More than six years after converting a handful of old mining claims into Colorado’s steepest, most raw ski area, Aaron and Jenny Brill have secured a 40-year permit from the Bureau of Land Management to host as many as 475 skiers a day at their Silverton Mountain.
On Wednesday, the BLM approved a long-term lease on 1,300 acres of public land surrounding the Brills’ 220 acres of private land. Since 2001, the Brills have hosted up to 80 guided skiers a day. They used a temporary permit from the BLM while the bureau completed an exhaustive environmental review of the only ski area on bureau land in the lower 48 states.
Expert skiers, drawn by the area’s bountiful snow and steep slopes, hiked and rode a hand- me-down double chairlift to the ski slopes. A tent served as the base lodge, a long-retired UPS truck as the shuttle rig.
In today’s ski-resort ethos of coddling and pampering guests, Silverton stood out as a raw experience.
Yet Silverton Mountain has prospered, drawing more than 3,000 skiers last season and igniting a wintertime economy in the remote former mining town of 450, where businesses typically close for the snowy months.
Wednesday’s decision – technically a land-use amendment to the BLM’s San Juan/San Miguel Resource Management Plan – allows the Brills to open portions of their area’s terrain to unguided skiers. Aaron Brill expects that will happen when the area’s notoriously fickle snowpack settles in the spring.
“It will definitely be a gradual transition taking advantage of natural snow stability in the spring,” he said. “Some of the areas of the mountain will remain primarily guided-only terrain.”
Two sets of BLM administrations conducted the environmental-impact statement reviewing the Brills’ plan, which Aaron Brill estimated cost 300 percent more than he initially budgeted after acquiring the mining claims in 1999.
“You want to see it take less time, but there is a process we had to follow,” said Richard Speegle, BLM’s Silverton Mountain project manager in Durango. “I think this analysis has made Aaron’s ski area a better ski area. Public safety from the beginning is what drove this EIS, and I think this document has done a pretty good job of looking at all the public-safety aspects.”
The lengthy environmental review nixed the Brills’ initial dream of $25 lift tickets.
“The beauty of dreams is that you can always come up with a new one,” Brill said. “Maybe the original vision is not what it is today, but I’m happy with where we are. Maybe we can finally pay our salaries for the first time in six years.”
San Juan County last month launched condemnation proceedings against an Aspen landowner who is suing the Brills for alleged trespass on property he owns adjacent to the ski terrain. The final decision of the BLM will undergo an appeal process, and the landowner, Aspen businessman Jim Jackson, has appealed several previous decisions by the BLM regarding Silverton Mountain.
The threat of appeal doesn’t worry Brill.
“The extra time, money and extra review that went into this document makes me certain this EIS will pass any challenge,” he said.
Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
www.blm.gov/nhp/spotlight/state_info/planning/co/sjplcnepa.htm
