I woke up this morning at about 10 or so. My alarm clock was still paying music and had been for the last 30 minutes so I though it was about time to get out of bed. I had made up my mind up the day before to skin to 10th Mountain Hut starting at the Tennessee Pass trail head located just opposite of the entrance from Ski Cooper. Most people going to 10th Mountain Hut start from Crane Park trailhead that is little over 1 mile closer to the hut. I wanted to take a longer tour pushing myself with speed so I decided to start from the Tennessee Pass trailhead. If I was ever going to skin into this hut with a fully loaded pack for an overnighter I would opt to use the Crane Park trailhead. The skin track was smooth as I started up the trail at about 11:30 with a very packed down trail leading all the way to the hut. I passed a group of two snowshoers heading out as I started to gain a small amount of elevation up to a meadow were I encountered a snowboarder that was pushing his board along the ground with a ski pole but looked unfazed by his mode of travel and method in which he was using so I pushed on. A little further I almost skinned passed a lady without even noticing here sitting on the ground just off the skin path. When I asked if she was okay I got a muffled response that made me keep pushing on almost missing a skier on cross country skis ripping through very thick trees, i'm guessing to cut the switchbacks out of the picture all together. On the last rise before the hut I met a nice older man that was carrying a fully loaded pack. I talked with him for a few minutes and found out he had been staying at the hut for 2 days and had made some nice turns yesterday. He turned out to be the last person I saw on the trail before getting to the hut to strip my skins, eat some lunch, and drink a little water. After lunch I headed down the way I had come passing all of the people I had seen on the way up and getting to the car at about 3:05. Good trip!
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