6-8" of fresh in the town of Silverton this morning.

Words/Photos: Ben Eng

Two days ago I was wearing shorts and skating, then BLAM! Mother Nature dropped a bomb in the form of some pow on May 24th. The weather cancelled a major bicycle race from Durango to Silverton, but that just left my friend Matt and I the backcountry to ourselves free from Spandex dorks geeking-up the scene. Our mission was to summit Grand Turk on Molas Pass and descend down into Silverton. Conditions were deep up above treeline, but also very dicey due to the new cold snow sitting on top of frozen sun crust, and varying temps courtesy of the Sun making in-and-out appearances. We triggered a slab in one chute and got stuck riding the exposed crust, but were rewarded with bottomless mid-winter like snow and rooster tails on the next ridge. Down lower in the trees we also witnessed some slow moving wet slides. All in all it was a good taste of the epic season we had this year, and a reminder that it ain't over.

Matt Gotthainer post-holing towards Grand Turk.

This chute would have been rad if the whole damn thing wouldn't have slid down to the frozen sun crust. Win some you lose some.

Matty dropping in...

Up to 1.5 feet above treeline!

Redemption in the form of deep, stable condtions and not-too-shabby views.

View of Silverton from 13,000 ft.