In memoriam of Hans Berg: the unofficial mayor of Empire and beloved Berthoud/Jones Pass local.
March 2019 was a time anyone living in the Colorado high country will never forget. The combination of early season faceted snow and strong storm systems left the mountains from the San Juan to the Front Range in extreme avalanche danger. Viral clips of cars on Interstate 70 getting hit by debris in 10 Mile Canyon reminded us of the severity of mountain weather. The first week of March resulted in the most destructive and large natural avalanche cycle the state had seen. Ginormous swaths of trees and entire mountainsides were carved away in the chaos.
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| Conundrum Avalanche near Aspen Highlands, the largest slide I have witnessed. Photo: Aspen Times |
After a season of skiing in mellow Steamboat, where the terrain and avalanche danger is zilch compared to the rest of the state of Colorado. My girlfriend and I were excited to spend a month skiing Silverton, a rowdy paradise for serious big mountain lines. In the final days before packing up and leaving Steamboat for the season there was serious doubt if going to the San Juan's was a great idea after all. The entire town of Silverton was under avalanche watch and a massive natural slide had just buried the ski area access road 30 feet deep in mangled debris.
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| The narrow path through avalanche debris to Silverton Mountain. Photo: Durango Herald |
Playing it by ear we anxiously worked our last shifts in Steamboat and prayed the mountains would stabilize. Spending a night in a cheap Durango motel we awoke early to finish our drive up the mountain passes and arrive for first chair. Highway 550 is already known as one of the most dangerous roads in America and through this stretch it remained closed for 18 days. We gasped at the snowbanks lining Moalas and Coal Bank passes, the mountains were either caked in deep snow or stripped to the dirt. Natural avalanches were present everywhere we looked.
Our little passenger car sputtered into town and we geared up to hitchhike to the mountain. Luckily the first truck stopped to our raised thumbs and a local from Ophir drove us up the road. He recounted the dramatic events of the past two weeks from his exerience. Passing through the tunnel carved out in the avalanche debris we ogled at the raw power of nature.
Spending a spring month in Silverton was a terrifically simple life. We crawled out of bed, walked a block to hitchhike to the hill and spent our mornings hiking ridges for the lines of our dreams. After 3 or more tiring laps we would dry out in the base area tent, heating our veggie burritos on the wood burning stove. Then back up the mountain for more laps, finding equal parts powder, downed trees and icy gullies until the mountain closed. A quick hitchhike back down to town and we could crash in our sublet apartment behind the Saloon on the main drag. Life was good, hell we even got to heli-ski!
A much better article about the 2019 Avalanche cycle: WildSnow