Silverton, CO

We went to Silverton Colorado the weekend after New Year's for a 3 day skication. Silverton is a small town (500 people) in the San Juan mountains of SW Colorado. They have a small and unique ski resort called "Silverton Mtn" with 1 lift and a helicopter. Most of the terrain is accessed by hiking along the ridge accessed by the lift.

We spent one day touring in Minnie Gulch next to the old mining town of Eureka. Eureka is home to the Sunnyside Mine, which was one of the more prominent mining operations in the Silverton District. It operated continuously from 1876-1991, producing approximately 1,000 tons of ore a day during its peak in the 1920s-1940s. Ore mined in the upper canyon at approximately 12500' was transported 2.5 miles and 2500' feet by arial tramway to the town of Eurekan on the banks of the Animas River to be processed.

We spent Day 1 at Silverton Mountain soaking up the blue skies and the wind buff.

View of the otherside of the gulch that contains Silverton Mtn Resort.

Brian in the Powder Moment during our tour in Minnie Gulch

Heli Skiing. The guide said to go this way.

Cole keeping it tight in Ropedi dope #?

Looking across to the Mtns separating the Route 110 and Route 550

Minnie Gulch mining road looking back towards Silverton

We were able to do 4 laps in Minnie Gulch off of one of the slide paths on Middle Mountain. Below is Cole on our final lap lower in the gulley.

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Here comes the choppa!

Silverton Mtn ski terrain as seen from the other side. Note the prominent cliff band in the lower right.

Cole during our Heli lap.

After finally making it through "Two Smokes" Cole with the sun setting on Storm Peak.

The town of Silverton as seen on our departure with Kenall Mountain on the left and a long drive back to SLC ahead.

Getting the Team Back Together: Moonlight Ski

Last year in March a group went up to view the Pan-STARRS comet from the top of Patsy Marley. We caught a glimpse of the comet just as it set below the horizon in a notch outline by Mount Superior. It was a really special experience, and skiing down in the dark was great fun. It inspired us to spend more time this winter night skiing. a

Shooting long exposures at night will get better with a little more experience........

December 16th 2013. "The team gets back together". It was our first outing, an incredible night without a cloud in the sky and mild temperatures. We hiked past the mining structures into upper Cardiff Fork and skied Cardiac. No lights were needed, only the full moon. For our second lap we topped out on the ridge separating Cardiff and Mineral. We studied the Room of Doom in the moonlight, and the rivers of fog that were advancing over the valley.

A picture from Tuesday December 10. First tour of the season! Snow was quite good.

Sunday Funday: Antelope Island

White Rock Bay on the west side of the island. Stansbury Mtn's in the background. The trail starts here.

Home: MTs awesome 5 bike + 5 person tout terrain transporter (TTT)

Blue Skies and Fresh Air

Terry and Lauren

Resting, lungs burning after cleaning the hill up to the elephant head turnoff. 

 Beautiful cliff side views with the Stansbury's in the background. Is this Utah?

(Above): Tyler returning from the Elephant Head (Lower): Dani superstylin in her red jacket and purple helmet

Say goodbye to biking season. Bring on the snow!