Backpacker Magazine – Fall/Winter Gear Guide 2012

Skier's Paradise: Backcountry Hut & Yurt Destinations

Maximize your winter fun with a backcountry basecamp where you can spend all day skiing or snowshoeing, and all evening lounging by the fire. These 10 huts and yurts will make you hope the snow never melts.

by: Sarah L. Stewart

Tags:
• Destinations
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• Winter camping
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Coyote Yurt
Smoky Mountains, ID
Try apres-ski steaming at this sauna-equipped camp.

Wolves, black bear, and wolverines will be your nearest neighbors at this remote basecamp, where two well-stocked yurts supply cooking gear, board games, mattresses for a dozen, and a wood-fired cedar sauna to soothe weary muscles. Trek six miles and 1,800 feet up from the Baker Creek Trailhead to the yurt at 8,700-feet, which overlooks the craggy, 11,000-foot Boulder Mountains and 12,000-foot Pioneer range. The surrounding terrain will suit both intermediate and advanced skiers, with options from gladed powder runs of varying pitches to the north face of 9,127-foot Fox Peak, where in 2007 the 48,000-acre Castle Rock Fire opened terrain previously too densely forested to ski. $35/person/night, minimum five people (or $175) on weekdays, 10 people (or $350) on weekends; Sun Valley Trekking (svtrek.com; 208-788-1966)

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