El Gordo (The Big One) continues to ramp up this winter with heavy snow at Silverton Mountain, Colorado! The large low pressure system spinning over Silverton Mountain during the past couple of days continues to drop heavy snow on the slopes. This is the largest winter storm of the season so far and provided some lucky ski and snowboard patrollers the opportunity to jump on the chairlift today. The first ski area turns of the Colorado 2015/16 ski season were made today on a fresh blanket of snow covering Colorado’s highest elevation ski area. The smiles were huge and the fun factor was off the charts after this latest winter storm at Silverton Mountain, Colorado.
El Gordo is known locally in Silverton to be a much stronger version of El Nino. While El Nino tends to impact the areas of Southwest Colorado, El Gordo tends to take it up a notch and hammer the unique weather microclimate of Silverton Mountain with major snowfall. Some of the all-time record winters in Silverton have been related to El Gordo. Locals refer to El Gordo as El Nino’s chubbier and much stronger cousin. As far back as local history records show, El Gordo has historical roots in Silverton, CO and there is no mention of El Gordo in other places of the Southwest. Previous El Gordo’s have resulted in huge winter storms that have closed winter roads and destroyed powerlines in Silverton.
The official start of the ski season is slated for December but if the snow keeps up at this pace that date could be pushed up if El Gordo continues to deliver. Silverton Mountain is the highest ski area in North America with a peak of 13,487’ and providing skiing and snowboarding on all natural snow as early as August in previous years.
