The new operators of the Silverton ski area are passionate backcountry skiers, so they understand what sets the area apart and they plan on retaining what makes it unique.
Silverton founders Aaron and Jenny Brill sold the operation last month to Heli, a company with Aspen roots that maintains an online marketplace for booking adventure travel. Silverton Mountain has one lift and offers a plethora of expert hike-to backcountry terrain. There are also guided trips and helicopter drops for the truly adventurous.
“Silverton has been a legend, and I’ve visited probably half a dozen times,” said Aspen resident Andy Culp, co-founder and chief executive of Heli, who plans to spend most of this coming winter at Silverton. “It doesn’t take much to realize how magical the town is, and how special the ski experience is. We’re just super honored to be in this position.”
Heli is owned by private investors, but co-founder Brock Strasbourger, who is the company’s president, grew up in Aspen and went to high school there. He recalls his first visit to Silverton Mountain years ago.
“It was a pure joy type of experience,” Strasbourger said. “It’s a unique experience that I haven’t come across anywhere else in the world. It’s kind of a frozen-in-time mountain vibe. You feel like time stopped and you’re in the 1940s, old western mining town in Colorado.
“The ski experience feels similar, but in an amazing way, in its natural state. No groomed trails, very raw, very gritty, but super authentic,” he added.
The Brills founded the no-frills area nearly 25 years ago to create a haven for backcountry skiers and riders willing and eager to earn their turns. Efforts to contact them for comment were unsuccessful.
“We feel a sense of duty to protect places like Silverton,” Culp said. “There is so much respect (in the backcountry skiing community) and love for the purity of the Silverton experience. With that in mind, we are more or less going to keep it the same and slowly evolve it over time.”
Silverton’s operating permit does allow for the installation of additional lifts, but Culp said it’s too soon to know whether any will be added.
“A big focus for us is sustainability and working within the master planning for the town of Silverton,” Culp said. “In the near term, very little will change. It’s a very strong operation, with an extremely loyal customer base. … There are pros and cons to adding additional lifts. We will work very closely with our guiding team, which will have the best view on this. We’ll get to know the mountain as it is now, before we take any action on a second lift.”
Culp and Strasbourger launched Heli, formerly known as Heli Adventures Inc., in 2016 as an online marketplace for booking heli-skiing reservations. It has since expanded to include snowcat skiing, kite surfing, surfing, scuba diving, safari trips, mountain biking and yoga wellness. It has a curated list of operators and destinations on seven continents.
“You can think of it as the Airbnb for adventure travel,” Culp said.
In December, the company began to diversify by buying Great Canadian Heli-Skiing in British Columbia, an acquisition that included a lodge and 11 acres of land. “Silverton is obviously different,” Culp said. “We look at it as our second acquisition.”
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