January 14-15, Silverton, CO

Way back in November, Wes, Bob and hatched a plan to go to Silverton, CO over the MLK weekend. You probably heard of the place from various ski mags. Their concept is pretty neat : They limit the number of guests to 20-30 a day, put you on their only chairlift and provide a guided run down to the valley floor where a van picks you up. Given the costs (~$500 airfare to Durango, Thank god for 0$ tickets on air miles + 125$/day lift ticket) our expectations were : long, steep bottomless powder runs, basically backcountry experience with lift assist.<br><br>Before you plunk down money to go down there, you might want to read on...<br><br>A typical run goes like this: the lift sends you up about 2000 ft to ~13,200 then you hike up the ridge for a couple hundred more and ski down to be picked up by a van. You get about 800 vert in an open bowl, then hit one of their choke point gullies and then a traverse back to the pick up point. The typical day is about 4-5 runs<br><br>On our first day there, it hadn't snowed in a couple weeks. We skied breakable crust and bullet proof stuff. On the second day, it snowed about 8 inches overnight. We had a few sweet runs but most of the mountain was tracked out by the end of the day. To try to prevent that from happening, they aggressively farm out the snow and only open certain areas of the mountain to skiers. A bizarre oddity is the run down the chair line which is off limits to clients and reserved for the staff.<br><br>Given the difficult access (6 hours drive from Denver or expensive connecting flight to Durango) I would not recommend to do a long weekend trip to Silverton like we did. I would go to Silverton again only if I was road tripping in the area and it dumped overnight. Otherwise, I'd give it a miss.<br><br>Regardless, we had a great time exploring this amazing part of CO none of us had ever been to. The high points were :<br>-      training/hiking at 13 K <br>-      Silverton : cool little town with lots of character<br>-      driving red mountain pass, no guard rails at 12 k<br>-      60$ motels with full wireless access and 10$ pasta dinners, no restaurant chains.<br><br>After Silverton, we went to Telluride (Gucci skiing) and Durango mtn resort (blue skies and blue corduroy runs) and flew back home. Re-entry into civilization has been tough<br>

Thanks for the tr. I've been interested in visiting Silverton at some point. It's good to hear a perspective outside of the magazine articles, which heap praise on the ski experience.

Thanks for the "reality perspective". I understand that on April 1st they will begin their "unguided" season. Have they established lift ticket pricing for that option ? <br><br>Thanks, Zap

Thanks for the trip report; my brother and I are headed down to Silverton next month for a quick trip. Hopefully I'll get lucky and it will snow the day before we get there.

Answering questions/comments :<br><br>- I could be wrong but I think the unguided skiing project is up in the air. <br><br>- It's possible to have an epic day at Silverton if you get there just after a big dump but I would not bank on it even with the small number of skiers allowed each day. This isn't a heli skiing or cat skiing type of experience.<br><br>One more comment : There were plenty of spots available on each of the days were there so it might be worth playing it by ear and wait until you get there to make a reservation.

For those headed in that direction, if Silverton leaves you dis-satisfied, or you are looking for other off-the-beaten-track skiing in Colorado, in good conditions and for the money, it is hard to beat a weekday at Monarch ski area (Hwy #50 Monarch Pass). Time a good shot of upslope moisture from the SW and you won't even need to leave the in-bounds area for the new bowls.<br><br>Cheap tickets, great high elevation snow (11k' +), a great little snow-cat operation if it suits you, friendly locals and either Salida or Gunnison will leave you wishing you had more time to stay and play and thankful for all the money you saved.

Unfortunately Silverton is only open Thursday through Sunday, and during week between 2/18 and 2/26 they only had one day that wasn't completely booked. It could be I just picked an unusually busy week, but it was the only week I could go.

yowza!<br><br>scathing reality @ the powderhound's dream. nice work on the report tho, Ithink most of us who think about venturing out there never think of the possiblity of this situation, although my wife has mention the "what if's" whenever I get talking about it.<br><br>I've heard some mediocre reports before, but nothing like those conditions. I suppose the risk you take when travellling far from the home turf. I would be BUMMIN' to be riding those steeps in those conditions on a board tho.<br><br>I think the wait and see might be the way to go if you're gonna be down there. the other stories I've heard have been of it not being full either.<br><br>thx for the tips JP, something to think about if you're down there.<br><br>jim