Don’t know what to do this weekend? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Pull up a seat to the counter, and I’ll tell you about everything that’s hot and happening.

With fresh snow blanketing the mountains and towns, I’m already fantasizing about backcountry trips that are months away. My annual excursions to facilities run owned by the 10th Mountain Division Huts Association and Summit Huts Association have been filled with camaraderie as family and friends hunker down for a weekend in the wilderness. 

For those unaware, these huts are practically small houses that can sleep about 20 people and come equipped with most essentials except for food and water. It can feel like glamping at times considering my group can go all out with large antipasto spreads and hearty meals in addition to board games and puzzles in between.

All of my trips, save last year’s, have been via snowshoes. The slower method was fun in its own way, especially since there’s always at least another person who snowshoes. But skinning on skis with Alpine touring bindings for the first time to Janet’s Cabin has me hooked. Though I still don’t own a dedicated set of AT equipment, I’m hoping to strap into the skis again for my January and February trips.

With only five under my belt, I’ve done nowhere near enough to objectively rank all huts in Colorado, but I will list my personal favorites.

3. Sangree M. Froelicher Hut

The expansive windows in this hut outside of Leadville have the best views I’ve seen. It was easy to get distracted by the natural beauty of the Mosquito Range while we huddled together to play the dice game farkle. At 3.1 miles, the trail in is on the shorter side, but the 1,470-foot elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at. 

2. Janet’s Cabin

Since I was on skis, this was the first time I spent my second day of the trip earning my turns instead of solely reading by a cozy fire — which I did later after my legs were spent. It was windy and exposed, but the untouched snow in those bowls near Copper Mountain Resort was unlike anything I’ve skied before. I fully understood why my friends have been coming to these huts for decades and why they roped me and my family in.

1. Francie’s Cabin

Two indoor compositing toilets. Nothing is more luxurious in single-digit weather when compared to the outhouse at Sangree that seems like a mile away. As echoes of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s avalanche guns could be heard in the distance, it was also interesting to realize how close, yet far, we were from civilization. Along with the amenities, I felt like I was getting into the swing of things since this was my second hut overall. That made the trip feel like more of a tradition instead of a one-off fluke. 

I could see myself sticking with these hut trips for years to come.

Jefferson Geiger is the arts & entertainment editor for the Summit Daily News and managing editor for Everything Summit.