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There is a secret in the San Juans. High in the mountains surrounding Silverton is a halfpipe, designed especially for Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White. It's called Project-X. This backwoods venue is where Shaun White gets his own playground to practice. "I've had all these tricks in my mind I wanted to try. I just needed a place to figure them out."

Silverton teamed up with Red Bull to find the spot for the halfpipe. Snow Park Technologies started building it, welding together 8,000 pounds of steel, and building an on-mountain snowboard foam pit. The big winter blasts of snow at Silverton will cover it up. Helicopters and snowmobiles get Shaun up the hill to the top of the pipe.

Jen Brill with Silverton says, "Our guests got to ski the terrain above the pipe, but we kept the guests out of the pipe.  A few lucky guests got to see him ride but not many as it was top secret."

Shaun plans to release an arsenal of new tricks this season. He is scheduled to be at Copper Mountain for the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in mid-December.

Silverton plans to open for the season Dec. 5. Silverton offers a $49 unguided lift ticket for guests to experience the all-natural advanced and expert terrain. Private and group-guided tours are also available.

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