Cold, hard truth of Silverton Mtn.

To the editor,

Until recently, I was Silverton Mountain’s biggest fan. I only moved to Silverton in 2000 because of the dream Aaron Brill sold to Silverton and the ski media. As a lifelong wilderness advocate, I opposed principle and peers by giving up prime backcountry terrain for a minimalist ski area that promised to buck the modern trend of unaffordable amusement parks. Silverton Mountain was supposed to be the perfect engine of a sustainable winter economy that by its experts-only nature would ensure our Wild West town stayed wild.

The ski world erroneously perceives Silverton as the ultimate ski town ... that we have a mythical mountain and therefore are doing pretty well economically. It’s a myth all right, one fueled by years of free VIP powder tours for ski reporters who get a Potemkin Village experience that most paying guests only read about in, uh, magazines. Skiers from as far as Chamonix want to trade houses with me and spend an entire winter here. They hardly believe it when I explain Silverton has no ski area and that I drive hundreds of miles at great ex- pense to feed my powder addiction. All we ski bums have in Silverton is amazing backcountry. And now Aaron wants that, too.

Aaron cries poverty during his short visits to Silver- ton while bragging in ski rags about opening his fourth helicopter operation and hiring the president of K2 to run his company. He insists the chairlift is a failure. However, Silverton’s winter economy was growing be- fore helicopters. The chairlift was open over five months with 23 unguided days. It’s true we never realized our potential. That’s because of the selfish decision to run a guided-only ski area ... novelty that was bound to wear off. And indeed, it did.

Instead of admitting guided-only skiing was a terrible idea, Aaron decided to scapegoat unguided skiing despite never having allowed unguided skiing during the

profitable high season – as an excuse to make heli-skiing the new focus. Each year since heli-skiing was introduced, the chairlift has been open less days.

Unguided skiing has been all but phased out. And our winter economy has shrunk: Silverton Standard, June 16, 2016: Employment fell an average of 1.4 percent a year from 2006-15 ... Town Administrator Bill Gardner described the economic situation in Silverton as ‘very depressing. We’re one of the poorest towns in Colorado.”

Few citizens in Silverton understand the industry Aaron once vehemently preached against. Many have been frightened into giving him anything he wishes because they re- member Silverton being boarded-up all winter ... and see it happening again. He insists the new terrain is farther from town and less accessible to ordinary mortals with pickups and snowmobiles than what he’s swapping. A quick glance at the proposal map shows the exact opposite. His other talking points are just as easily shattered.

Don’t believe that the BLM will side with the public. Yes, they did deny use of this same terrain in 2009 because of multiple conflicts with other backcountry users. But new Gunnison Field Manager Elijah Waters is hiding his pre-existing work relationship with Silverton Heli Guides in Alaska. He actually signed some of their permits up there. Waters was recently transferred from Alaska to head the Gunnison BLM district a question-able coincidence unto itself. Soon afterwards, the back-country around Silverton was mysteriously transferred from the Dolores BLM district to Gunnison. Gunnison is twice as far from Silverton as Dolores and in a completely different watershed. The redistricting was rammed through without explanation and over the fierce objection of our county commissioners.

Before the redistricting ink had dried, the preliminary EA to expand Silverton heli-skiing was released. Locals were told that any public comment containing criticism of Aaron will be immediately discarded. Which I’m pretty sure is illegal and grounds to have the whole thing thrown out. The state BLM director has shut down any criticism within the agency toward Sil- verton Mountain. I assume she’s the one who manipulated a crony of Aaron’s from Alaska into the position to make this decision. Apparently it’s not just ski re- porters getting free VIP heli-ski tours.

By the time you read this, there will be little time to comment on this giveaway of Colorado’s best back-country terrain to a poser who’s already pulled the biggest bait and switch in ski history. If the public can stop this, it will hopefully motivate Aaron to sell the lowly chairlift that made him famous in the first place. Instead of ruining our backcountry for an unaffordable activity that brings less and less skiers to Silverton, use the current permit and give us the legend everyone already believes is here. Free Silverton!

– Michael Constantine, Explorer’s Club SW, Silverton