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Silverton Ski Resort

Home / Ski Resorts / Silverton Ski Resort

Silverton Mountain Ski Resort is a unique and challenging ski and snowboard destination located in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. With only one chairlift and a small amount of actual trails, Silverton Mountain is known for its extreme and backcountry skiing and snowboarding.

The resort does not have any terrain parks or groomed trails, and skiers and snowboarders must hike or ride a snowcat to access the runs. Silverton Mountain Ski Resort receives an average of around 400 inches of snowfall per season, which allows for a long ski season that typically runs from December through April. In addition to downhill skiing and snowboarding, Silverton Mountain Ski Resort also offers guided backcountry skiing and snowboarding tours.

We recently ranked all of Colorado's ski resorts, so you can see where Silverton stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!

Season Passes

Silverton is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Silverton Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Silverton's website.

Lodging Options

There are numerous options to stay at Silverton around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.

Silverton Mountain Resort Terrain Overview

Silverton has a total of 69 ski trails, which are serviced by 1 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 1,819 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 736 hectares, 2.8 square miles, or 7.4 square kilometers.

Silverton's slopes see on average 400 inches (12.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 33 feet every year!

Trails
Total Runs
69
Ski Lift
Lifts
1
Skier
Skiable Acres
1,819(7 km2)
Snow
Annual Snowfall
400"(12,192 cm)

Silverton Ski Resort Elevation

Silverton Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 13,487 feet, or 4,111 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 10,400 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 3,447 feet (1,051 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.

The summit of 13,487 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.

Mountain Summit
Summit Elevation
13,487'(4,111 m)
Vertical Drop
Vertical Drop
3,447'(1,051 m)
Mountain base
Base Elevation
10,400'(3,170 m)

Silverton Ski Resort Difficulty Level

Score
Difficulty Score™
98.8out of 100
←  EasyHard  →
Silverton is one of the hardest ski areas in the country, with a difficulty score of 98.8. This mountain ranks in the top 10% of most-difficult ski resorts in all of North America, mostly due to the fact that it has 100% of its trails rated as expert-level, and a vertical drop of 3,447 feet.

 DID YOU KNOW?

At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.

Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.

Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level

Silverton has 1,819 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.

Seeing as Silverton is one of the hardest ski areas in the country, it's no surprise that over 100% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level. This leaves only 0% of its skiable acres as beginner terrain.
Green Circle
Beginner
0%(0 acres)

Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.

Blue Square
Intermediate
0%(0 acres)

Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.

Black Diamond
Expert
100%(1,819 acres)

Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.

Is Silverton Ski Resort good for beginners?

This is one of the hardest ski areas in the country to ski at, so it is not great for beginners. Silverton Ski Resort ranks in the top 10% of the most-difficult ski resorts in the country. It has 100% of its trails rated as expert, or black-diamond level.

Silverton Ski Resort Location

Silverton Ski Resort is located in the state of Colorado, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Silverton, CO.

Address:
Silverton, CO 81433 USA
View on Google Maps

Website:
silvertonmountain.com

GPS Coordinates:
37.82000, -107.66000

Getting to Silverton Mountain Resort

By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Silverton Ski Resort), its coordinates of 37.82000, -107.66000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Silverton, CO to get close.

By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.

A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Silverton.

NameCodeCityDistance
San Luis Valley Regional Airport/Bergman FieldALSAlamosa, CO102 mi
Grand Junction Regional AirportGJTGrand Junction, CO102 mi
Aspen-Pitkin Co/Sardy FieldASEAspen, CO106 mi

There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Silverton Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.

Other Nearby Ski Resorts

Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Silverton Ski Resort.

NameLocationSummitDifficulty Score™Distance
Kendall Mountain Ski AreaSilverton, CO9,596 ft19%1 mi
TellurideTelluride, CO13,320 ft89%12 mi
PurgatoryDurango, CO10,822 ft51%30 mi
Chapman Hill Ski AreaDurango, CO6,555 ft49%39 mi
Hesperus Ski AreaHesperus, CO8,888 ft47%42 mi
Powderhorn Ski ResortPowderhorn, CO9,850 ft58%44 mi
Wolf CreekPagosa Springs, CO11,904 ft50%53 mi
Crested ButteCrested Butte, CO12,162 ft74%81 mi
MonarchSalida, CO11,952 ft51%88 mi

Silverton Ski Resort Mountain Stats

NameStatistic
Summit Elevation13,487 ft
Base Elevation10,400 ft
Vertical Drop3,447 ft
Trails69
(0% Beginner,  0% Intermediate,  100% Expert)
Lifts1
Skiable Acres1,819
Avg. Annual Snowfall400 inches
Silverton Ski Resort Mountain Stats
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