Earlier this year in February, my wife and I loaded up our newish 18 foot travel trailer and brand new pickup and took off to the south and west. I had planned a trip which satisfied her desire for some sun and warmth and my desire for adventure. I tossed in the ski equipment sort of as a last thought, knowing we'd end up in Colorado in late March. I'd planned out the route so that we'd end up near Silverton, as well as other Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona ski areas, only to find that the drought and warm weather had taken a toll, and had closed in early March. In fact the only place we found open, completely open at that, was Silverton.
I opted for a day of guided skiing but had enough stamina to ski only three long runs, which took me 3+ hours. Glorious. Exhausting. Worth every penny of the $150.00 it cost for the guide, avalanche equipment, lift ticket, shuttle bus rides back to the lift. I did not do the helicopter, but will next time. I paid the lower rate for group with guide, but had the guide to myself. This place is raw, primitive, awesome. It has one double chairlift, which whisks you from 9,800 feet to over 12,500 feet. It's the fastest fixed grip chairlift I've ever been on and its the first and only chairlift where I really missed not having a safety bar. I's fast, high and goes over the steepest terrain and highest cliffs I've ever seen under a chair.
Once at the top of the lift you can (if you want) ski on half a dozen "trails" down towards the bottom of the ski lift. But the best skiing and snow is in the bowl on the back side of the mountain from the lift, and across the other side of the bowl where the helicopter goes. Guided skiers remove skis and walk up another 500 feet of vertical to the right to drop into the bowl. Heli skiers walk up 500 feet to the left. At 12,500 feet this is not easy, but it's slow walk and there's the most spectacular view. Despite it being April, the snow is dry. We were following the sun -- the softest and nicest "spring" snow was in the sun. Temps at the bottom were about 35, at the top it was 15 on our first run. The first run started off with a steep chute between two cliffs, then a traverse over to another chute, which took us down to the tree line, into the trees, and then more chutes, more trees, and a long double diamond run of steeps before it flattens out to just a black diamond and then an easy relaxing bomber run of about half a mile to the bus pickup spot. The top drop in / headwall is about 1/4 of the run and can only be described as a triple black diamond. I've never skied anything more steep, and I wiped out 30 seconds into my first run. Embarrassing. But I got up and skied the rest of the morning without any trouble. The second and third runs were on different trails, as my guide suggested we follow the sun to catch the best snow.
The little tent style lodge was closed to customers. When times are normal on-sight services are minimal, snacks, tickets, equipment rental. There was no food for sale, no inside eating at all. Everything was outside. I brought my own lunch. There were campfires in the parking lot, the bathrooms were porta johns. The attitude was one of ultimate mello-ness. It was like stepping back into the 1960s, only with modern equipment and fashions.
This was nearly the best day on skis in my 59 years. The best two days were on Stubai Glacier in Austria, 25 years ago, A whole other story.
I opted for a day of guided skiing but had enough stamina to ski only three long runs, which took me 3+ hours. Glorious. Exhausting. Worth every penny of the $150.00 it cost for the guide, avalanche equipment, lift ticket, shuttle bus rides back to the lift. I did not do the helicopter, but will next time. I paid the lower rate for group with guide, but had the guide to myself. This place is raw, primitive, awesome. It has one double chairlift, which whisks you from 9,800 feet to over 12,500 feet. It's the fastest fixed grip chairlift I've ever been on and its the first and only chairlift where I really missed not having a safety bar. I's fast, high and goes over the steepest terrain and highest cliffs I've ever seen under a chair.
Once at the top of the lift you can (if you want) ski on half a dozen "trails" down towards the bottom of the ski lift. But the best skiing and snow is in the bowl on the back side of the mountain from the lift, and across the other side of the bowl where the helicopter goes. Guided skiers remove skis and walk up another 500 feet of vertical to the right to drop into the bowl. Heli skiers walk up 500 feet to the left. At 12,500 feet this is not easy, but it's slow walk and there's the most spectacular view. Despite it being April, the snow is dry. We were following the sun -- the softest and nicest "spring" snow was in the sun. Temps at the bottom were about 35, at the top it was 15 on our first run. The first run started off with a steep chute between two cliffs, then a traverse over to another chute, which took us down to the tree line, into the trees, and then more chutes, more trees, and a long double diamond run of steeps before it flattens out to just a black diamond and then an easy relaxing bomber run of about half a mile to the bus pickup spot. The top drop in / headwall is about 1/4 of the run and can only be described as a triple black diamond. I've never skied anything more steep, and I wiped out 30 seconds into my first run. Embarrassing. But I got up and skied the rest of the morning without any trouble. The second and third runs were on different trails, as my guide suggested we follow the sun to catch the best snow.
The little tent style lodge was closed to customers. When times are normal on-sight services are minimal, snacks, tickets, equipment rental. There was no food for sale, no inside eating at all. Everything was outside. I brought my own lunch. There were campfires in the parking lot, the bathrooms were porta johns. The attitude was one of ultimate mello-ness. It was like stepping back into the 1960s, only with modern equipment and fashions.
This was nearly the best day on skis in my 59 years. The best two days were on Stubai Glacier in Austria, 25 years ago, A whole other story.
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