warm and sunny weather the whole time, and the snow has become so stable that for the next few days we skiied/rode borderline springtime lines… a nice treat in January, though I do hope it snows again soon.

I’ve posted my best photos from the trip on my gallery site, but here are some more of the hiking and riding photos.

[+] Skinning up the mountain.

[+] Snowboarding with a backdrop of the fourteeners of the San Miguel Range. Rider: Cecily Bryson.

[+] More skinning in the rugged mountains.

Parker and Mike skin across a snowy ridgeline.

[+] The Hideout Posse: Mike, me, Parker, Aimee, and Cecily.