Adventures Outside Turf: Buried at the Fishhook Yurt
"Sun Valley Trekking just emailed me -- the rest of the groups cancelled because of the storm," Morelli shared.
Suddenly, a normally crowded, 14-person two building yurt system became a spacious, backcountry mansion for my two friends and I. When we arrived, it was apparent this didn't necessarily mean we'd be living the life of luxury and relaxation.
Snow was already piled high around the yurt -- roofs sagging under the weight, previous walkways to the outhouse and wood-fired hot tub buried. We had to get to work, so we shoveled,and shoveled some more.
Breaks from shoveling that night involved reverting to child-like activities including jumping from buildings into fresh snow that would leave us in holes deeper than we were tall.
Backcountry skiing the next day was nearly impossible. Breaking trail was absurdly difficult, and any slopes with enough pitch to ski the deep snow was more than likely to avalanche. Our options were limited.
Walllowing -- we went wallowing, not skiing. We spent the next two days digging out the yurt, eating good food, and wallowing our little hearts out. As the sun came out on our last day, we had the pleasure of making our final trudge back to the car in pure slop.
What was once feet of dry powder snow, was now saturated and wet slush. Once again, travel was not in our favor. The last mile had recently been groomed, thankfully, and the final hurdle cleared...or so we thought.
The adventure wasn't over. As we returned to the roadside trailhead parking lot, it was very apparent we had one more round of digging to go. My Nissan Rogue was nearly buried in a solid bank of snow.
We snapped a few pictures, and removed our avalanche shovels from our backpacks. In one of my better moments of foresight, I suggested my buddy Charlie set-up a timelapse on his GoPro.
About forty-five minutes later, we had carved out just enough snow to sneak out and begin the trek home. "Are you guys okay? Did the yurts survive the snow? You are welcome to stay a few more days if you want! The groups behind you canceled as well," we listened to a voicemail from the hutkeeper. As tempted as we were by the offer, we kept driving.
