Submitted by Mark Lasseter Photos: Mark Lasseter & Vince Boelema

After getting over altitude sickness, scoping the local scene in Telluride, Colorado, and grooving to a local funk band, it was time for Vince Boelema and I to make the 2 hour journey across the pass to Silverton. Silverton Mountain, one of the newer resorts in Colorado at only 3 years old is located in the San Juan mountain range 2 hours from Telluride Ski Resort and about 1.5 hours from Montrose airport.

The sleepish town of Silverton is about as 'small town USA' as you can get with only 500 people, 1 bar, 1 main street, 1 school for all ages, and of course the most important part of this town... 1 ski resort, 1 lift. Luckily we were able to meet up with local friend Alex Hunt who put us up for the weekend. Unfortunately Alex wouldn't be joining us on the hill, still showing off his bulky leg cast courtesy of some unexpected Las Lenas slough and Argentina's dodgy medicine. Instead the first stop was Silverton's only real watering hole, the Explorer Bar.

After downing some Pabst Blue Ribbons, we let the horde of guys peer at the 3 girls in the bar as we stumbled home to get ready for the next day of skiing at Silverton. The bar The hustle bustle at the base area. Owned, founded and operated by locals Aaron and Jen Ader Brill, they thrive on the fact that the ski resort is run by skiers for skiers/snowboarders and not by a large golf or real estate corporation. Environmental impact, safety for employees and guests having a truly unique backcountry skiing/snowboarding experience go hand in hand here. Aaron and Jen are often found on the mountain themselves; guiding, patrol prepping, and manning the lift.

Yep, it may have only one lift, but it's anything but small. The lift and hiking will get you to up to 4053 m above some awesome terrain, with a limit of only 80 people to share it with. Hike to the billboard area The next morning we were among those few lucky skiers, and on our drive to the resort, the school bus high snow banks engulfing the road gave us a hint of what awaited. Gearing up in the morning, we couldn't help but notice that Silverton's logo is a skier falling off of a cliff... interesting. Assured it wouldn't be us, we registered and headed up the chaird with Stan our guide.

Our group of 5 started on our first run simply doing an easy 2 minute traverse over to a wide open powder field, this was too easy I thought. Stan told us to stay left of his track and went ahead, followed by myself, Vince and the 3 others, milking every turn as we went. It was a great taste of fresh and light San Juan powder until we hit the drainage area and traversed out of the resort through the woods, ending up on the side of a nearby road. Luckily there was a small shuttle bus waiting for us and another group that had just popped out of the woods joined us for the ride back to the lift. The rest of the runs were as equally entertaining, and the required 15-35 minute hikes for each run were well worth it.

Our 2nd run was a great challenging tree run with optional small cliffs and log drops throughout. Knee deep powder on a constant steep pitch ensured faceshots from top to bottom, followed by another road, another shuttle. This time with no driver, but hey, Stan had a key and got us back to the lift as our withered legs rested for another run. Our last run was the topped it off, hiking towards the area known as the billboard and towards the highest peak. Vince and I hop turned our way down this steep chute until we opened it up into a smooth creamy powder field. We thanked Stan and Jen for a great day while enjoying a PBR in true Silverton apres style in the tent at the makeshift Silverton bar. Uh, the Superbowl was today? No one had mentioned it. While Superbowl Sunday entranced over 100 million other Americans, I guess everyone at Silverton was there to ski.

I spent the night in Silverton and met up Monday morning for breakfast with locals Doug, Skylar, and Barney who I'd met in Las Lenas last summer. I had no way to get back to Telluride so Barney and Stan (our guide from the day before) offered to drive me to Telluride as it was enroute to a tour they had planned at Red Mountain Pass. Exhausted and happy to score a ride, I waited in the car as they skinned up to harvest the waist deep tree runs on Red Mountain Pass.

They made it back to the car super stoked and we were off. We stopped in the town of Ouray to sample the town's sweet hot springs. YOU MUST DO THIS IF GOING TO SILVERTON! The one place we went to even had these cool vapor caves, super dry and hot and really clean. The rest of the drive was challenging as it was storming. The crew dropped me off at Vince's house in Telluride and it was time for much needed sleep as 30 cms apparently had fallen that evening in Telluride.

Tuesday morning was going to be epic! (see part 2 Telluride Fat Tuesday coming soon).

Skier: Mike Barney

DETAILS

Silverton is open until late April and this season there is skiing in May and June upon request due to the large amount of snow, just email the resort. There is also great touring near Silverton and a ton of snow everywhere right now. Before arriving you need to reserve a spot on line, or give them a call. 1 Day Lift Pass $120 USD Telephone: 970-387-5706

info@silvertonmountain.com

www.silvertonmountain.com

The video on the site says it all...