I got the call from long time colleague, ski photographer, Jeff Cricco late Tuesday night; “Dude ya gotta get down here it’s gonna be sick, we’ll kill it. Helitrax is getting us up for a day of shooting” He didn’t have to convince me, say the word heli and I’ll drop everything. I had been keeping an eye on the forecast for Southwestern Colorado the past few days and it had become clear it was going to dump! The San Juan Mountains were a bullseye for 20-30″ over the course of the next 3 days….

I packed my gear, loaded my SkiDoo into the truck and hit the road to Silverton, CO the following am; about a 5-6 hour drive from my home in Breckenridge, CO. I had made it just early enough in the day on Wednesday that the snow had just started falling and the roads where in good shape, just the normal wildlife (deer, elk, bighorn sheep) on the side of the road and rubber necking scenery….gotta love the western slope of Colorado.

I met Jeff at a trailhead just past Silverton Mountain Ski Area around 7am, passing crowds of people gearing up for the day at the resort; the powder panic is REAL…

There were no other snowmobilers/skiers in sight at the parking lot, YES! Bouncing up the road on the ski doo’s through a foot of pow laughing, we get to tree line and somehow the sky clears!!! 10-15″ of light dry powder high in the alpine around 12’500-13,000ft with little wind effect…. we laughed to each other, is this happening!!?!! We made a plan, discussed the snowpack, set the hill climb up to the top with the ski doo’s and proceeded to have one hell of a morning.