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Silverton Mountain hosts third annual
Hard Core Mountain Challenge
by Matthew Albright
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| Crested Butte's Ethan
Passant leaps to the front of the pack just off the
start line./Photo by Julie Bliss |
The Silverton miners, railroaders and mailmen of a century
ago were the original hardcore backcountry skiers, but
for them it was about getting home on time from the mine
or making it to Sunday services. People still talk about
backcountry heroes like Gus Talbot, the mail carrier,
and Rev. George Darley, who were the talk of the town
in 1877 when they skied from Burrow’s Peak to Silverton
in a blinding snowstorm – 23 miles and thousands
of vertical feet in one day.
It’s 127 years later, and Megan Kimmel carries
on the tradition by skiing to work, six miles each way
to the Silverton Mountain ski area. Last Saturday, Kimmel
tacked on another 4,000 vertical feet to her daily trek
by competing with 28 other backcountry skiers in Silverton
Mountain’s Hard Core Mountain Challenge.
Though the equipment is better, the high-tech precautions
against avalanches more efficient, and the dental hygiene
of the participants favorably improved, the Hard Core
Mountain Challenge poses the same fundamental challenge
that faced Silverton’s preachers and miners 150
years ago: Hike up a mountain; then ski down it.
This particular mountain, however, is nearly a 2,000-foot
climb and is famous for having the steepest slopes in
North America with grades ranging up to 55 degrees. (It
also has the best powder, according to Skiing magazine).
Optical illusion
After the initial “whoop” at the beginning
of Saturday’s race, the only sound one could hear
in the valley was the heaving breathing of 28 individuals
trudging up the mountain. Within 100 yards of the starting
line, everybody’s hats were off and the sweat started
to pour.
Watching people ski uphill is like witnessing a canoe
float upstream: It feels like one of those optical illusions
that they have in children’s museums. The technology,
however, is not much different than that once used by
the likes of Rev. 4
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| A pair of skis awaits
its owner prior to the race./Photo by Julie Bliss |
Darley and Gus Talbot. The snowboarders use snowshoes;
the skiers have “skins” stuck to the bottom
of their boards. The skins are a synthetic reproduction
of animal skins and burlap sacks that the Silverton miners
once put on the bottom of their skis. The skins catch
and stick to the snow in the same way your hand catches
if you were to pet your dog the wrong way. Part of the
challenge on Saturday was at the check-in at the top of
the mountain where the racers had to quickly turn their
skis, snowshoes, or split boards into something that could
go downhill – fast.
Taking off his skins at the top of the mountain, Ethan
Passant made it look like the only thing he climbed that
morning was out of bed. Having won the event for two years
now, the Crested Butte Ski Patrol member is the unofficial
king of the mountain in Silverton. On Saturday, Passant
was up and down in 40 minutes, 10 seconds. That’s
a thousand vertical feet every 10 minutes. This effort
gave Passant the time to sun himself at the finish line
for nearly four minutes before the next contender, Michael
Pennings, from Ridgway, skied in. Steve Banks, also from
Crested Butte, rounded off the top three skiers with a
time of 45:37.
Sara Ballantyne, an Eco-Challenge champion, mountain
bike legend and former Durango resident who won the event
two years ago, reclaimed her title as queen of the mountain
with a time of 52:17. Following her was Silverton Mountain’s
own “ski-to-work” Megan Kimmel (58:24) and
Carrie Eldred (1:21:14) from Durango.
The top placers on snowboards were three first-timers
from Durango: Matt Steinward (55:45), Josh Vermette (56:02),
and Jonelle Vermette (1:12:38).
Ironically, the consensus on Saturday was that the 2,000-foot
hike up was the easy part.
“Coming down hurt 10 times as much as the climb
up,” Ron Raynor, one of the racers from Durango,
said. The racers skied down a ravine to the left of the
lift where, at times, the path through the rock walls
was little more than the width of a body. “It was
tracked out,” Raynor continued. “It was steep
as hell, trees everywhere. We were going mach 90 into
the trees.”
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| To unwind, Second-place
woman Megan Kimmel, of Silverton, removes her skins
after reaching the top./Photo by Julie Bliss |
Alpine perennials
The uphill/downhill event itself might be viewed as a
memorial to those like Rev. Darley, who used to ski to
work and a celebration of those today – like Raynor,
the Vermettes, and Steinward – who work to ski.
Today’s alpine perennials slog through the 9 to
5 (or 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.) – slinging beers, teaching
Texans a bit of slope etiquette, or watching TV all night
at the front desk of a hotel – all the while dreaming
of that next free day of sunshine, powder and 13,000 foot
mountains.
Last week, at an undisclosed location, the Vermettes,
Raynor and Steinward immersed themselves in the best snow
they’ve experienced in 10 years. Tales were told
of flying off 30-foot cliffs and gliding into pillows
of 5-foot powder. Where was this backcountry nirvana?
“It was just a small step down from heaven.”
Josh said. “Somewhere north of Purgatory,”
Raynor tagged on.
Silverton’s Hardcore Challenge was the first time
the four have competed in an uphill/downhill competition,
but the group goes uphill/downhill for pleasure nearly
every day. Raynor has had 42 days of skiing this year,
and the Vermettes have clocked in a cumulative total of
4 more than 100 days. At the least they put in 3,000 vertical
feet and have covered as much as 12,000 in a single day.
The winter in the San Juans this year makes all the tourists
and dirty dishes worth it.
“It’s all about the mountain kicking your
ass,” says Jonelle about the race and backcountry
skiing in general.
After Saturday’s race, as their breathing started
to level out, the four looked at each other and then back
up at the mountain: “Let’s go do it again,”
someone said.
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| Skiers ascend the steep calf-burner
of a skin track./Photo by Todd Newcomer |
Surrender to the snow
“San Juan County’s history could be written
as a century of struggle against snow,” states a
1970s avalanche pamphlet written by the University of
Colorado. Indeed, throughout the 1800s, avalanches and
snow slides accounted for just as many deaths as pneumonia
and mining accidents.
One gets the sense, however, that the philosophy behind
the Mountain Challenge, and the philosophy behind Silverton
Mountain in general, is to give up the struggle and let
the snow win. In fact, the idea of letting the snow win
is probably behind Silverton Mountain’s growing
reputation as one of the best ski hills in North America.
Other ski resorts keep up the struggle against snow and
weather with grooming, snowmaking, trail markers and signs
telling you where to go and where not to go, and, of course,
warm lodges with ski bunnies sitting on frontier-style
leather couches. Silverton Mountain, on the other hand,
has surrendered: The runs are made by nature and the powder
is created by the great snow guns in the sky. The lodge
is a tent with a wood stove and a keg rolled out of the
back closet. The furniture in the tent and base area might
be labeled “thrift-store miscellany, circa 1978.”
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| Ron Raynor of Durango
makes his way to the checkpoint at the top./Photo
by Julie Bliss |
One of the terms of this surrender to the snow is that
the skiers at Silverton have to do more work. All skiers
must bring their own shovels and avalanche beacons –
and they need to have passed a written avalanche safety
test.
“You earn your turns,” Aaron Brill, co-owner
with his wife Jen, is fond of saying.
“I think they have a good concept,” said
Saturday’s winner, Ethan Passant. “Because
it’s like the people who are ready to move away
from the areas, but not quite maybe ready to go backcountry
unguided by themselves, they can come here and be between
the two. It’s kind of like a controlled backcountry
experience.”
The Hard Core Mountain Challenge is then perhaps less
a challenge than it is a toast made with keg-poured beers
in Dixie cups: a toast to a town’s historic relationship
with snow, to the bliss of backcountry skiing, and to
the uber unresort called Silverton Mountain.
In the words of Raynor: “It’s about enjoying
what the mountain gives us.”
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Racers left their mark enroute to
the finish
line./Photo by Julie Bliss |
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