{"id":22736,"date":"2025-04-10T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-silverton-backcountry-skiing-phenom-has-climbed-millions-of-vertical-feet-hes-only-13\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:16:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:16:35","slug":"a-silverton-backcountry-skiing-phenom-has-climbed-millions-of-vertical-feet-hes-only-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-silverton-backcountry-skiing-phenom-has-climbed-millions-of-vertical-feet-hes-only-13\/","title":{"rendered":"A Silverton backcountry skiing phenom has climbed millions of vertical feet. He\u2019s only 13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Griff
Griff Pinto is a 13-year-old backcountry skiing phenom from Silverton who spends more than 100 days a season climbing and skiing peaks in the San Juans. (Courtesy of Cliff Pinto, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SILVERTON \u2013 When the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, Griff Pinto was 8 and made a big decision: It was time to go all-in on skiing.<\/p>\n

Five years later, the 13-year-old from Silverton is a backcountry skiing phenom, climbing more than 500,000 vertical feet a winter and skiing long lines off remote peaks that challenge skiers many times his age. Under the careful eye of his dad, Cliff, and mom, Kim, he\u2019s become a social media superstar with helmet-cam videos of his audacious descents.<\/p>\n

Griff\u2019s dad, a longtime volunteer with the San Juan County\u2019s intrepid Silverton Medical Rescue Team, said \u201cit\u2019s taken a village\u201d to hone Griff\u2019s skills and avalanche awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are not a lot of people who are willing to go into the backcountry with a 7-year-old, or even a 13-year-old,\u201d Cliff says. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty unique the number of people in this community who have worked with Griff and mentored him and supported our sort of unorthodox parenting. And they\u2019ve mentored me and my wife, too. That support system has really enabled us to take this, like, different path, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griff was 9 when he sat his mom and dad down and said he wanted to be homeschooled in the winter, so he could ski more. His folks came up with a program that blends physical training with schoolwork. They\u2019ve made skiing a formal education.<\/p>\n

Griff gets up at 6 a.m. and does 45 minutes of exercises with weights and balancing. A friend put together an exercise program to develop core strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely helps. I can definitely push a lot harder than I could two years ago. I can go a lot faster without taking breaks,\u201d Griff says. \u201cMy best time up Irene\u2019s is an hour and three minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>

Irene\u2019s is a 2,200 vertical-foot climb of a popular, well-trafficked avalanche path just outside town. (For comparison, Griff\u2019s one-hour ascent of Irene\u2019s is about twice the pace of most backcountry skinners. So, he spends a good amount of time waiting on peaks as adults stomp up his skintrack.)<\/p>\n

In January, Griff and his dad climbed three peaks \u2013 Anvil, Battleship and Bear mountains \u2013 totaling more than 8,300 vertical feet of climbing and three descents in less than nine hours.<\/p>\n

Not every day is like that, of course. Some days the Pintos climb and ski small pillow lines in the trees. Other days they do long-haul traverses along timbered ridgelines and skip descents through avalanche terrain. Other times, when conditions are good and avalanche risk is manageable, they climb and ski off peaks. And some days, they just tromp through the woods, making their own trail in the hills above their town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do this one that, there\u2019s like three people in town who actually enjoy it,\u201d Griff says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a running joke in town where people tell us, \u2018Call me when you aren\u2019t going to go do one of those things,\u2019\u201d Cliff says. \u201cBut those things help us. Get enough of that type of work in and we can go stack 8,000 to 10,000 feet on a powder day. That\u2019s what we want to instill in Griff. There\u2019s a lot of work to do to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Learning in an accelerated manner\u2019<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty inspiring to see a kid more physically fit than most of the adults who are into it,\u201d said John Shocklee, a legendary ski and river guide who has worked at Silverton Mountain since 2002.<\/p>\n

Shocklee gets out often with Griff and Cliff and serves as a sort of backcountry mentor for both the skiers.<\/p>\n

When Griff was 8 he was climbing as much as 4,000 feet a day. Today he\u2019s climbing as much as 10,000 feet a day and more than 500,000 vertical feet a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got so much mileage out there,\u201d Shocklee says. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely learning in an accelerated manner. But he\u2019s still a kid, you know. He really loves his Legos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shocklee said some skiers and locals in Silverton worry about Griff. He charges some aggressive lines and Shocklee said he always makes sure someone is on the slope behind Griff in case he needs help on a descent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey keep it pretty safe,\u201d Shocklee says. \u201cThey definitely push it in the perspective of a lot of people around here, but I\u2019ve spent a huge amount of time out there with them and they are pretty levelheaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Griff
Griff Pinto climbs a San Juan couloir in November 2024 starting a backcountry season when the then 12-year-old climbed more than 500,000 vertical feet. (Courtesy of Cliff Pinto, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cliff said there are people who politely pass on ski days with Griff as well. The San Juan snowpack is notoriously avalanche prone \u2013 this winter there have been two avalanche deaths just outside Silverton \u2013 and Griff is out there six days a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is something as a parent I battle with daily,\u201d Cliff says.<\/p>\n

Griff said he listens closely to his backcountry partners, most of them much older than he is. He discusses terrain challenges and avalanche hazards on the skin track. He also prods older skiers for tips to improve his skiing. He skis often with renowned ski photographer Sven Brunso. (He had a quick part in Brunso\u2019s short biographical documentary \u201cSven \u2013 Life in Front of the Lens\u201d \u2013 last year.)<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the best advice I\u2019ve gotten is like how to improve my pole plants and other small things to help me get a little bit more forward,\u201d Griff says. \u201cAnd of course how to land jumps better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being present<\/div>\n

Griff gets invited to avalanche clinics at the famed Silverton Avalanche School. He\u2019s accompanied the school\u2019s snow scientists on forecasting trips. The Silverton Avalanche School offers a \u201cMicro Groms\u201d two-day avalanche education course for kids ages 9-11. In the spring, as the snowpack settles down, Griff will go out and choose lines to ski and climb them while his dad watches from below.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have started giving him more little freedoms like that, just getting him out there and experiencing the decision-making process,\u201d Cliff says. \u201cThat\u2019s what we are starting to do but it\u2019s because of what we have built on over several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cliff hopes that nudging Griff toward good decisions at age 13 will empower him in his 20s with the tools he needs to understand the consequences of a wrong call in unforgiving terrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about decision-making and voicing opinions, don\u2019t we?\u201d Cliff says.<\/p>\n

But a 13-year-old\u2019s brain is not as developed as a grown-up\u2019s brain. So Cliff and other mentors work to keep Griff tuned in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got crampons and ice axes and we are in no-fall zone terrain and he\u2019s talking about Legos. And we\u2019ll be like, \u2018Dude, shut up and focus,\u2019\u201d Cliff says. \u201cSometimes he\u2019s too comfortable, you know. And I wonder if that\u2019s a good thing. There are a lot of those kinds of grounding moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Griff
Griff Pinto and his dad, Cliff, climbed three San Juan peaks \u2013 Anvil, Battleship and Bear mountains \u2013 totaling more than 8,300 vertical feet of climbing and three descents in less than nine hours. (Courtesy of Cliff Pinto, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Griff says his backcountry adventures can often influence his regular life as a kid in a small town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have a pretty good awareness of what\u2019s happening around me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the word your dad always uses?\u201d Cliff says. His son looks at him for a second and squints his eyes. Then he smiles when he remembers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe present,\u201d Griff says.<\/p>\n

Cliff and his wife, Kim, were hauling Griff on long bike rides when he was a toddler. Sometimes they would bring the Strider bike \u2013 a pedal-less balance bike for aspiring cyclists who just learned to walk \u2013 and Griff would fly downhill, revealing what would become a defining characteristic of his youth.<\/p>\n

Cliff runs his Pedal the Peaks Silverton Bicycle Shop out of the garage behind their home and in the summer the duo pedal as much as they ski in the winter. Griff is not as much of a boss on the uphill on bikes, pedaling a machine that weighs half as much as him. But he crushes on the downhill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are both more proficient mountain bikers than they are skiers,\u201d Shocklee says.<\/p>\n

Guarding for burnout<\/div>\n

Shocklee has talked to Griff and Cliff about burnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s insane how much he\u2019s out there. Even if it was your full-time gig every single day, you might get a little tired of it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut Griff is motivated. He really wants to be out there doing this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even at a young age, Griff was project-oriented. He hammers out his homeschool assignments in bursts to sustain his days outside. He likes to dream up stuff to build with Legos when he\u2019s on those long climbs. He and his younger brother, Talon, often spend hours assembling Lego structures of their own design.<\/p>\n

\"Griff
Griff Pinto hopes to someday travel the world and make ski movies. The 13-year-old from Silverton is gaining international attention for his backcountry skiing. (Courtesy of Cliff Pinto, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cliff says he\u2019s watching closely for any sign that he\u2019s pushing too hard. Still, he\u2019s definitely pushing his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and my wife call me \u2018Svetlan\u2019 when I act like a Russian trainer,\u201d Cliff says, laughing. \u201cWe obviously are kind of intense in what we do and we are pretty regimented and people have asked us about burnout. I don\u2019t think you can do anything at the frequency we do and add a workout routine and totally avoid burnout. We are having fun, of course, but we are putting in a lot of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to future plans, Griff talks about traveling the world as a professional skier. Maybe he can star in ski movies. He hopes to someday draw the attention of Matchstick Productions, a Crested Butte ski moviemaker renowned for highlighting young up-and-coming skiers.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s already happened. Murray Wais, the co-founder of Matchstick Productions, has been watching Griffin for several years. Wais and his business partner, Steve Winter, were among the first to profile up-and-coming superstars like C.R. Johnson and Tanner Hall in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

But those guys were older than Griff in their ski-flick debuts. And they weren\u2019t climbing mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt MSP we always feature some young kid every couple years but Griff does seem to be a bit of an anomaly,\u201d says Wais, who expects to film Griff at some point. \u201cI have not heard of a kid his age skiing so much vert. I don\u2019t think anybody has. He\u2019s an inspiring kid and just a shredder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griff, at 60 pounds, is only now ready to graduate from high-end kids\u2019 skis and boots into adult gear. But it\u2019s hard to find quality technical outerwear for kids, so Griff either has to choose between lower quality children\u2019s gear or more technical gear sized extra-small for women.<\/p>\n

Even though he\u2019s a bit of a sensation on Instagram, Griff does not have a phone. His folks handle his social media posts and screen online messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in this weird thing where it\u2019s like he needs to be part of social media to build this brand and have it grow around him, but at the same time, we see how bad it can be for kids on social media in today\u2019s world,\u201d Cliff says. \u201cWe want him to be a part of that world \u2026 but that\u2019s kind of a thing we are wrestling with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griff isn\u2019t really wrestling though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like having a phone is a waste of time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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