Aspen, CO to Silverton, CO
We left the comfort of our Arctic Fox to venture to southern Colorado to ski a little place called Silverton Mountain. Why did we leave our happy little trailer behind you ask? While in Silverthorne Adam, one of Tommy and Shannon's friends, told us that the last 7 miles that lead into Silverton was the scariest road he had ever been on and he struck us as someone who knew a thing or two about scarey roads. Plus there wasn't any RV parks open in Silverton so we left our home in Aspen with plans to stay at the pet friendly Canyon View Hotel.
Little did I realize that the scariest part of our trip would be the many and varied driving situations that we would find ourselves in. I anticipated a fear of avalanches, tree wells, other skiers when inbounds, getting cliffed out, frozen pipes, getting the trailer stuck in inopportune places, etc. the usual suspects when venturing into new territory. Thus far, however, the driving conditions have been by far the scariest part of the trip. The treacherous Anthony Lakes access road, the wind storm in WY causing tractor trailers to overturn across the highway, Vail Pass, none of which could prepare me for driving Red Mountain Pass with an elevation gain of 4000 feet over about 5 miles. Picture a twisting, snow covered road with 1000+ foot drop offs on either side WITHOUT guard rails or snow banks due to the steep, narrow terrain that the road was built across with signs every few miles reminding you not to stop or park because you are crossing avalanche paths. (Who in their right mind would ever stop there or better yet build a road there?) Now if that isn't a good time then I just don't know what is. All I could think of was that Grandma Brennan would have been out of there...quickly. But steep scarey roads make for amazing backcountry ski access and Red Mountain Pass is no exception. It's like a big, super fun backyard covered with snow, steeps, mild terrain, trees, bowls, anything your heart desires. We drove it late so weren't able to ski it that day but made a mental note that we would return to ski after Silverton.
Silverton, the town, is a small mining town with a handful of restaurants and hotels. We were lucky to have hit it on a clear night with a full moon that rose over the mountain tops. I couldn't help but think how the moon looked like the inspiration for the classic "That's Amore."("When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie....") It was a beautiful sight. We hit the local brewery figuring this would be the place to meet other local skiers and get the low down on where to ski. Shockingly there was not a single soul in there. No skiers in a brewery??? Highly unusual I would say so we explored further down street because we had noticed a few people walking into a little cafe. We found the cafe packed to the gills with fleece and ski boys (not a girl in sight which was also odd.) On the window was a sign reading "All you can eat pasta $5.00." Now that made sense! We had a great night at the Best of the West which was adorned with lots of buffalo heads and had a great stone fireplace then headed off to sleep smiling with visions of skiing the steeps of Silverton Mountain in the morning.
Silvertom Mountain is not like anything I have ever skied. Silverton is a guided ski area that allows non guided skiing for a few months the beginning of the season with a skier cap of 475 skiers a day. It boasts a 2 person lift that provides access to a plethora of avalanche paths that are yours for the taking if you are feeling brave. Let's just say their logo is a caution sign with a picture of a skier going head first over a cliff so needless to say, we needed to know what that was all about. Upon purchasing a ticket you sign a two page waiver outlining all the ways you could die skiing there and avalanche gear is required even though they seemed to do a nice job of keeping things fairly controlled at least on that day. We skied some of the steepest inbounds terrain I have ever skied that had been skied out to boot making it all the more challenging. Our first turns into a steep bowl were preceeded by a lot of self affirmations and flashbacks to the Little Engine that Could, "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can." Ryan rocked his skis , actually my skis. Ryan had been primarily a snowboarder up until the past few years when we got more involved in backcountry endeavors. You would have thought he had been on skis forever given his finesse and ability. I was certainly impressed.
After a great time on Silverton Mountain with resulting spent legs, we headed back over Red Montain Pass to Ouray again noting that it was too late and we were too tired to tackle any ski runs on the pass but we would be back in the morning. Ouray is nicknamed "Switzerland of America" with good reason as it is nestled into the base of Red Mountain Pass at 7500 feet surrounded on all sides by 10,000+ foot peaks and cliff bands. Very dramatic looking. The town is larger then Silverton but has the same mining influence. We quickly made our way to the hot springs for a soak where we amazed at the amount of activities at your doorstep in Ouray and wondered what the mountain biking must be like given the steepness of the terrain. Might be time for full body armor for that ride.
We awoke to find a greyer day then we had seen in weeks with a hint of snow but no significant accumulations. The avalanche report was in our favor to ski some low angle runs and mentioned snow and wind picking up in the late afternoon increasing the avalanche danger. Given that it was 10:00AM we had plenty of time so we headed to the backcountry playground, Red Mountain Pass with all it's marvel. For some reason driving the pass this time seemed a little less daunting now that we knew what to expect. We pulled into the parking area of the lines we had been eyeballing the past 2 days only to note that the lines were obscured behind a veil of snow and clouds. No big deal since we had had a good mental map of where we were going which was pretty straightforward. We put our gear on and stepped out of the truck into 60+ MPH wind gusts with heavy amounts of snow that literally picked up in the 10 minutes we had been sitting there. So much for a late afternoon storm. We quickly realized it would take more gear to be comfortable so put on whatever layers we had left and exited the truck once again where we both were instantly frozen in place, unable to speak to one another given the lack of facial mobility. Utilizing sign language (I recall lots of vertical head shaking) and a few knowing glances, we decided that fun is fun and wind chill is painful so we very solemnly aborted our mission.
And this is how we learned the painful lesson of "Ski it when you see it," our second mantra of the trip. If you've got the information you need and the weather window, then ski it when you see it because mother nature may have other plans if you wait. On that note we headed back to Aspen with our new found wisdom and stopped to ski a great, powdery line off McClure Pass along the way. Not a bad consolation.
Comments:
Leave a Reply