The doctors think the hut caretaker, Myles has pneumonia. At least based on what he has been able to tell them over the radio. They’re trying to send a helicopter for him, but it’s snowing too heavily to get him out. He’s been asking around the hut for codeine, for an asthma inhaler, for anything we’ve got. Maria’s leaving too. She’s got a sinus infection and hasn’t been able to get out on her splitboard for the past two days. Living with 15 people in a 20 x 30-foot, two-story box at 7,200 feet can feel claustrophobic at times. Especially when the black lung is present. But man, it’s a beautiful place to be stuck.

Just beyond the outhouse are pillows—800 vertical feet of them stacked all the way down to a small lake. The run’s called Front Door, and it’s got everything from mega-stacks to mellow poppers, powder ramps and gullies in between. That’s why most people come to Golden Alpine Holidays’ Meadow Lodge in the winter: to ride pillows…

Subscribe for access to this article plus the entire archive of The Snowboarder’s Journal content—and receive 10% off of The Snowboarder’s Journal products.

Justin Lamoureux, Lane McMillan and Byron Bagwell make their way back to the lodge at the end of a long, sunny day in the Esplanades. They’ve just laid three tracks down the only couloir ridden during the entire trip. A hot sauna awaits just a five-minute skin away.