Route Description

HUT TO HUT distances are usually longer than from trailhead to hut. Use winter specific topographic maps. Routes between huts are not often used so may not be tracked; navigation and breaking trail may be particularly challenging.

There are several connecting routes between the Peter Estin Hut and the Polar Star Inn/Seipel Hut.  You can descend to the East Brush Creek drainage via the Ironedge Trail or Hat Creek Road. The Ironedge Trail is technical and shorter, and the Hat Creek Road is not technical and longer.  You can climb  from the East Brush Creek drainage to the Polar Star Inn/Seipel Hut via Newcomer Spring Trail or the Fulford Road. Those who descend via Ironedge often choose to climb via Newcomer Spring, and those who descend via Hat Creek often choose Fulford Road.

To descend on Hat Creek, ski fifty feet W of the hut, then N downhill through timber to the 10,820-foot saddle (Ironedge Saddle). Though this route is marked by 10th Mountain, the pull of cutting turns could lead you past the saddle and down the Ironedge Trail. This will be fine for good skiers, since “all roads lead to Rome.” Intermediate skiers, however, should make an effort to stay in Hat Creek since the icy toboggan run downhills of the Ironedge require legs of iron and an edge of courage. Proceed west to the distinct snow-covered Hat Creek Road and follow it gradually downhill 7 miles to Yeoman Park.

From the parking area at Yeoman Park Trailhead follow East Brush Creek Road up the east side of the creek. Follow the obvious road-cut up the valley for just under 1/2 mile and make a hard left turn onto the well-signed Fulford Road, toward Fulford (not toward Fulford Cave). Follow the Fulford Road as it climbs northwest then north around a shoulder, then winds up through superb forest via several switchbacks to McGinley Gulch. Stay on the road from McGinley Gulch as it climbs northwest 1/4 mile, then turns north around another shoulder, then drops 3/4 mile and about 100 vertical feet to cross Nolan Creek (10,060 feet) just east of the small group of buildings known as Fulford.

Just after you cross Nolan Creek and the downhill road into the town of Fulford, turn right on another snow-covered road and ski 1/8 mile to a left (north) turn onto a marked 10th Mountain route. If you had your nose to the grindstone on the roads to this point, look up. This section does not follow a snow-covered road, so it requires more attention. Climb 1 mile up 5 switchbacks to the New York Mountain jeep trail (10,520 feet). Take a right on the snow-covered jeep trail and follow it as it climbs 1/2 mile to 10,830 feet. Leave the jeep trail here and continue northeast on a 10th Mountain marked route 1/2 mile to the Polar Star Inn.

Locations of Observed or Reported Avalanche Activity: No avalanche activity has been reported along this suggested route.

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Transportation