Silverton Powdercats in Colorado

Silverton is a magical word -- I always associate it with an mining town buried in snow along the most avalanched road in Colorado. It seems to always be out of the way, and I have only driven through once, years before I moved to this state. A few weeks ago Scott mentioned that Greg was going cat skiing there, and asked if I was interested in joining. My lovely wife gave me the kitchen pass and I immediately said absolutely yes!

I was at first a bit concerned with the difficulty of the runs, as Silverton Mountain is notorious for its committing steep runs. But I needn't have worried -- the Powdercats (formerly El Diablo) operation is on beautiful open slopes above Molas Pass. They ask for intermediate+ skiers only, and the terrain was very fun. Lots of medium pitch slopes, tons of fresh lines to take, always making your own track. There were eleven of us on the cat, plus three guides. The day was beautiful, with blue skies and warm sun -- couldn't have asked for more.

Tom on something steeper (photo: Scott McL.)

Most of the photos were taken by Scott McLaughlin -- Scott, thanks for taking the time to photograph everyone!

Setting up in the morning

Mario points out some of the terrain we'll ride

The trip was very snowboard friendly -- there were two of us, Mario and I. The guides picked lines that didn't require tons of traversing, and on the one occasion that I had trouble skating along one of the guides would give me his pole tips and swing me along. We also had two telemarkers, Danny and Jim, who had a great time.