Silverton Backcountry Day 2
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Please check out Frank’s trip report for Day One of our Silverton Backcountry exploration.
Who doesn’t love an old mining town? Silverton is exactly that. And if it weren’t for the Durango-Silverton train and the new Silverton Mountain Ski area (guided-only for most of the season), this magnificent town would likely be a pile of wood and dust. But, this town is surviving, although not without it’s struggles. Old miners accustomed to the harsh winters are not about to let today’s slow economy hamper them.
Dinner on Thursday night brought us an eclectic collection of Silverton locals, Moroccan belly dancers, lamb stew along with Ingrid Backstrom and the whole North Face team who were in the area filming for the next big ski movie. Reports that Silverton Mountain was skiing poorly made us reluctant to spend $129 to have a guide take us through some crusty crappy snow for a grand total of 4 runs, so we decided to earn our turns again and find our way in the backcountry. After talking to some locals, we had a better idea of some great backcountry tours, but as we headed up Red Mountain Pass, we could see that it was socked in with snowclouds. Not wanting to find ourselves amidst a whiteout, Frank and I opted for some lower elevation terrain across from where we explored the day before- across the highway from Battleship and Ophir Pass road, we found ourselves making our way to the summit of North Anvil.
The views kept getting better and better.
Looking toward Battleship.
Nearing the false summit of North Anvil. The real summit is still a couple hundred feet above this.
Only about two hours of skinning brought us to the top of the summit.
The views were spectacular from the summit, allowing us to get a better feel for the available terrain in the area, and gave us a good idea of what to ski next time we return to Silverton.
After enjoying the summit views on a surprisingly calm day, despite the surrounding clouds, we enjoyed fantastic creamy snow on the way down.
Frank.
Brittany.
We were happy with our choice of line: good snow, and good terrain given the still unstable snowpack. We can’t wait to get back there for some more Silverton goodness!
- Mount Buckskin (17 May 2020) - May 28, 2020
- Horseshoe Ski (14 May 2020) – The mountain whose journey nearly killed me - May 27, 2020
- Sayres X-Rated Ski (10 May 2020) - May 19, 2020
That chute on Battlestar looks sick!
There’s so much down there, DP. We need to make it a point to do some trips there this spring…