Silverton Sold to Aspen Duo

Tony Crocker

Tony Crocker

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I was notified of this via Harvey's site:
www.aspendailynews.com

Aspen duo acquires Silverton ski area

Aspen business partners Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger purchased Silverton Mountain ski area Wednesday for an undisclosed price. They said it’s a dream come true to acquire the guided-only skiing and riding operation.
www.aspendailynews.com www.aspendailynews.com

The Aspen partners already own the boutique Great Canadian Heliskiing. The Brills made an effort to find someone who plans to retain the employees and maintain the existing culture at Silverton.

I am surprised EMSC has not made it to Silverton yet. He fits the profile in terms of being a Colorado resident (so no acclimitization issues) who would surely be attracted to Silverton's terrain and snow.
 
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20 years is quite a run. I can't recall -- were there a lot of naysayers back then who didn't think it'd survive more than a few years?
 
An article about what the Brills have been doing in Alaska. Odd that there's no date stamp under the byline. It appears to be from 2016.
www.mtoutlaw.com

Adventure: The Silver Element - Mountain Outlaw

www.mtoutlaw.com www.mtoutlaw.com


See the pic below from Tony's 2004 TR. Aaron looks like he's barely out of college.

It's stating the obvious but I can't imagine what was involved with developing something like Silverton: government paperwork, startup funding, operations, marcomms, infrastructure, etc. In bios that I've seen, I don't recall seeing anything about them working in the ski biz to gain all that experience. I suppose it's a similar husband/wife setup as Plattekill but with lots of added challenges (luckily, no need for snowmaking in the San Juans).
Tony Crocker said:
jenaaron.jpg

Here I am with founders Aaron and Jenny Brill, who met in college at Pitzer in Claremont, California and did most of their college skiing at Mt. Baldy!
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jamesdeluxe said:
were there a lot of naysayers back then
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I'm not sure it was full blown naysayers, but certainly tons of skepticism. Primarily around the remoteness and mtn passes being open, the avi control work, and the fact it is the only ski area on BLM land (vs forest service).

Tony Crocker said:
I am surprised EMSC has not made it to Silverton yet.
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I actually have been to Silverton. It was pre-FTO in my history. 2nd year they were open and a couple years prior to me posting on FTO. Also pre-digital cameras or I'd post a pic or two to this thread.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
Are there that many wealthy, pro-level skiers with lots of discretionary time out there? Apparently more than I think.
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When I ski at areas with 35+ degree terrain, I nearly always see a few people changing the steeps at high speed. The client pool may be small, but the supply of operators catering to the highest end niche of recreational skiers is even smaller. The vast majority of cat/heli operators cater to people in my range, or at least where I was ages 45-65.

Within that highest niche, word of mouth will get around who is doing a good job at it. Remember, I spent a decade at the second most expert oriented cat operator in Canada, where demand far exceeds supply. EMSC went to Mustang once and was glad he was in the small groups/steep chutes group instead or the "regular" groups closer to my level. I think my son Adam would be interested in Silverton Alaska and perhaps EMSC would be too.
 
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The great silverton trip of (I think it was) 2004 or 2005? Late March time frame during a storm cycle my brother and I with my wife tagging along. Plan was 2 days at Silverton and 2 at Crested Butte. I'll focus on the Silverton part.

The drive from The front range was planned for I70 to Grand Junction then S through Montrose and Ouray. Due to heavy snowfall by the time we got to Ouray Red Mtn pass was closed. For those that don't know you have reservations for guided skiing only (most of the season) and there are no refunds even if passes are closed (you have to go over at least one pass from either direction into the tiny town of Silverton).

Much debate ensued as it was now dark in remote SW colo. We decided to stay the night in Ouray finding a small place that had hot springs caves right underneath it. I think it was what is now Wiesbaden hot springs and lodging.

Up at first light, the pass was still closed with locals saying unlikely to open until much later or even the following day. Something like 18-24" had fallen. New decision to head North back to Ridgeway and around the San Juan's via Telluride. Then around through Durango and back over the two passes from the S that head into Silverton. A 3 hour plus detour arriving at the ski area about 11:30am.

They were a bit surprised to see us that late but very quickly geared us up and put us in a group by just after noon. We ended up getting 3 runs that day. One involved hiking up to near the 'billboard' (old microwave/radio repeater no longer in use). Much powder of course, with similar strategies for group skiing as for Cat/heli.

Stayed in Town and skied a second day with powder for some runs a bit of chopped pow and warming Temps late on the second day. I recall one very short hike and a second longer hike up toward the billboard again on second day. 6 total runs on the second day.

All other runs were gravity or traverse. All but one run required getting picked up in an old dilapidated UPS truck and brought back to the lift.

Snow was great, terrain was great, but the pace felt much too slow. Silverton does a lot of avi work, and basically they totally didn't trust any slope anyway. Probably better to be conservative, but...

Somewhere I have some analog pics.
 
6 runs at Silverton is a strong group. The San Juans night be the most dangerous snowpack in North America, so conservatism with Silverton's terrain seems prudent.
EMSC said:
the pace felt much too slow
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You have an overoptimistic view. That chair is 1,800 vertical so Day 2 was 11+K depending on the hikes. That is what you get at nearly all day snowcat places for more $$ with mellower terrain. And Mustang is one of the few multiday lodge operations where you get consistently much more than that. EMSC might consider throwing down for some heliskiing, and even there some due diligence on the profile of customers would be a good idea. That's one argument for Alaska in general.

EMSC's post above is not a bad example answer to the question James posed.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
The Aspen partners already own the boutique Great Canadian Heliskiing.
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I received a lot of heli and snowcat quotes this summer, and Great Canadian Heliskiing was the only one I called back and said they were out of their friggin' minds pricing-wise. Nearly 30-50% higher than Alaskan Heli operations - or CMH. Do they do any market research? It's a roadside lodge?!

These guys are a bit of clowns IMHO. They tried creating a heli-ski product in the late-2010s (2018?) where if you spent something like $50k/yr you could have 2-3 weeks heli-skiing at various operations. It was completely outrageous and out-to-lunch. I guess after failing miserably, it has morphed into a referral adventure travel site. Alpha Heli Pass

I am not sure about their business acumen. To me, they are lacking. Hopefully, they will not run Silverton into the ground.

Also, I think the Brills have retained the Heli operation of Silverton Mt. I think that might be the more lucrative side of the business since they were always trying to upsell it. Not sure. However, they lease the helis for the entire winter - early season in Alaska, Winter in Silverton, Colorado, and Spring in Alaska.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
I always wonder how much of a market there is for an operation where the terrain is basically the stuff you see in TGR movies or Candide clips. Are there that many wealthy, pro-level skiers with lots of discretionary time out there? Apparently more than I think.
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Well, if you look at how many people ski Silverton per year, it's not that many.

For example, Magic Mountain VT gets less than 40k visitors per year. Not a lot. I'm sure Mad River Glen is well under 100k/yr.

Silverton - 4 days a week Thu-Sun. Let's say they max out 100-200 on the hill. Maybe 15 weeks? 4*200*15= maybe 10k skiers/yr at a very high-end estimate. This estimate can likely include any unguided days.

Out of 65 million skier days in 2022/23, Silverton might have a 0.02% market share?!
 
Tony Crocker said:
I also found this article about Silverton's Alaska heli operation, above my pay grade in ski competence. I haven't determined whether the Brills will retain the Alaska heli operation.
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They are keeping the heli operations. Article

The Brills began looking for an investor in 2022 as the ski industry weathered the shutdowns of the pandemic. The search for investors morphed into a possible sale. The Brills since the mid-2000s have guided helicopter skiers in Alaska and the couple’s Silverton Mountain Guides has more than 25 million acres of permitted terrain across Alaska. The Brills are not selling their Alaska heliskiing operation.
 
I don't post about Telluride or Silverton because it does not interest me as much since I visit frequently.

Generally, I will always add a Silverton day on trips to Telluride. It's almost always Thursday since they are closed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Often, we have been adding 2-afternoon heli runs. (My brother has a pass there so he gets some free/severely discounted rates). It's important to do two - and not one - because they will take you to the backside/south basin which are longer better runs. Also, if it is a busy day with a couple of groups out - they can ski the main runs/glades pretty quickly. Generally, my days are about 2-4 group guided runs and 2 heli runs. It depends on how much hiking you are doing and how quickly the bus is running.
 
Tony Crocker said:
I have read several times that the max at least during guided season is 80 people. But maybe that was in the earlier days when I skied there once.
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That seems more accurate. There might be a few more people around since Silverton seems to do a decent heli business in the middle of the season. Maybe a 100 max on any given mid-winter weekend.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
Not that it makes their accomplishments any less impressive but there's the answer to part of my question: "he had a bit of family money."
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I am not sure how you get loans/LOC/investors to pay for the below.

His hopes for a speedy review by the Bureau of Land Management faded quickly as the land management agency took more than five years of intensive study for his plan to access some 1,300 acres of public land surrounding his land.

The multimillion-dollar price tag for the BLM’s lengthy environmental review nixed hopes for $25 lift tickets.

Aaron hired high-profile lawyers and beat back lawsuits by angry neighbors, including a legal battle with an Aspen man who had spent 20 years tinkering with a plan to build a $20 million resort with a gondola and mountain-top restaurant.
 
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