Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies

Background Statement

Silverton and the surrounding San Juan Mountains have a longer history of grappling with snow and its mysteries. Mineral extraction drove the first significant wave of settlement in the San Juans in the latter half of the 19th Century, and the challenges of the now-world-famous San Juan snowpack became acutely, if belatedly, apparent. Merely subsisting in and traveling through the mountains taxed the ingenuity and endurance of those settlers. Worse, avalanches literally killed them, by the dozens, while working their mines, occupying their dwellings, and traveling the trails, roads, and railways.

Whether by dint of that history, or the spectacular access to alpine terrain that US Highway 550 afforded them, in 1971 a talented group of researchers descended on Silverton for a five-year project. Known as the "INSTAAR San Juan Project", and originally funded by the Division of Atmospheric Water Resources Management of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to evaluate the effects of cloud seeding, the project was ultimately referred to as an 'avalanche project' in the preface to its Final Report titled, "Avalanche Release and Snow Characteristics - San Juan Mountains, Colorado". That Preface, authored by Jack Ives, concluded with three recommendations. It stated, "This magnificent mountain area with its stalwart people and their attendant problems of natural hazard assessment, resource development, and land-use policy requirements, is considered as a superb natural laboratory for the enlargement of an important segment of the United States [UNESCO] Man and Biosphere Program. This should be pursued in three forms: basic research, applied research, and in training and education." American avalanche science made dramatic advances, thanks to the Silverton project, and many future leaders of American snow science, snow practice, and snow education earned their stripes here in the San Juans.

Nonetheless, the INSTAAR project (and other attendant) grants ran out and the 'Silverton avalanche project' was concluded, issuing several seminal reports. The vision of Silverton as an alpine laboratory did not entirely die, however. Most notably, two individuals - Chris George and Don Bachman - actively pursued Ives' (and their own) San Juans vision. In 1988 Chris formed CISSAR, the Colorado Institute for Snow Science and Avalanche Research. And, while serving as the lead forecaster for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center's Silverton Highway 550 program in the early/mid-90's, Don queried a number of universities and research organizations regarding the establishment of a mountain research field station in Silverton. Unfortunately, neither effort 'panned out', directly.

The CSAS has its roots in their efforts, and in the INSTAAR Silverton project. And, Silverton has recently embraced the notion of their community, and the San Juan Mountains, as a teaching and research venue for students of mountains. Building on the visions of Chris, Don, and other Silverton and Durango residents, the Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) was also organized in 2002, with its home base in Silverton and was a contributing factor in the early development of CSAS; each offers the other significant potential synergies. Now, CSAS continues to pursue the opportunity to establish a significant national snow system research and education resource that was first perceived by Ives, Bachman, George, and others.