Feature Articles
Silverton Mountain: In A Class By Itself
Sucking wind.
That’s what first pops into my mind when I recall my trip to Silverton Mountain.
Note to self: No matter how fit you are, flatlanders should build in at least one or two days of acclimating before trying to hike to terrain above 12,000 feet. Scheduling prevented us from doing that this time, but never again, I vowed to myself.
Wow! Check out those views!
That’s my second thought. Once I could find it in me to look up instead of at my plodding ski boots, vast wilderness greeted me. Tucked up into the mountains far away from civilization, the only evidence of people was Silverton’s one chairlift and camp-like base area, plus cars lined up in the dirt parking lot, and you don’t see them for long. Everywhere I looked, I saw steep chutes and bowls sliced by jagged cliffs. Some of it looked unforgiving, some offered lines that begged to be skied.
Photographer's Notebook:
Lose Yourself in the Mystique of White Sands National Monument
White Sands, New Mexico. If you’ve heard of it, you’re either a history buff or a landscape photographer. White Sands was the test site for the infamous Manhattan Project and also is one of the most beautiful albeit otherworldly places in North America.
Nestled into Southeastern New Mexico in the Chihuahuan Desert are 275 square miles of gypsum dunes. This is the largest pure gypsum dune field in the world. Gypsum is a water soluble material. Consequently it can only accumulate in extremely dry environments. The Tularosa Basin, besides being sufficiently dry, also is an area that has no drainage. Rain, when it does fall, has no where to go. Dissolved gypsum dries and is then recycled into the dunes.
Unlike sand, these dunes are almost completely white and very fine. At first glance, they look covered in snow. At twilight the shapes and shadows create an eerie feeling. It’s completely quiet and if you’re all alone, you start to feel like you have somehow been transported to a magical place. It’s a bit disorienting, as well. White dunes spread as far as the eye can see until they abruptly end at dark mountains in the distance. Commonly, distant mountains whitened by snow are the expected sight, so this view is strikingly upside down…and it’s so quiet.