In Colorado's Rockies, a design for the next millennium : HIGH-ALTITUDE ECO-CABIN

SNOW COUNTRY

November 1994

It's located at 11,600 feet below a remote saddle between Copper Mountain and Vail. It can only be reached by cross-country skiers and snowshoers (snowmobilers aren't allowed). A public access hut built for the age of environmental awareness, Janet's Cabin is among the most advanced backcountry structures in the world. Solar energy generates the electrical lighting. Human waste is treated in a composting silo. Wood-burning cooking stoves with exposed flues heat the cabin. Snow is melted for water. Dogs aren't allowed in order to prevent snow contamination around the hut, ski trail damage and wildlife disturbance.
Twenty guests can stay overnight; they must pack in sleeping bags and food, and carry out trash. Other duties include splitting firewood, shoveling snow and keeping the cabin clean.
Located in a roadless area of the Arapaho National Forest, the 2,700-square-foot cabin cost $400,000 to build, partly because all construction materials had to be helicoptered in. The money came from tax-deductible and in-kind donations.
The cabin is named for Janet Tyler, a lifelong skier and mountain-lover from Denver who died of cancer in 1988. Janet's is the first of eight cabins planned by Colorado's Summit Huts Association. A similar second cabin, Francie's, will open this winter. The hut system presently links the mountain communities of Copper, Frisco, Breckenridge and the 10th Mountain Division trail to Aspen.
It costs $24 a night to stay at the cabin, and advance reservations are required. Contact the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association at (303) 925-5775.
--John Fry