Silverton Bootpacking Pics

Evil E, STD, and myself went down to silverton this weekend for bootpacking. They had a good turnout - over 200 people showed up. We didn't meet any other maggots though.

Maggots here: elesquiador, STD, Evil E
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30468.jpg

I'd never been down there before and I was amazed by the terrain. So many possibilities:
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http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30464.jpg

They split us into groups of about 15 and we spent all of sunday swimming past our waists on the steeps. I've never done something so painful in all my life. It was sacrilege to walk down those with our skis on our backs.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30461.jpg

We packed a chute called Riff on our first run and got to ski a little choppy/skied out/avi debri runout at the end. Here's Evil E packing down the steepest part:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30467.jpg
Saturday afternoon we hiked up this ridge to pack the start zones below:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30463.jpg
We packed the top of waterfall chute and then traversed right at the bottom for a few heavy pow turns. Fun, but short and flat.

About half as many people showed up for day two, but it turned out much better for skiing. We were sent to pack some pockets in the trees next to the Colorado run. To get there we skied under the lift, traversed through the trees, bootpacked back up for about 15 minutes and then skied deep, light powder through the trees until the slope got steep. It did not suck. No pics of this because we were filming with the maggot cam. We packed some tree shots with our skis on and then got to ski more deep pow when the angle lessened.

Heading towards Colorado:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30465.jpg
STD rounds the last corner on the way up:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30466.jpg

Back up for one more round and more skiing. then time we went to the trees on the other side of colorado and we got to ski more than we packed. Perfect deep pow down the treed ridgeline from the top of the hike until the slope dropped off steep again. Short but steep and very deep and tiring bootpack down to the main chute and then we got to ski the bottom half. It was a good weekend. I can't wait to get back down there when skiing is the priority.

You guys rock.

A sincere thank you from someone who may benefit from your efforts later this year.

Whew...im Beat. not sore, just overall low energy. maggotcam worked ok, but the battery crapped out a lot earlier than expected. I have to get a better powersource before I pass this along to cletus/Yoss tommorrow. I used the maggotcam on day 2, and got some good footage of skiing, the town, and even got the owner of silverton, Aaron Brill, thanking all the bootpackers and talking about the amazing 203 person turnout on day 1 before he got called away by his radio. wish I could have got some footy day 1 but was too busy working my ass off in waist deep blower.

Dec 3,4,5

STD / esquilar (aka ryan and john) and I (evil E) rolled into town at 12 after a 6hr drive from denver. fucking freezing when we arrived in silverton (-10 F) we got into our warm closet sized room and got in our sleeping bags and slept like babies. up at 730 and headed to a local breakfast joint for good rib sticking breakfast food. along with us was the ski writer from denver post, a friend of john/std. great guy. he was there for a story on silverton bootpacking. We al got to the mnt at 830 signed in and met up with our group of 12 and our guide (whitey) a snowboarder/guide from telluride. and scott something who in addition to being a guiding boarder was also a photog who did most of the photos for the silverton brochure.

once we got our group together and up the lift we traversed to a big big bowl called raff. there we shouldered our skis/boards and started work.
they had us WALKING down the mountain postholing on purpose to create snow stability on steep bowls. Even harder was when they wanted us to posthole traverse the mountain.

that work was fucking hard as hell. we skied the runouts at the end of our work walking through the bowls, but i was on 193 xxx rossi rock skis, one ski was missing a 1 foot section of sidewall. ( I was told by the owners to bring rock skis) , and they suck, very hard work to ski on, so i didnt really enjoy the skiing saturday, but the skiing was marginal then at best, glad I was on the rock skis anyways.. I was wiped out saturday night , major headache due to dehydration. Drank 4 bottles of water, ate some food and crashed at 9pm.

Sunday we got up to the base area and waited until about 930 at the base for our guide. It was snowing lightly and warmer than day 1. there were about half the amount of people there on day 2 compared to day 1. Lots of people were worked over and probably were not realizing how much work was actually involved. Not exactly the free ski day the naive were bargaining for. o]Once we got to the top we traversed for a bit and then our guide let us ski good snow in the trees for a bit to get to our control work area. I was very very happy to ski instead of walk downhill through deep snow. especially on the spatulas, if I was going to work in deep snow I was going to have a ski that I would enjoy, it was worth it, i barely hit a thing. the spats have a tiny scratch on the bases, even after hitting a hidden stump at full speed. man those skis are tough.

once we got to our control work area in the trees (much like the alleys at A basin, except steeper and sustained vert for about 2000 feet, so sick, lines everywhere) we ski packed downhill (with skis on) for a few hours which was much more enjoyable. I even found a few techy sections to pack out around some rocks which were fun to me , but everyone else wanted to avoid. I guess I was bored with stomping snow. Once we were done there we got to ski a small tree laden section with fallen logs that were covered in 3 feet of deep. It made for good backseat air boosts and hopefully decent camera fodder.

2nd run/pack of the day was different. we skied a small section to a traverse where I had to assist the boarders in our group who were postholing on the traverses because they couldnt get across them strapped in. then we bootpacked uphill which reminded me of the bootpacked hike right off the JH gondola while it snowed lightly.

we then skied a sweet sweet ridgeline of blower pow. what a treat. after day 1 I wasnt expecting any skiing... so this was a real gift, especially allowing the spats to do their magic and I was enjoying every turn enormously.
then we shouldered our shit again and bootpacked, not skipacked, down very steep and deep snow. my spats on my dakine heli pack were dragging me everywhere and this was the most exhausting part of the trip. the snow was past my waist, and very heavy. it took me four movements or so just to get one leg ahead of me for every step of about 500 or so vertical feet. my skis were dragging me everywhere. Eventually I took the pack off and slung it over my shoulders so that the skis were horizontal. Didnt help much though, still sucked donkey balls.

I met up with the group about 800 feet from the bottom where we skied tracked out snow that started looking like a basin pail face , almost bumped out, but still fun sustained vert. My legs were jello though and I was only able to make about 10 solid turns at the top before it just became survival skiing. we then bootpacked back to the van pickup point were we loaded into a windowless metal tin box with wheels that carried us back to the base. we unloaded and claimed our free silverton day. piled in the 4runner and made the 6 hr trek back to denver. we took the I70 from grand junction route against my better judgement and took far too long to get home. I got in bed at 12 with my sweet wife who I missed even more than i thought.

go help next weekend if you can. its a good time, and well worth the effort to help such a soul stoking place like silverton -- Help the Brill's. Their dream has become a shared reality and people on this board can help sustain it.

Nice pics...

But something tells me when you have to boot pack the snowpack like this, there's a reason why there's never been a ski resort there.

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Originally Posted by skier666

Nice pics...

But something tells me when you have to boot pack the snowpack like this, there's a reason why there's never been a ski resort there.

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Yeah, just like there's a reason that Highland Bowl can't be part of a ski resort because you have to boot pack it & do control work. :rolleyes:


No need to mention how stoked I was to go down there & help...I'll ditto everything Evil & Elesquiador have stated. What an amazing place. :)

Yes, much thanks. Hope to get down there this year! Good pics also!

I was down there also this weekend. I'm in the far off group below the cornice in your fourth picture. That was our first trip Saturday and about the worst one of all of them. We boot packed in zig zags across the face of that bowl and down to the waterfall. Then we skied tight trees that had no snow after the first two people went through. I was on 200cm Solly AK Rockets which don't turn very fast so it was interesting to say the least. Our third run that day had us all repelling down a rope through a chute which was narrower than my skis and chocked with logs that was supposed to catch the snow latter in the season.

The 2nd day we got some great turns one the first run in deep blower before boot packing and ski packing the trees. The 2nd run pretty much sucked slightly less than the 1st run Saturday. We boot packed down a 40+ deg slope in waist deep snow and got almost no skiing. I bailed on the third run after the guide said it was optional. It was already 2:30 and I had to long of a drive to take another 2+ hour walk.



I only managed to take three pics I think the first one is of your group.

http://sterling.homelinux.net/albums..._001.sized.jpg
http://sterling.homelinux.net/albums..._003.sized.jpg
http://sterling.homelinux.net/albums..._002.sized.jpg

That's a years worth of good karma.

Looked like a beatiful bluebird day.

Yep. I'm pretty beat today. I was in Lurch's group on the 1st day and in a different group on the 2nd day. Too bad we didn't meet up with any other maggots. We definitely worked harder on Sat. and got to freeski more on Sun. All in all, I had a great time. Worked my ass off and had some sick turns in bottomless pow.

Lurch, too bad you didn't get any pics of us going down thru Two Smokes. It took 1hr and 20min to get twenty of us down through Two Smokes safely. Most had to descend using the ropeline. I'm still a little baffled that our guide took us down through there given the skiing ability of some of the folks in our group and the condition of the chute(bare rocks with logs jammed in the choke to hold the snow).

I'm booking my freebie for Dec.30th. Can't make it down there in April. My wife's having our first child sometime in April.

i cant believe that they took you guys down 2 smokes. I have video footage of a 12 person group skiing that last year with decent coverage and most people still had to use the rope. it took almost an hour to get them through. glad everyone made it through ok, bet that was real interesting.

I remember skiing this line...man was it sweet....


http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30467.jpg

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Originally Posted by cmsummit

Lurch, too bad you didn't get any pics of us going down thru Two Smokes. It took 1hr and 20min to get twenty of us down through Two Smokes safely. Most had to descend using the ropeline. I'm still a little baffled that our guide took us down through there given the skiing ability of some of the folks in our group and the condition of the chute(bare rocks with logs jammed in the choke to hold the snow).

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I thought about taking some pictures but from where I was I couldn't really see anything.

If you think some of those guys Saturday were weak you should have seen this guy that wound up in our group Sunday with old school long boards. He was having a hard time even just traversing the bowls. I don’t think he skied one section without loosing both skis.

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Originally Posted by Lurch

If you think some of those guys Saturday were weak you should have seen this guy that wound up in our group Sunday with old school long boards. He was having a hard time even just traversing the bowls. I don’t think he skied one section without loosing both skis.

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the K.I.R. files are still alive!

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Originally Posted by Lurch

If you think some of those guys Saturday were weak you should have seen this guy that wound up in our group Sunday with old school long boards. He was having a hard time even just traversing the bowls. I don’t think he skied one section without loosing both skis.

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That guy would have had a ton of fun in Two Smokes on those long boards. ;)

Nice pics and good report. Wish I could have made it down there. Coverage is definitely not sparse down in that neck of the woods. South facing stuff looks like it needs a little more, but definitely a deeper pack than what we got up here.

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Originally Posted by Evil E

i cant believe that they took you guys down 2 smokes. I have video footage of a 12 person group skiing that last year with decent coverage and most people still had to use the rope. it took almost an hour to get them through. glad everyone made it through ok, bet that was real interesting.

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I couldn't believe it either. I was in Lurch's and cmsummit's group on Saturday, that was a f'ing epic going through 2 smokes with the minimal coverage, almost an hour and a half. I went down it last year with decent coverage and it was still a chore. Regardless, an amazing two days, I am wrecked right now.

It was great to meet some Maggots(Lurch and cmsummit), help out the crew at Silverton and make some sweet pow turns.

Edit: Evil E, were you on Spatulas yesterday? I saw someone getting their Spatulas from a truck with a TGR sticker on it.

yup, spatulas and tgr sticker on truck. dat be me.
i called out for maggots a few times to get footy of them on the maggot cam, but no one ever shouted back and I just wound up looking like someone with turrets syndrome.

by the way, spatulas are so choice, if you have the means I highly suggest picking some up for yourself.

you can call me a jong, but I've been sking in the wasatch backcountry for years and i've never heard of boot packing a backcountry slope. isn't it just as good to ski it up? and how many times a year do you do this? sounds like a suffer fest!

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Originally Posted by finsy

you can call me a jong, but I've been sking in the wasatch backcountry for years and i've never heard of boot packing a backcountry slope. isn't it just as good to ski it up? and how many times a year do you do this? sounds like a suffer fest!

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The purpose of bootpacking is to break up the consistency of the different layers within the snow pack. By punching through the different layers(wind slab, powder, sun crust, depth hoar), stability is added to the snow pack. The San Juans probable have the most unstable snowpack in the U.S., so it is certainly beneficial to bootpack early on and set up a good base for the rest of the season. You can't penetrate all the layers necessary if you are just ski packing a slope.

Yeah, we watched all you poor bastards on Sunday from across the valley (from Minnehaha) stomp it down. I'm glad I chose to go B.C. instead of working my ass of to do all that. If any of you's guys were skiing Colorado run at about 4:00 on Sunday, I probably have footage of you skiing. I thought I heard somebody shout 'Pinner' from a distance, but it was pretty far away.

Anyone run into Barney, Alex, or Skylar down there? Those guys are a trip, especially when playing a few rounds of asshole :eek:

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Originally Posted by Squirrel99

Anyone run into Barney, Alex, or Skylar down there? Those guys are a trip, especially when playing a few rounds of asshole :eek:

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Skylar was my guide the first day. Seemed like a chill guy.

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Originally Posted by cmsummit

The purpose of bootpacking is to break up the consistency of the different layers within the snow pack. By punching through the different layers(wind slab, powder, sun crust, depth hoar), stability is added to the snow pack. The San Juans probable have the most unstable snowpack in the U.S., so it is certainly beneficial to bootpack early on and set up a good base for the rest of the season. You can't penetrate all the layers necessary if you are just ski packing a slope.

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thanks for the insight! :fmicon:

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Originally Posted by Storm11

Yeah, we watched all you poor bastards on Sunday from across the valley (from Minnehaha) stomp it down. I'm glad I chose to go B.C. instead of working my ass of to do all that. If any of you's guys were skiing Colorado run at about 4:00 on Sunday, I probably have footage of you skiing. I thought I heard somebody shout 'Pinner' from a distance, but it was pretty far away.

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Bet my skiing to hiking ratio was higher than yours. Gotta remember that lift gets you around 2000' vert.

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Originally Posted by cmsummit

Bet my skiing to hiking ratio was higher than yours. Gotta remember that lift gets you around 2000' vert.

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Very true, but I'll bet that my time spent hiking/fresh turns ratio was higher than yours... :D :wink: I saw how tracked up the stuff you guys were skiing was

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Originally Posted by Storm11

Very true, but I'll bet that my time spent hiking/fresh turns ratio was higher than yours... :D :wink:

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Oh yeah, well I got a free day. :p

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Originally Posted by cmsummit

Oh yeah, well I got a free day. :p

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Oh yeah, well my mom's better than your mom. :fmicon:
Although I have to admit, if I weren't going to France for 5 months, I'd probably be up there too.

Is this open to anyone that wants to do this?
Is it just once a year?
Do you get anything else out of it like maybe a free day or half price ticket later in the year?

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Originally Posted by powderpow

Is this open to anyone that wants to do this?
Is it just once a year?
Do you get anything else out of it like maybe a free day or half price ticket later in the year?

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There are four more days of bootpacking, Dec. 9, 10, 11, and 12. Two days of bootpacking gets you a free day to ski in Dec. or April.

Thanks for your contribution to Silverton gentlemen, much appreciated! I hope to take advantage of your efforts later this year...

Very cool, nice pics too.

As mentioned good Karma your way, I did three boot pack days last year, two for a ticket and one to suffer, and it came back multiplied the two times I went last year. Our group was the first one into Log Cabin in two years, from what Mike told us, and every turn was showing it.

As mentioned two smokes this early must have been hairy, I nearly went for a ride last year when I went first into it and caught the uncovered rope further down and it jammed between my binding and my ski, making my turn back into the skiers right wall pretty suddenly, definitely got my attention.

Coverage looks good this year. Wish I could get away from work to get a pair of days in.

Congrats, gents.

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Originally Posted by Evil E

by the way, spatulas are so choice, if you have the means I highly suggest picking some up for yourself.

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extra special :fm: for the subtle ferris bueller reference!!

Denver Post article...including Maggot quotes & pictures of maggots boots. how exiting!!

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,...582813,00.html

damn, youre fast. nice boots elesquiador but those skis...yuck...how last year orange. ewwww