Alas, NewMexiKen has never skied and I’m not likely to start now, but this article about Silverton Mountain makes me wish I did. It begins:
Chances are you’re not good enough to ski Silverton Mountain — or to ski it with grace, anyway. Don’t take this personally: This six-year-old, vertigo-inducing backcountry “ski area” in the San Juan mountains of southwest Colorado that scoffs at niceties like slope grooming (and running water, but we’ll get to that) has a way of quickly separating, with the deftness of a croupier, the rippers from the gapers, the noobs and the one-and-done’s (but we’ll get to them, too). Acre for acre, it’s the most challenging lift-skiing in North America.