Hi, friends! I hope last week was good for you, that you’re looking forward to the next one and the rhythm of your life and your work is moving at a steady pace.

I’ve been thinking about pacing a bit more than usual in the last little while — and not just because photojournalist Hugh Carey backcountry skied from Camp Hale to Vail with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division last week.

We seem to be in that unnerving place in the economic cycle in Colorado. Things are starting to shake out. We’ve seen some businesses lock the doors and move on after trying so hard to survive the pandemic and other pressures that are far outside their control. Others, like the Techstars business accelerator in Boulder, are perhaps taking their own advice, observing conditions and hunting for an environment better suited for their goals.

Honestly, these events make me feel a little wistful. And yet, if you look a bit more closely, as Jason Blevins did at the sale of Silverton Mountain ski area for this week’s cover story, all of this upheaval is kind of normal and pretty exciting in the potential a change of management presents so long as the new crew shows up to lead with respect for the entrepreneurs who went first.

A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
Silverton Mountain has a single chairlift that climbs to 12,300 feet in the San Juans. (Kettler Thomas, Special to The Colorado Sun)

There is no ski resort experience like Silverton Mountain. The steep, frills-free hill in the southern San Juans is pretty much an anti-resort. There is no grooming. No dining. The base lodge is a tent. The logo for the ski hill is a yellow triangle with a skier falling down a cliff. Skiers navigate avalanche hazards and technical terrain. Every run includes lots of hiking.

The all-cap words below the map at the top of the tired double chair at 12,300 feet clearly define the experience for skiers as they strap skis to packs and prepare to climb. YOU COULD DIE HERE TODAY. THIS IS NOT A REGULAR SKI AREA.

Aaron and Jenny Brill wanted it that way. While their original vision certainly changed during their 24 years building Silverton Mountain, they never wavered from the core premise that their hill would be challenging and unlike anything else. They wanted skiers to take responsibility for themselves, as if they were traveling in the backcountry. So while the early 2000s plan of offering deeply discounted tickets to skiers for a simple lift ride morphed into guided skiing with a helicopter, accountability remained a foundational premise of Silverton Mountain.

The Brills sold Silverton Mountain last fall to a pair of 30-something entrepreneurs who had built a one-stop online shop — Heli.life — for adventurers seeking high-adrenaline holidays. Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger know their plan for Silverton Mountain will likely evolve as they unfold the next chapter for the steep-and-deep mecca 10 miles up a winding road above remote Silverton. But they promise they will continue to champion the Brills’ vision.

I got to visit with Culp and Strasbourger earlier this month during an exceptionally snowy couple days at their new hill. As giant flakes fell, they leaped off cliffs and flew through dense timber and spent hours chatting with guests and workers. They have no major plans. They might increase the helicopter skiing. They bought new gear for their team of 50 workers. Maybe they’ll add a food truck at the base. They bought a couple buildings in downtown Silverton that could become lodging or worker housing or both.

But they are not changing the terrain. Not overhauling the culture. Protecting the vibe.

Strasbourger says he wants to protect what the Brills built.

“Which is, like, this gritty, soulful, one-of-a-kind experience that just doesn’t exist,” he says, dangling on the slow and lofty double chair. “It’s not just the mountain or the terrain. It’s the vibe and how you feel when you are here and the people that make this place work. That’s the most important thing.”

READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE

It’s not unusual in Colorado to find multigenerational farmers in workwear sharing the room with businessmen in suits, or a professional skier sharing a skin track with U.S. Army soldiers. The Sun’s photographers are here to capture all the state’s contrasts, from the mountains to the plains.

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Tourists and several locals gaze at the hot air balloons during the Light up the Night event at Steamboat ski area Feb. 17 in Steamboat Springs. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
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Urban Peak case managers Gabriella Materon, far left, and Dara Amott, not pictured, visit Feb. 15 with unhoused Denver residents during an Urban Peak outreach visit to an encampment under the Sixth Avenue Freeway in Denver. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)
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Sveto Djokic, right, of Grand Junction, confronts a group of representatives from the U.S. Postal Service in town Thursday for a meeting at Colorado Mesa University on proposed changes to how the mail is handled. Djokic and numerous speakers voiced concerns about Interstate 70 and its frequent closures due to weather, accidents, rockfalls and wildfires should the USPS decide to move some operations from Grand Junction to Denver. (Gretel Daugherty, Special to the Colorado Sun)
A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
Olympic freeskier Mac Forehand, center, of the U.S. Ski Team, tours with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division during the Camp Hale to Vail traverse on Wednesday near Leadville. Forehand joined for the first several miles of the traverse to experience the life of a soldier, and participated in a variety of arctic military training exercises the previous day. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
Solar arrays sit above the snow at the Holy Cross Energy headquarters Feb. 18 in Glenwood Springs. The organization was started in 1939 by ranchers and farmers to bring electricity in the Roaring Fork and Eagle River valleys. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
The Merrifield family has opened three hot springs soaking pools next to its geothermal greenhouses up Cottonwood Pass above Buena Vista. (Courtesy photo)

For more than 100 years, the Merrifield family has fed Buena Vista. Since the early 1900s, the family has run many restaurants in the town. The Merrifield Garden Hut and Greenhouse on Main Street at U.S. 24 has been supplying local garden centers and residents with annuals, perennials, trees, fruit and vegetables year-round since the 1970s, all grown in the family’s geothermal greenhouses up Cottonwood Pass.

Now, the Merrifields are joining Chaffee County’s hot springs circuit. Last month they opened three soaking pools at their new Charlotte Hot Springs off County Road 343 west of town. The Upper Arkansas River Valley is heavy with hot springs, with Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort, Cottonwood Hot Springs Inn & Spa and the Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Center hosting public soakers. (There also are a handful of private cabins that offer geothermal springs for renters.)

The new Charlotte Hot Springs ($30 day pass Monday-Thursday and $35 Friday-Sunday) includes an indoor botanical garden, offering a steamy tropical paradise in the middle of winter. The Merrifield family also has renovated two homestead cabins available for nightly rentals, each with private hot springs pools.

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EXCERPT: Author Todd Fahnestock creates fantasy worlds with the best of them, but like most good stories, his lean heavily on character. That’s strikingly evident in this excerpt from the beginning of his novel, “Lorelle of the Dark,” in which three key players convene in what emerges as something of a strategy session for a war that lies ahead.

READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT

THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Ever wonder how fantasy novels get constructed? Fahnestock goes deep on his creations, including a riff on Dungeons & Dragons. He also explains how, whether in his guidelines for writing or for the characters in his fantasy novels, sometimes the unexpected path yields the best results. Here’s a slice from his Q&A:

SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book?

Fahnestock: I think the most important lesson about this book, the emotional thread of the thing, is that breaking the rules can sometimes be exactly what we need to grow. That sometimes the very well-meaning structures we create for ourselves — structures that may have even saved us at one point in our lives — can turn stifling later, can snuff out the magic that leads us to our best selves. Especially if that magic lies in the darker corners of our souls.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH TODD FAHNESTOCK

A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.

Urban Peak case manager Dara Amott, second from left, and unhoused Denver residents are pictured in silhouette during an Urban Peak outreach visit to an encampment under the Sixth Avenue Freeway on Feb. 15. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)

🌞 The Sun’s John Ingold and Chris Vanderveen from 9News worked with KFF Health on a major investigation and learned that UCHealth sues about 3,000 patients every year. But you won’t find its name on the lawsuits. Most were filed in the name of debt collectors working for the hospital system.

🌞 What does artificial intelligence look like in the classroom? Erica Breunlin went to Longmont where St. Vrain Valley Schools students are using AI as an engine for learning.

🌞 In political news this week, former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner popped up to endorse a candidate in the 4th Congressional District Republican primary. Spoiler: It wasn’t Lauren Boebert. In the statehouse, a bill has been offered that would give Colorado Parks and Wildlife more oversight of insects and plants. Lawmakers also are considering legislation that would use both carrot and stick to encourage denser residential development along transit corridors. And one of the gun safety bills on the docket died when it ran headlong into Democrats’ criminal justice reform ethos.

🌞 Is air pollution a new form of redlining? Michael Booth took a look at a new report — and maps — from University of Colorado researchers that show air pollution from auto and industrial sources concentrate in metro Denver’s most Hispanic and Native American neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a group of Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates on Thursday unveiled an ambitious package of legislation looking to reverse that trend and other pollution-related problems.

🌞 About 90 shares of Colorado-Big Thompson water sold in a Valentine’s Day auction for $4.7 million. It sounds like a lot of money, but Jerd Smith reports the deals were pretty sweet for farmers and ranchers trying to make sure their fields and livestock have enough water in dry years.

🌞 Maybe this won’t be such a dry water year as it seemed just last month. Shannon Mullane reports that snowpack is approaching 100% of normal in most of Colorado’s basins.

🌞 Colorado Springs would very much like it if people who are living on the streets would get into shelter and have access to services intended to help them remain housed. Jennifer Brown and Hugh Carey checked out the methods — including ticketing people for camping and then catching them after their court dates to try to direct them to housing and other help.

🌞 Is it a good idea to drive mail from the Western Slope to Denver and back before delivery? The U.S. Postal Service thinks it can save money with the plan. But post office customers told Nancy Lofholm the idea sounds like it came from someone who has never driven Interstate 70 before.

Thanks for hanging out with us today, friends. Enjoy the extra day this week and we will see you back here next Sunday in a fresh new month.

— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun

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Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

This byline is used for articles and guides written collaboratively by The Colorado Sun reporters, editors and producers.