Silverton mountain CO, anyone?

Hey guys - okies looking at a few days in Silverton before heading to Breckenridge, etc….anyone got any comments (positive OR negative) on the place?

Was thinking a day at Silverton (doing the guided hiking thing) and a day catskiing with Silverton powder cats - would love more time there but can only squeeze in a couple of days…if we like then we will definately go back and do more days on another trip - don’t like fighting the masses and this looks like an option for the future.

FYI +1 and I are advanced snowboarders with high level of fitness….will be taking the powderboards for the trip.

I spent two months riding Colorado in 2005 but I didn’t visit Silverton. I can definitely give you recommendations on areas to ride at Breckenridge and other resorts if you have any questions. Which mountains are you visiting?

Hey dude…..have spent a season based in Breck so am very familar with the Summit county resorts (ie. Breck, Keystone, A-Basin, Vail, Beaver, Copper) so I am OK in that department Thanks for the offer though!

We fly into LAX a few days before our booked accomodation and the Silverton area looks promising. Keen on exploring a different area as a “trial run” before making a longer stay there in the future. Whilst +1 loves the Breck town even she is keen to try something involving less crowds and a more “pure” experience. I certainly have no objections to hiking especially if it means more fresh powder for me

from there we will drive up to Breck via the hire car.

Sounds like a good plan, kort. Do you ride ‘The Burn’ much at Breck? I remember those trees were a lot of fun. I also remember nearly throwing up while hiking to the top of Peak 8 in gale force winds haha.

Ahh yes - just off Peak 10?! The trees in there are fun after a big dump

Peak 10 was a favourite of ours for fresh tracks - so cruisy with a couple of steep parts to really work up some speed.

The Peak 8 hike was always tough - even though it was like a 50m climb, at 13,000ft…......we would still strap our boards to our backpacks to make it just that bit easier….holding a board and climbing has never been my thing!

A friend of ours proposed to his fiance up there whilst we were holidaying together…+1 & I had to stash the bottle of champagne & glasses in the snow (and subtley indicate by jumping up and down on the spot!) before we made up some excuse to leave them alone (“I need to use the bathroom”) - was awesome to be involved for such an event!

Yeah it was off Peak 10. Great on a powder day! I can’t explain how hard it was hiking up Peak 8 in such strong winds. It was so icy on the ridge and so hard to stay on my feet. I was blown over every few steps, haha. Practically crawled up the last part on my hands and knees.

Awesome proposal story!

I would rethink it if you’re coming directly from sea level. To really get the most out of your experience, be flexible with the dates, and you really need to be able to hike for 30-45 minutes at ~4000 m, uphill another 200 meters, carrying your board. And then, just when you’re tired and your legs are already burning, you need to negotiate a narrow, steep, and sometimes icy entrance.

I spent a week at 2400 m prior to my 2 days there, was working out, and still felt significantly out of shape. In any situation, it’s tough on the guides as well.

I’d probably ‘warm up’ elsewhere first to at least acclimate.

worldtripper - thanks the advice, however given our time constraints acclimating is not going to be an option for us. Our plan is do get into Silverton and on the first day do the Cat-skiing (or rather cat-boarding) thing - riding the powder hardly “tests” my physical fitness levels…....even though its only for the day, hopefully it will go someway to helping us when we hike Silverton with the guides the next day.

We are familiar with high altitude as we are very regular visitors to the CO area, especially Breck. The altutide has not affected us horribly so am banking (fingers crossed) that trend continues.