Now on to Silverton.
Unfortunately, Silverton had gotten some seriously high temperatures in the couple days before we headed down to the San Juans. This made for some extremely variable snow conditions. Good pow in some places up high, very interesting conditions further down towards the run outs. The terrain was so crazy. The hiking was incredibly tough, even after spending a few days at elevation. We were dead by the end of the day. The craziest part of the day was rappelling down a crazy steep chute, as it was the only way out of the zone we were in. Never had to do that before. Here are the pics....
Silverton chair, early morning.
First hike of the day.
Gnarly terrain all around.
Our first run of the day started to the left of the highest point of this peak.
Devo, the lone two planker on this trip.
Almost AK style mountains.
About dying on this hike.
Bus ride on the Silverton Mountain Correctional Facility bus.
Overall, I was a little bit disappointed with Silverton. I've heard rumors of "powder farming" at Silverton, and we definitely experienced this. Kind of a bummer because it takes all the creativity out of your line. Basically stay within 3' of the previous line, otherwise your guide would be pissed. Still glad we went, and we did have an awesome time.
Bro Trip 2013 was a total success.