Powderhounds Review

Silverton Powdercats Cat Skiing Review The Powderhounds became Powdercats for the day to review Silverton Powdercats (formerly El Diablo Snowcat Skiing) and to prove that dogs and cats can in fact get along.

The review covers different aspects of their operation and you can determine if Silverton Powdercats is likely to align with your priorities. That being said, the cat skiing is incredibly enjoyable so you’ll have an awesome time regardless of your priorities!

Pros

  • There’s a high probability of getting lots of skiing and boarding in with Silverton Powdercats. The cat track system is really efficient and the snowcat seems to be super charged. It powers up steep slopes that you wouldn’t think possible, and the chances of waiting for the cat at the bottom of the runs are slim.
  • Considering that the operation is based atop Molas Pass, there’s only a short cat ride to get to the top of the first run. The last run of the day is skied down to the parking lot, so there are no long cat rides up or down the mountain. Apart from lots of vertical, an associated benefit is that the cat ski day doesn’t have to start at an ungodly hour and you can enjoy your Zzzzs a bit longer.
  • Silverton Powdercats cater well to strong intermediate powder skiers and boarders. - The guides are very entertaining!
Cons
  • Powder ski or board hire is not included in the rates, nor available at Silverton Powdercats. Fat skis would be very beneficial for most skiers, especially considering the sometimes crusty snow, but it’s a little inconvenient to hire powder skis. There’s a ski shop in Silverton that has a few pairs of fat skis, or you could hire some from Silverton Mountain (only open Thursday to Sunday). The other option is to get ski rentals at Durango Mountain Resort.
  • The actual acreage of the ski area is unknown, but it’s not particularly big. There may not be adequate terrain to keep advanced and expert riders entertained for more than a couple of days of cat skiing.
Powder Snow
Silverton Powdercats don’t provide an annual snowfall statistic (which may mean that they do measure it and are not proud of it, or they don’t measure it which means they are not monitoring their snowpack with precision). However if the amount of snowfall is anywhere in the realm of the neighbouring Silverton Mountain, then quantity of snowfall shouldn’t be an issue. And ditto for snow quality, so after a fresh snowfall, Silverton Powdercats should absolutely rock. However if it hasn’t snowed for a few days, the lack of trees to protect the powder can be a problem. When we visited, much of the snow in the open areas was rather crusty.
Tree Skiing
  
It’s tricky to categorise the alpine terrain versus the tree skiing at Silverton Powdercats. One hundred plus years ago some super annoyed Ute Indians allegedly set the forest on fire as a parting gift to the whites. Now there are areas completely devoid of trees or with only the occasional tree. In other areas the trees are really widely spaced apart with a smattering of little Xmas trees, so it’s not tree skiing in its truest sense. The openness is fantastic for strong intermediates, with plenty of room for error. The downside of this can be that the snow is exposed to the elements.
Alpine Terrain  
Proportionally Silverton Powdercats has a lot of “alpine terrain”, much of which is suitable for strong intermediates. However the overall terrain size is not particularly large so the alpine terrain lacks some variety.
Strong Intermediate Terrain  
Mellow terrain is an absolute strength of this cat skiing operation. With wide open gentle slopes and the occasional steeper pitch, powde skiing intermediates will be in absolute heaven. Five out of five for this category would have been awarded if the overall terrain size was larger.
Advanced Terrain
  
The “real” tree skiing rocks, but there’s not enough of it. The open areas are plenty of fun for speed demons and there are interesting terrain features such as rocks and lips for some air time.
Expert & Extreme Terrain
  Not rated
(No rating) In the upper areas they have some hike-to terrain that is definitely for experts only. Commonly the snowpack during the regular season isn’t conducive to super steep skiing, but in spring this is a possibility so long as you book out the whole cat with your fellow expert riders.
Overall Terrain
  
The size of the terrain is stated as “thousands of acres”. It’s not particularly large, especially in comparison to San Juan Ski Co down the road, or BC cat skiing operations. There’s not an abundance of variety and fresh tracks are not necessarily guaranteed. On the plus side, all the slopes have continued gradient right down to the cat track so there are no boring run-outs.
Guiding  Not Rated
(No rating) We were unable to review this component as we went out with Powdercats on an informal day without specific guiding. However it’s definitely possible to state that you’ll have a very entertaining day. You’ll hear lots of great stories and go home with a new vocabulary!
Snowcat  
The Piston Bully snowcats are fast and whizz up the slopes, and combined with the efficient cat track system, you’ll never have to wait for the cat. They also have a backup cat in the unlikely event of mechanical issues.

The internal cabin set up is good for socialising as it’s well insulated. One row of the seats faces backwards which can be a little uncomfortable when travelling up the steep hills. There is no heating in the cat, but this probably won’t be an issue. If anything it’s probably more likely to be too warm and they often travel with the back door open, so don’t fall out!
Avalanche Mitigation Strategies
  
One could only assume that Silverton Powdercats have safety protocols and avalanche mitigation strategies, because these are not evident on their website or during the experience. This seems to indicate that they do not take pride in their approach to safety or the qualifications of the guides. This is reasonably common amongst Colorado cat skiing and other USA operations where there is not the same degree of industry regulation as found with Canada cat skiing.
Frills  
Silverton Powdercats are up there as providing one of the best lunches in the business! They fashion together a table and bench seats which is rather luxurious. Lunch consists of chips, cookies and DIY gourmet sandwiches with a range of beautiful meats, freshly cut salad ingredients, and yummy condiments including mustard that will knock your socks off. The fresh sandwiches definitely beat the soggy ones you normally get when cat or heli skiing! Strangely they don’t provide any water.
Other than the lovely lunch this is largely a no frills cat ski operation with a tent where you’ll start the day to sign waivers, no après or photography session to end the day, and no provision of powder skis.
Value For Money
  
This cat ski operation would be fantastic value for money if they included powder skis. Nevertheless it’s still reasonably priced, and the Monday to Wednesday rate is an absolute bargain basement special!


Notes Regarding Review The review is largely based on our experience, but also on discussions with staff, former guests, and information available on their website. Our review has some limitations as it’s not possible to ski every run and in all possible snow and weather conditions. We acknowledge that everyone’s experience will be slightly different and the ratings are from our perspective only. For information on the factors considered in the review, and to compare the Silverton Powdercats ratings to other cat ski operators, see our heli and cat ski ratings document.


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