white_n_slow

I just got back from my first (of what will hopefully be many) trips to Silverton, CO. Shit was epic. If you haven't heard of it, Silverton is a "resort" in the San Juans in SW Colorado. There is no lodge, just a tent with a wood stove. No bathrooms, just the scariest outhouse you've ever seen. There is only one lift, but it serves (with ample hiking) 22,000 acres of rideable snow. They only allow 100 or so people on the mountain at any given time, so the place is pretty much yours. You have to ride with a guide to keep you out of the avalanche stuff, and everyone is required to carry a beacon, shovel, probe, etc.

Our first day we went straight to the top of the mountain at 13,500 ft and took a long run. The hike was fucking rugged... imagine climbing a staircase for 75 minutes at 13k feet. Next time I come I will be sure I am in better shape. Second run we took the helicopter across the valley to tackle a big steep face.

After 2 days, I could barely walk, but I will definitely be going back. :irock:

I was gonna post some pictures, but the new uploader doesn't make any sense. I'll start with a video.

k3ifers

heli skiing is one of my dreams in life.

white_n_slow

Gearing up before our first run:


More:


Helicopter diving down the mountain after he dropped us off:


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helicopter leaving:


Buddies Greg, Dale and Florez climbing down with their big-ass skis:


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another shot of the view:


our guide, Fabio:

shirley

you lucky SOB

i'd love to do that sometime

goon54

that looks f-ing epic!

flipped cracka

wow, that looks amazing.

GSRRacer95

Baller!

DarkStarr

thats sick!

Nightshade

I did a week long series of heli rides at Silverton and had a blast, definitley worth the price as long as you have the skills.

Did you do the chutes too or just straight runs?

white_n_slow

We had week old snow and a lot of warm sunshine, so some stuff was off-limits due to avalanche danger, but we did shoot a few couloirs and a couple "mandatory air" lines over the rocks. Skills is right, my buddy was thinking about dragging his GF up, but she probably would have been killed. Dale (in the smurf costume 5th pic) was brave enough to ski with the boys, but she's got good sense of the mountain and really good fundamentals. :edit: you can see some of the chutes we ran from the top at about 1:08 in the video.

We only did one heli ride due to $$$ and spent the rest of the two days hiking the ridges.

The other cool thing is that we found out one of our guides owns a series of mountain huts and does ski trips in the winter and mountain bike and off-roading trips in the summer. We ended up being buddies by the end of the trip, so we'll probably get the hookup on some biking/4-wheeling this summer