Striking a balance

With respect to other backcountry users, the BLM is working with Brill to address public safety issues this season by reconfiguring the closure areas on Storm Peak. The closures are intended to keep people out of avalanche danger zones while Brill’s crew conducts control work. And while nothing has been finalized, Brill said new closure areas will help funnel people toward the public land, not his private holdings.

“As opposed to having it all closed, we’re trying to help create access and steer people toward public land and away from the conflict area,” he said.

However, it was avalanche-control work closures last year that served as a flashpoint between Brill and members of the backcountry skiing community.

“Last year was pretty much a miserable failure for public access,” said Walt Walker, Durango resident and backcountry enthusiast.

Walker noted that people have been skiing Storm Peak for well over 20 years, and he encouraged public agencies to address this public need. “I would hope that they can strike a better balance than they did last year, and I think some of that responsibility should go back to public land managers,” he said. “I hope that the BLM and the Forest Service put the appropriate amount of weight on public access to public lands.”

Walker also wondered if Silverton Mountain is here to stay and will have what it takes to make it financially. “It’s one thing to get a write-up in every ski magazine in the world about your dreams,” he said. “It’s another to run a financially viable operation.”

Coming to terms?

Last year, the conflict between backcountry users and Brill escalated to the point where he had closure signs stolen and was then accused of trying to trigger an avalanche on top of a group of Silverton skiers within the closure boundary. Brill said he hopes that this acrimony has faded and that relations will be smoother this year courtesy of the new closure points.

Referencing a recent public scoping meeting and its positive overtone, he commented, “None of the people that were stealing my signs last year showed up. I hope they’re starting to come to terms with it. The lift’s there, and we’re not going away.”

Brill noted that the lift is on private land, and in his mind, the ski area has created safe skiing opportunities in an area notorious for avalanche danger. He added that Storm Peak is by no means the only place to go backcountry skiing near Silverton.

“You get up to the top of the lift and look around and you see 100,000 acres with no tracks on them,” he said.

Cirrus Ecological Solutions expects to have a draft of the EIS out for public comment by this spring. The BLM is hopeful that a decision will be made by next fall. That decision could then be appealed, triggering another delay for Silverton Mountain.

“It’s mostly out of our hands,” Brill said.

What is in his hands, however, is the forthcoming season, which, with a total snowfall of 40 inches in September, looks promising. Brill said he hopes to open between Oct. 15 and Thanksgiving, snow dependent. And even at $99 a ticket and twice as many spots as last year, Brill said he expects to be booked for the season.

“We’ll probably sell out this year early in the season,” he said. “Last year, we had to turn away maybe 80 people.”