John Sites, wearing the wolf hat, and Dillon Paxton ride the chairlift Saturday at Kendall Mountain Ski Area. The town’s tiny ski area attracted a crowd Saturday as the installation of the chairlift was celebrated with a grand opening, with lift tickets just $2 for adults and $1 for kids.

Yes, and it is happening on Saturday at the Town of Silverton’s Kendall Mountain Ski Area as part of the town’s celebration of the new double chairlift at the ski hill just a few blocks from historic downtown Silverton.

A severe winter storm dumped several inches of heavy, wet snow on Silverton Friday through Sunday morning, triggering travel restrictions on U.S. 550 and forcing Silverton Mountain Ski Area to delay its opening.

Silverton opened Monday after getting a reported four feet of new snow. We grabbed our skis and went to see what was what.

Silverton Mountain ski patroller Skylar Holgate snowboards at a mid-mountain elevation of 10,000 feet on Silverton Mountain Ski Area on Nov. 21. Silverton Mountain’s peak is 13,487 feet, the highest in North America. The ski area opens Saturday.

A spokesman for Telluride Helitrax, which is seeking a BLM permit to fly in some 600 skiers a year to ski backcountry powder in San Juan County, is appealing for understanding.

County commissioners ask BLM to limit flights; may seek a surcharge.

The Bureau of Land Management has issued a draft Environmental Assessment that would allow Telluride Helitrax to fly in up to 300 skiers a year to backcountry sites north and east of Silverton under a five-year permit.

First ski area to be issued a Land Use Lease by the federal government since Colorado’s Beaver Creek Resort in the mid-1980s