Silverton, CO opening

ChrisC

ChrisC

Well-known member
This is interesting. Silverton is going to try to open this weekend.

I cannot imagine how scary boney the lower mountain must be. Like maybe if you ski fast enough, weigh less than 100 lbs. and are sporting pontoon fats you might make it. Yes, the top half of the east face of the hill gets good wind-loading, but not for the entire vertical.

I would not pay to ski this, maybe bootpack it for another free day.

Silverton Mountain Opening Day is On for Dec 1, With Discount $39 Lift Tickets! It should be a fun opening weekend with the best and only lift served expert runs in Colorado. As of today 11/27, the plan is to open with the Colorado, Dolores, and Dope Chute (from Billboard Peak). These runs are ready to go right now with great powder skiing on the upper half of the runs and a little bushwhacking in some places down low, but still bring the rock boards and ride safely.

The snow cover is great on some runs and bare on others (runs that will not be open), so don't judge the skiing from the way it looks at the base area. The snow is really fantastic on the upper mountain, however with our, mid mountain cliff band that runs through 90% of our runs, we need a bit more snow to get the rest of the mountain open. If the long range forecast pans out, more terrain could also open. There is plenty of snow for bootpacking as well.

Right side of Ropedeedope may open if the weather forecast pans out as it is almost ready. The Grande Couloir (one of the premier steep runs) might also open for unguided skiing for the first time in history this weekend if the visibility and avalanche hazard both cooperate. The bottom of the Grande, Ropdeedope and Dope Chute are 1,000 feet higher than the base area so expect better snow top to bottom than you can see at base area elevation of 10,400’. Silverton Mountain is North America’s Highest Elevation Ski Area with a peak of 13,487’.
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Yep, sounds like signing up to be bootpackin' mule is the better option than paying for a lift-ticket. I can't quite imagine how much an entire day of Packin' would git ya soaked and stinkin' and tired to the bone.

here's the info--
Bootpacking Dates: Dec 1,2 & 8,9- Earn free skiing and enjoy a fun day of stomping down snow in avalanche paths. One free unguided ski day for every day you spend bootpacking. Skiers and boarders welcome, no experience needed but avalanche beacon, shovel and probe are required (some rentals available). Show up ready to pack with your pants duct taped to your boots at 8:30 am. No reservations needed for bootpacking, and you can pack as many days as you want. Plenty of free car camping spots just ½ mile north of the ski area.

There's an actual storm *promised* for Saturday, which could make for interesting conditions. As tempting as that sounds--- better than one crowded groomer, at least--- I think I'll wait a couple of weeks to venture south....
 
Silverton used to give out Guided Skiing in the Low Seasons for boot-packing ($89-99).

Now.
Colorado minumum wage $6.85
Where is the incentive? If you work more than 6 hrs....
 
I guess Silverton gets more than enough college students from Durango willing to bust trail for $39, they don't need to offer more.

I've skied in NM and AZ on some bare-bones terrain,where the mountain really should not have been open... oooh, maybe it WASN"T! but that's what rock skis are for.

For me the bootpacking's not about the $$ anyway. The whole Ski Silverton concept is great. I'd do it next weekend, if I didn't already have other plans, to, umm.... ride the cushy HSQ's and cruise the Big-Burn groomers at Snowmass. The steeps there great too (even tho they are marketing them like crazy), but they will not be open.

But, my issue with Silverton has been the guided skiing/no refund policy. Accessing Silverton from the north can be a challenge. If I have advance paid reservations, but I'm stuck in Ouray on the other side of Red Mountain Pass when the road is closed due to avy hazard, I'm not going to spend the whole day driving around, over 4 mountain passes, past great skiing at Telluride and Durango, to get there, no matter how awesome the snow. (it's about 200 miles, during a storm I'd be lucky to make last chair)

The unguided skiing this year will, I hope, entice me to make the trip. Might go with a guide, but I don't want to have to park it at the base all day if one isn't available. Then if the pass is closed I could divert to T'Ride.
 
Pajarito-Bred":hkczuxpp said:
But, my issue with Silverton has been the guided skiing/no refund policy. Accessing Silverton from the north can be a challenge. If I have advance paid reservations, but I'm stuck in Ouray on the other side of Red Mountain Pass when the road is closed due to avy hazard, I'm not going to spend the whole day driving around, over 4 mountain passes, past great skiing at Telluride and Durango, to get there, no matter how awesome the snow. (it's about 200 miles, during a storm I'd be lucky to make last chair)

The unguided skiing this year will, I hope, entice me to make the trip. Might go with a guide, but I don't want to have to park it at the base all day if one isn't available. Then if the pass is closed I could divert to T'Ride.
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Red Mt. Pass is an issue and they should try to find a better solution.

I have called at the last minute when you can guess pass conditions to try to mitigate it myself - especially for a Thurs/Fri when you have the entire week to accumulate snow. It is definitely too much to do the massive loop Ridgeway-Telluride-Dolores-Durango-Silverton.

I have not done the unguided yet. However, I understand it is still quite restricted.

My biggest issue is snow reports with them. I think they inflate more than most places. And they find wind-loaded sections for powder pics.

I try to look at nearby sites for supporting evidence. Like snow on the ground.
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Col ... orado.html

The following site - Beartown 11,600 - is about 1 mile or so away from Silverton. Silverton chair-served 10,400-12,400 hiking up to 13,400.
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/sno ... 7&state=co
 
Been there, done that: specifically to getting stuck in Ouray and driving all the way around.

My brother & I had reservations for March 31/April 1 in 2005 and a storm got hung up in the canyons/red pass area the day prior as we were driving out to that area (via I70, then south). It wasn't even snowing in Montrose etc.. but Ouray had about 2 1/2 feet by the time it stopped snowing. Red Mtn pass was closed for 2 days. We faced the "do we" or "don't we" decision and decided to head out at 7:30am and drive all the way over all 4 passes around the whole San Jaun range. We faced a second decision of where to ski that day at the mouth of the canyon for Telluride, but mostly due to the $120/day per person fees with no refund option, we stuck with it, and eventually hit Silverton ski area just before 1pm. We ended up getting 2 guided runs for that day (in great snow - the mtn probably got ~18"). Then of course, a 'full' day the following day with 5 total runs (including one with some hiking). Interesting how we got the same experience and actually more runs for like $40 less just one day later (they drop rates on Apr 1 - or at least they used to). We ended by heading back toward Boulder via CB and Breck for a couple more fun days of ski/road trip.

It makes for a great story for us now, but I would not want to do it again. For that matter, we both decided that we would probably not go back for the expensive guided skiing and wait until you could do unguided. Half the time is spent sitting around waiting for 8 other people to do very short sections of the hill at a time. You could probably double your runs unguided while still being very safe. Of course the trip from the front range also throws up a few barriers for me (After the last trip, I'd link it in via Wolf Creek to Durango to Silverton now).

Great hill, great experiment in business model; but it's still got issues like anywhere else you'd ski (maybe different ones, but still has hassles and annoyances like anywhere else).
 
Nice reality check from that Beartown SNOTEL. 0.5 inches snow water equivalent in November, after 3.1 in October. Not a skiable base on Silverton type terrain.

There is a decent sized storm coming up from Baja into the Southwest now, might help out some of these areas. These systems tend to funnel into Wolf Creek, so we should probably check out their report in a few days.

In 2004 I think, Silverton reported a credible 409 inches of snow vs. the 372 at the long established CAIC site on Red Mt. Pass. Since then it looks like Silverton has been inflating snow numbers. So the long term Nov-Apr. average for Silverton is about 325 inches.
 
Well, you have to love the NOAA forecast for 12,000'+ in the NW San Juans. Add another foot to totals for Wolf Creek. Models often get the San Juans wrong, but with this amount of moisture pin-wheeling at them...decent results should follow. Bonus is that this is a warm storm to build solid, heavy bases for the season.

This Afternoon: Periods of snow with areas of blowing snow. High near 26. Windy, with a south southwest wind around 35 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

Tonight: Periods of snow with areas of blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 18. Windy, with a southwest wind between 30 and 35 mph, with gusts as high as 70 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 22 to 28 inches possible.

Saturday: Periods of snow with areas of blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 27. Very windy, with a southwest wind 50 to 55 mph decreasing to between 35 and 40 mph. Winds could gust as high as 75 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 12 to 18 inches possible.

Saturday Night: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 6. Wind chill values as low as -10. Windy, with a west southwest wind between 30 and 35 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
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This is interesting. Silverton is going to try to open this weekend.

I cannot imagine how scary boney the lower mountain must be.
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I assume most have heard that Silverton did not open as planned over the weekend (but are planning on this week). Saying 3-4ft of new snow. Denver TV showed pics that looked like at least 2-2 1/2 feet at the bottom of the mtn. Finally a few storms hitting...
 
Sorry Admin. But general rule is Keystone is a big donut hole of no snow in Summit County (OK they get some, but not much).

No idea on why, but they seem to get half what anyplace else gets. Wonder if Tony has any data on Breck or ABasin vs Keystone to prove it out.
 
Hey! I went to Silverton last year during guided season (begining of march) and loved the place....(see my old posts)
Anyone ever been there during unguided season??? Is it crowded ?I guess it's not that crowded but is there a lot of terrain accessible because there is the option of taking a guide so i guess they have some terrain only for 'guided' people....
Do we have access to some good hike-to terrain without guides? It's realy not obvious on their site what is open and what's not....
Anyway i may change my plans for my trip 26 to 12 of january (wanted to go to utah mainly for snowboarding mainly honeycomb canyon to be sure to have some good powder and then to crystal but snow does look good at all washington state and at solitude...) I'm now hesitating between southern colorado (silverton, wolf creek, telluride which all seem to have good controled hike-to terrain) and BC (kicking horse, revelstoke, whitewater, whistler at the end but i'm not sure about avalanche-controled hike-to terrain at those resorts and really like to have that option in case there's no fresh snow during my trip!....)
Thanks for any help!
Nicolas
 
nic_okcomputer":srm2sox1 said:
Hey! I went to Silverton last year during guided season (begining of march) and loved the place....(see my old posts)
Anyone ever been there during unguided season??? Is it crowded ?I guess it's not that crowded but is there a lot of terrain accessible because there is the option of taking a guide so i guess they have some terrain only for 'guided' people....
Do we have access to some good hike-to terrain without guides? It's realy not obvious on their site what is open and what's not....
Anyway i may change my plans for my trip 26 to 12 of january (wanted to go to utah mainly for snowboarding mainly honeycomb canyon to be sure to have some good powder and then to crystal but snow does look good at all washington state and at solitude...) I'm now hesitating between southern colorado (silverton, wolf creek, telluride which all seem to have good controled hike-to terrain) and BC (kicking horse, revelstoke, whitewater, whistler at the end but i'm not sure about avalanche-controled hike-to terrain at those resorts and really like to have that option in case there's no fresh snow during my trip!....)
Thanks for any help!
Nicolas
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My brother (Telluride local) skis Silverton unguided at the beginning and end of the season. Usually, early is rather limited so most things are available - however this year is above average. During unguided, he says they generally restrict access to outlying areas furtherst from the lift temrinal. However, this is still new for Silverton - and could change. I'll be checking it out myself this year. Generally, crowds are pretty negligible - however a bunch of Durango locals over the holidays could make things uncomfortable since there is only 1 lift. Unguided patterns are not really established yet since it is a new offering.

Telluride looks like it will try to open Black Iron Bowl for the holidays. However, I doubt Palmyra Peak will come online before the Subaru Extreme Competiton in early February.

I'm not sure where your road trip takes you exactly - but it is pretty easy to take i-70 across Colorado vs i-80 to Utah to incorporate SW Colorado. Telluride itself is a relatively easy 5-6 hrs to Salt Lake.

Honeycomb at Solitude. Not really a fan of that area, but I will agree there are generally untrakced areas. The SKIING story on Fantasy Ridge above the bowl makes the area worth perhaps another look sometime.
 
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