FYI: Silverton Heli Drops Available This Weekend

See : http://www.silvertonmountain.com/news.php

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Looking for a Few Heli Skiers- We would like to bring in the heli for avalanche control, so if you would like to be added to our heli ski list let us know. The heli drops are usually on short notice as we don't know exactly when we will want to conduct heli blasting. The heli drops are obviously lot's of fun and the least expensive way you will heli ski in the lower 48 at $150 per drop. Most drops occur across the valley from the lift in Zone 4, and occasionally when all the stars line up we also drop the lines off of Storm Peak in Zone 5.

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Siiiiick.

are those areas far enough away to make it worth it? Why not just hike it, or do they usually not even open that terrain? Silverton JONG here, only been there once for bootpacking so dont know the names of anything

sure they are.....just like they were gonna open last weekend.

I got an idea...lets say "we're gonna open" and have people staying in town, camping in the lot, etc.....and put in zero effort to open.

With the sortm they are expecting....another tree will probably fall on the lift for sat and sun.

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Originally Posted by couloirman

are those areas far enough away to make it worth it? Why not just hike it, or do they usually not even open that terrain? Silverton JONG here, only been there once for bootpacking so dont know the names of anything

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Zone 4 is the area across from the "backside", where the "backside" includes cabin chute, riff/raff, twosmoke, manditory, rope-dee-rope runs, and the billboard runs.

Zone 5 is the Grand Couloir up at the head of the valley.

Sometimes they do hike those zones, but only when things are stable.

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Originally Posted by pascoe

sure they are.....just like they were gonna open last weekend.

I got an idea...lets say "we're gonna open" and have people staying in town, camping in the lot, etc.....and put in zero effort to open.

With the sortm they are expecting....another tree will probably fall on the lift for sat and sun.

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I'm not one to apologize for Silverton but that is a truly ignorant statement.

Information can't hurt you, but it's usually a great opportunity to make an ass of oneself.

[sigh] all the leaves have fallen off my money tree... at least all the big ones.

That would be one hell of a good time though.

Yes all of those areas are hikeable... though I'm not sure about access to Velocity (Grand) Coulior ie Zone 5. If I remember right, they shut off BC access to the road you come down when skiing Silverton's "backside". Zone 4 can be accessed via the Minnehaha road, but is a trek and is very slide prone.

Did you invest in Silverton or something? ;)

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Originally Posted by Ireallyliketoski

Did you invest in Silverton or something? ;)

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Not funny.

I've been accused of this before but I am not an investor beyond having a pass there.

Silverton addresses what I want in a ski area: loads of gnar, no frou-frou, no snazzola crapola. Just hard core, awesome skiing. It's what I believe in foremost and, frankly, insinuating that I'm marketing them for my profit is insulting.

I'm trying to help them succeed and keep folks here informed, that's it.

It was just a joke. Lighten up Francis.
I agree with you %100 though. Wish there were more places following their model and keep skiing solely focused on the skiing experience.

Zone 4 stuff was a 2.5 hr (at least) hike for me. I am a mere mortal on the hiking front though. Some very cool lines over there. Grande was a little less than that (of a hike).

That would be sweet for sure. However, $150 a drop seems pretty steep. That is more than we charged for a drop in the Chugach but I guess neither Heli's or jet b are cheap...

Having never been in a helicopter, I would pay $150 for a drop in a minute. Sure, it's fucking expensive, but I doubt that I could get a heli/ski ride for less than that.

(Just one though, but I'm sure it'd stoke me the fuck out.)

Riding in the hoopty ass Cargo Van is all the thrill I need. Have you seen that tiny little helo? Scarrry!

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Originally Posted by grskier

Zone 4 stuff was a 2.5 hr (at least) hike for me. I am a mere mortal on the hiking front though. Some very cool lines over there. Grande was a little less than that (of a hike).

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We did a 2-in-1. We started and hiked to Billboard, then skied down to the bottom of Grande (Zone 5). Right up Grande took us another hour & change, but visibility was pretty poor and our guide was kicking in the staircase. We were the first group to slay it last season. We got back around frontside at about 2PM all said and done.

Still not sure I'd pay $150, but I dunno. Have never ridden a heli. The hike was fun/challenging to boot. Toss up.

Skiers right of Grande would be cool, Grande is worth the hike, but not worth the $150 for me.. the heli might be though ;)

The couli we skied in zone 4 I think is called meatball or something like that, that was sick.
edit: deleted pics.. way too big.
For refference
Grande:
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What we skied in 4 was the first shot that obviously goes to the lookers right of the peak:
[http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1196977500

Don't know how to embed but some vids of said area. Maybe some smarter than I can

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgo3I...eature=related

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Originally Posted by rudy

Don't know how to embed but some vids of said area. Maybe some smarter than I can

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........

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Originally Posted by grskier

Skiers right of Grande would be cool, Grande is worth the hike, but not worth the $150 for me.. the heli might be though ;)

The couli we skied in zone 4 I think is called meatball or something like that, that was sick.
edit: deleted pics.. way too big.
For refference
Grande:
[
What we skied in 4 was the first shot that obviously goes to the lookers right of the peak:
[http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1196977500

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Was it worth the ticket to hike all day for that one run?

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Originally Posted by Lurch

Was it worth the ticket to hike all day for that one run?

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Skied more than just the one run...

There was the run to get to the valley to start the hike, and I think one or two more... but yeah, it was cool.... good crew, fun line, etc... I would be conflicted to do again, but definitely a line I wanted to ski once it was mentioned... so no regrets. It's all a matter of situation too, we were there for two days, got a lot of good skiing in.