Published: Feb. 2, 2018 By

MBA Hut Snowshoe One of the best parts of my MBA experience at Leeds has been the people—I’ve made incredible friendships over the last year and a half. The MBA experience is all about learning; this includes in and out of the classroom. Many of my classmates moved to Colorado because of our love for the outdoors. Many, like myself, came from places in the Midwest where we didn’t have the same opportunities for outdoor adventures. One perk to my cohort community is access to people with different skill sets. This allows us to plan epic weekend adventures which utilize individual strengths and facilitate opportunities to try new things.

Before starting our spring semester, a group of 15 of us from the 2018 and 2019 cohorts went on an overnight backcountry hut trip. This particular excursion was to Vance’s Cabin, which is part of the 10th Mountain Division hut system. To get there, we snow-shoed or skied the 3-mile approach. We had a wide range of experience levels—some had never snowshoed before, others have years of backcountry experience. Balancing the group is important. While the route to this particular hut ranked low for avalanche danger, it is backcountry and not easily accessible, so safety is a top priority. We had to pack in all our gear and food. Once at the hut, we melted snow for water and then boiled it. The next morning, we watched the sunrise from the deck before heading back to the trailhead. It was an amazing trip and a great way to get to know each other better!

Hut Team Trip

Photo Credit: Jesse Hintz