A US mountain so revered, some wonder if it even exists
For anyone who’s been to Aspen or Vail, the tee-pee that serves as the restaurant, the bar and the ticketing area at Silverton Mountain might be a little off-putting. That’s just the start of it, there’s the chairlift, too. There’s only one and it’s old… like, really old, bought second-hand from a resort in California that upgraded it last millennium.
A discarded school bus doubles as the “second chairlift”, it’ll pick you up and return you to the tee-pee. There are no radio-frequency lift passes either to slot into your pocket – in fact, you won’t get a lift pass at all. And if you forget to order a lunch pack before you get here, you’re going to have to get your sustenance from chocolate bars.
Inside Silverton’s second “chairlift” – a discarded school bus.
But if you want to ski the kind of slopes and powder snow your friends and neighbours probably never will, you’ve come to the right place. Movie stars take helicopters from Aspen to ski this mountain. It’s Shangri-La for ski aficionados, although most wonder if it even exists.
It’s the highest and steepest ski area in North America and it’s the number one ski mountain for deep powder snow, too. The trouble is, there’s no easy way down. Elevation goes beyond 4000 metres, the ski slopes aren’t graded and forget about riding groomed terrain – out here you’re breaking new ground on every run. You have to ski this mountain with a guide.
I’m already high on adrenalin just driving along a high mountain road with no railings through Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. As I pull into a carpark in the middle of wilderness, a helicopter lands beside me, showering my 4WD with packed ice and snow.
Silverton is nestled in the remote San Juan Mountains, Colorado.Credit: Getty Images
With one chairlift servicing 736 hectares of skiable terrain, you’re going to need a helicopter, or a fair set of quad muscles to ski Silverton Mountain. Today, I’m using both. While a day of heli-skiing costs a minimum of $US1200 ($1750) in North America, here you can book a single run for $US184.
I’ve been matched with a group of seven other skiers and boarders of similar experience. We get the standard backcountry safety briefing (the short of it? Don’t get caught in an avalanche), then I take the two-seater chairlift to the top. It’s a 15-minute slow ride across some of the wildest looking backcountry in Colorado. Black triangular peaks protrude from a thick blanket of white snow. As I come off the chairlift I’m shuffled into a helicopter and flown to the top.
What goes up, must come down – skiing the wilderness that is Silverton Mountain.
Try and imagine the absolute fury of noise as you kneel beside a fully-powered chopper, then you might go some way to understanding how complete the silence is up here once it’s gone. Below me there’s an entire mountain side without a single track on it. I drop into it, as I gain speed through the waist-deep snow, I rise till I feel weightless, like I’m parachuting from a plane, passing through clouds.
At the top of the next chairlift ride, I hike 30 minutes up through deep snow, then drop, following my guide through a fir tree forest. Over 10 metres of snow falls on this mountain range each winter; there’s a chance of avalanches even weeks after the last snowfall. But my guide knows every centimetre of the area.
Hiking for turns.
Local beers are just reward in the tee-pee bar once we’ve done six runs. Then I drive 10 kilometres on a snowy road through forest to my room for the night in the historic mining town of Silverton. Surrounded entirely by sheer mountain peaks and frequented by discarded coal mining types and backcountry dare-devils, Silverton could be a movie set (Quentin Tarantino filmed his Hateful Eight close by).
The fact it’s only 90 minutes drive from Montrose Airport means it’s easily accessible to Australian skiers, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. In summer, the train that stops in town brings tourists, but in winter, I walk solo down the frozen footpaths of its main street, past late 19th-century hotels and bars.
There are enough apres ski options and restaurants to keep me entertained for a few nights; but I’m not sure we’re meant to linger. The magic here is in the memories. For that’s what keeps this place Shangri-La.
The bar at Silverton’s boutique Wyman Hotel.
THE DETAILS
Fly
Delta Air Lines (delta.com) fly to Los Angeles from Sydney, then fly to Montrose with United (united.com). Rental cars available from Montrose Regional Airport.
Stay
Stay at the Wyman Hotel, recently refurbished into a stylish boutique hotel from a 1902 landmark. Rooms from $US295 ($430). See thewyman.com
Ski
Book a lift pass and guide from $US229 a day, or a private guide from $US489, helicopter rides start at $US184 a single run, see silvertonmountain.com
The writer travelled courtesy of Visit Colorado. See colorado.com
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