After a white-knuckle drive over Red Mountain Pass, on a sketchy highway that twists wildly down snow-covered steeps, I finally arrive in the sleepy former mining town of Silverton in southwest Colorado. Here, in a remote corner of the San Juan Mountains, there’s not much to see in the winter. Just a few closed-up restaurants, a bar that’s usually open, and motels with minimal lights on.
I have arrived for one reason: skiing at Silverton Mountain — the no-frills, backcountry-style ski area on the outskirts of town that draws in the hardiest of skiers and riders looking to get away from the gridlock and fussiness of today’s mega resorts. You will not come to Silverton for groomers and slopeside condos. This place has none of that. But it does have deep powder (10 meters a year, on average), uncrowded hike-to terrain, guided steep skiing, and the occasional heli drop into the backcountry.
Think of Silverton as the La Grave of North America, a formidable mountain where a ski patrol does some avalanche mitigation, and there’s a lift to the top, but don’t expect hand-holding or signage for the easiest way down, because it does not exist.