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2024 Benedict 100 Hut to Hut Ski Trip Lottery

A Single Lottery Pick Will Be Awarded the Opportunity to Book The Challenging Benedict 100 Itinerary in 2024.

2024 Benedict 100 Online Lottery is now closed

• The Benedict 100 is a 5 Night/6 Day, 100+ Mile Backcountry Ski Tour from Aspen to Vail, CO - now available by lottery only, for 1 lucky group.
• This grueling itinerary skips huts and there are no layover days - a pre-trip training program, extensive planning, winter backcountry experience, and raw grit is REQUIRED!
• Ski 12 to 20+ miles each day, with elevation gains up to 5,200', staying at Margy's, Betty Bear, Uncle Bud's, Jackal and Shrine Mountain Inn.
• Tour may occur on the dates of your choice in January or February, 2024 (date exclusions below).
• You pick your skiers, hut hosts, and hire guides if needed.
• Group size on the trail should be no less than 6 skiers, but a maximum of 16 guests can stay the night at each of the huts - so having friends, family members and/or guides as hut hosts to cook, clean and tend to blisters - is encouraged! Support on a trip of this difficulty and duration is necessary. Regardless of your group size, the huts will be reserved for your group only.
• 10th Mountain can pre-stock the huts with a reasonable amount of non-perishable food items that you purchase, package and deliver to our Aspen office.
• The Benedict 100 itinerary is physically challenging, with extremely long and arduous days on the trail -groups will be responsible for planning and executing any "bail-out" scenarios and shuttles.

Important Dates, Details & Restrictions

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• The Benedict 100 Lottery form will be available starting Friday, January 6th, 2023.
• Your membership must be current to enter this lottery. You will have an opportunity to purchase or renew your membership as part of the lottery application process.
• The deadline to complete the lottery form is Friday, January 20th, 2023 at midnight.
• The Benedict 100 winner will be notified by Monday, January 23rd, 2023.
• Winner's choice of trip dates* (in January or February 2024) must be submitted by Monday, Janaury 30th 2023. *The following nights of stay are excluded: Sunday, Dec 31, 2023, Mon Jan 1 2024 / Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon nights: Jan 12, 13, 14 and 15, 2024 / Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon nights: Feb 16, 17, 18 and 19, 2024.
• Payment must be submitted by Monday, January 30th, 2023. The 6-person minimum payment is $1370 and includes 5 hut nights, tax, plus Vail Pass Recreation Fees. This price is subject to change, and does not include additional over-night guests, such as family members, hut hosts and any guide spaces. Use of these additional spaces is encouraged, up to a maximum of 16 total, and must be purchased prior to the trip start date at the standard hut rate.
• To cancel for 80% hut credit, you must notify us by Monday, August 7th, 2023. This date is based on allowing time for another group to plan and prepare.
• For cancellations occurring after Monday, August 7th, 2023, no credit will be issued, and 10th Mountain reserves the right to offer the trip - in its entirety - to the next selected Benedict 100 lottery entrant.
• Hut spaces and/or nights on the Benedict 100 Lottery trip cannot be sold, including individual nights or hut spaces.

Route Information*

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• DAY 1: Hunter Creek Trailhead, Aspen to Margy's Hut, 14 Miles/5,200' elevation gain.
• DAY 2: Margy's Hut to Betty Bear Hut, 17.5 Miles/3,200' elevation gain.
• DAY 3: Betty Bear Hut to Uncle Bud's Hut: 11.5 Miles/2,800' elevation gain.
• DAY 4: Uncle Bud's Hut to Jackal Hut: 21.5 Miles/4000' elevation gain.
• DAY 5: Jackal Hut to Shrine Mountain Inn: 14.5 Miles/3300' elevation gain.
• DAY 6: Shrine Mountain Inn to Vail via the Commando Run: 16 Miles/2340' elevation gain.
• *Mileage and elevation gains listed above are approximate and use suggested 10th Mountain winter routes.

Benedict 100 Route

Benedict 100 History

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Since the late 1980s, 10th Mountain staff, Paragon and Aspen Alpine guides, a stream of hearty participants, and countless volunteer “hut hosts” have shared in the organization and fruition of a variety of interconnect and ski through itineraries:

• In 1989, Paragon Guides led the first Interconnect Ski - a tour from Aspen to Vail commemorating the return of the FIS Alpine World Championships to Vail, Colorado that also celebrated the spirit of hut-to-hut skiing. That year's intrepid skiers relayed a special flag that had been made to honor the link between the 1950 and 1989 FIS Alpine World Championships - all the way from the top of Aspen Mountain to Beaver Creek!
• In 1993, another commemorative hut-to-hut tour called 10/10/10 went from Vail to Aspen, and celebrated 10th Mountain's 10th year of operation, and the completion of our 10th hut.
• Later in the 1990s, shorter hut-to-hut Ski Through tours were offered, with some groups skiing in opposite directions and meeting mid-way at a hut for a celebratory dinner brought in and prepared by the hut hosts.
• From 1999 on, the lengthiest and most arduous hut-to-hut tour, inspired by the 1989 Interconnect Ski, officially became the Benedict 100. This tour pays tribute to its namesake, Fritz Benedict, the founding father of the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association. Fritz was a WWII 10th Mountain soldier and an architect in Aspen, whose vision of providing access to Colorado’s beautiful and challenging backcountry with a system of huts is now a reality that we can all enjoy!

It's our pleasure to now offer the Benedict 100 itinerary in a special lottery - so that even more people can enjoy this fine tradition.

Questions? Please call 10th Mountain at 970/925-5775, Monday - Friday, 8 - 4pm MST.