Steepest, Sickest Trail You Ever.......

What's the steepest trail/cliff/chute/cornice, etc., you ever skied/boarded/telemarked/crashed down/fell/attempted?

East -

1 - Outer Limits (Killington). I went down this years ago when Bear Peak first opened, and it still gives me nightmares. As a trained racer, I was never very good at skiing bumps, and this was ridiculous.

2 - Hawkeye (Gore) - Nothing but ice, rock and air. Better be on your old skis.

3 - Liftline (Stowe) - Right off the top, you better have your "A" game or the folks on the chair will hoot at you.....

Honorable Mention - Goat at Stowe. I wouldn't even consider skiing it, even as a 22-year-old. I looked at it from the top, but the fall line drops away so severely to your left all the way down, and to me it seemed there was no way to get over your skis properly, so I slunk away and climbed back up to Nosedive and hoped nobody noticed......

West -
1 - Alf's High Rustler (Alta) - you have to see this to believe it. Worse than Goat for a fall-away fall line, and much, much longer. This I actually skied (as an adult) and was thankful for the bail-out through the woods about 2/3 of the way down.
2 - Pavalacini (Arapahoe Basin) - the people skiing this are to be commended. I saw women there putting me to shame, and they all had legs like tree trunks. Insane straight-down chutes in the shade and covered with icy bumps. Completely nuts.
3 - Triple Treat (Copper) - 2.5 miles of bumpy hell.

It's topics like this that I shudder and think "When does hiking season start again?"

I know, I know, the fact that I think there is a time NOT to hike show what a n00b I am... :wink:

My first time down a slope, it just seemed like the mountain disappeared beneath me and I was airborne. I don't remember much after that... except the walk down the slope.

-T

this is a tough question. there is not much in new england that i consider excessively steep (in bounds that is), so nothing immediately stands out in my mind.

red line at magic i had to get some nerve up to ski the first time. i've yet to ski tramline at cannon. i'm more concerned about the rocks and mandatory air than the steep factor though. liftlines in general are usually the steepest trails on most mountains, and i love them! i guess i've never gotten myself in over my head and had a really ugly experience that i'd never forget.

i'm overdue on my tuckerman innitiation. that's about as extreme as it gets in new england.

West:

Lifties leap - Whistler...


East:

Probably the Chute at Tucks....

I'm the opposite of Rivercoil on this one. There are many New England trails that intimidate me and I love knowing that I still have so much left to conquer.

My list include trails that are not the hardest at each area.

Mad River Glen - Panther
Ascutney - Blind Faith
Whaleback - YOOYM, Blow Hole
Attitash - Tim's Trauma
Ragged - Joe's Ravine
Stowe - Hackett's HIghway
Okemo - Outrage
Berkshire East - Tomahawk, Flying Cloud, Liftline

Joshua B said:

I'm the opposite of Rivercoil on this one. There are many New England trails that intimidate me and I love knowing that I still have so much left to conquer.

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I wouldn't say that at this point in my skiing 'career' that there are many trails that intimidate me, necessarily. I no longer worry about surviving a run, but skiing it well is a different story. I still find many runs; particularly bumps, crud, powder, steeps; a challenge, and either a huge confidence boost or a major blow.

I can remember back though to some of my early days (started skiing at 20) and the ones that top the list are:

Outer Limits - Had been skiing only a few season at the time. Huge moguls; should not have been on it.
Superstar - See above.
The Witches at Haystack - we hiked up since the Witches lift was closed due to wind. Everything was blown off and they were a nightmare to get down.
A diamond at Southington in CT - First time skiing and my buddy sent me down it. It's a nothing trail, really, but at the time it seemed like a cliff. I made it down incident-free and was officially hooked!

There are probably others. From some of the other posts here, it's apparent I still have a lot of mountains/trails left to experience.

Riptide at MtSnow... took me a while to get down, was steep and icey as hell. After I got down, I turned around and had one of the most amusing experiences seein' some dude come down ~1/5th of the way, slip forward/back , lose balance and tumble down the rest of the way... holy sh__, after making sure he survived, was freakin' hysterical..

Have to agree what a p.i.t.a. steep moguls can be, like outerlimits @ kton.

Worst wipe-out was at Jiminiy Peak coming down one of the diamonds to the left as you get off the six. 2nd or 3rd one over. Was coming down, haulin' arse / flying, cut across to avoid friend and lost it heading straight for the woods, both skis off, managed to dig in and stop before the trees... whew!

nrthest said:

Worst wipe-out was at Jiminiy Peak coming down one of the diamonds to the left as you get off the six. 2nd or 3rd one over. Was coming down, haulin' arse / flying, cut across to avoid friend and lost it heading straight for the woods, both skis off, managed to dig in and stop before the trees... whew!

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Sounds like Jericho! Great steep run. Probably one of the steepest in the Berks.

Beast at Berkshire East - steeeeep

I read somewhere that Jerhico at Jiminy is a true 35 degrees at its steepest. Anyone have more on this?

East- Most Double-Blacks I've skied made me nervous. I'm just starting to be able to ski Black Diamond runs. It's a lot different than falling on a Blue.

West- Some spot at Alta my friend tried to ski me down. there were trees and, oh yeah THAT sign. "This is some of the most difficult terrain here at Alta. . ." I bailed out after two pathetic turns.

Mineral Basin, looking down from the top of the Little Cloud lift at Snowbird. I backed away as I was getting Vertigo. Then some of my buddies jumped in. I took the cat-track to a less severe pitch.

Jimme

jimme said:

I read somewhere that Jerhico at Jiminy is a true 35 degrees at its steepest. Anyone have more on this?

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I would believe this. There is a really steep section towards the bottom. However, it's maybe only 50-100 feet of vertical. Overall it's a pretty steep run. The right side is great when there's a lot of natural...

Here are a bunch of pics I found from Jiminy:

http://www.teresco.org/pics/jiminy-20020321/

In the seventh pic you'll see the steeps of Jiminy. Of those four on the main face, Jericho is second from the left. Further down the page are views from the top of Jericho. These pics are getting me pumped for Sunday!

Those are some great pictures. Although seeing all those straight up and down trails reminds me of corporate skiing.

Jericho does look great. The snow on it looked sooo soft that day.

Yup. The steeps at Jiminy are straight drops. They do roll a bit so they're still fun. The best trails at Jiminy are Wild Turkey, North Glade, and the Foxes. Liftline is a natural trail that looks cool, but I have yet to try that one. Noreaster and Cutter are cool too. If you've never been, Josh, check it out. The high speed 6 lets you get in a lot of skiing despite the limited vert, especially on a weekday.

Well I grew up in Russell, MA (near Westfield) so I've skied most of the Berkshire areas. Went to Jiminy's opening day a few years ago, soon after they installed the six pack. A huge line formed in front of the ticket window because they didn't start selling tickets until about 15 minutes after the mountain was scheduled to open. But the skiing was good. Nice place. Too commercial for my taste, but I don't hate the playa, I hate the game. 8)

okay, so i take what i said back. i can remember i run i was glad i was alive when i reached the bottom. spruce cliffs at sunday river about 4 years ago. it was march and the entire mountain was open except for maybe a half dozen trails. spruce cliffs was one of them.

it's a double black rated steep glade trail. for some reason, i was compelled to duck a rope and ski a steep glade trail i had never even been down while it was open.

it didn't take long to realized why it was closed. about halfway down i was forced to start side slipping because there was not enough snow to safely "ski" the trail. the trail was very steep and the trees were tight. a couple dozen feet from the end of the "cliffs" teh snow was really getting sparse. and i was side slipind down a combo of snow dirt and rock.

eventually, the snow ended completely about 10 vertical feet from the conclusion of the trail. i decide to click outta my skis and try to walk down (was thinking more about my bases than my head!).

i slipped on some ice, hit the ground hard on my ass, and started sliding for a tree. i let my skis and poles go tumbling down and put a boot out for the tree. i came to an instant and dead stop. before i knew it, i was sliding sideways around the tree completing a full 180 degree turn. my head pointing straight down the fall line, i began to slide again.

i got launched off a rock, dropped 5 feet, and landed in the flat snow staring straight up the trail lieing flat on my back. truly a life flashing before my eyes type moment. not a smart move. but it hasn't stopped me from ducking ropes!!!!!

also, for some reason i've never had a good run down angel street at loon. it's not that tough of a trail, but i think i just psyche myself out when i stand at the top of the first steep drop. i've been trying that trail for half my life, and i always end up looking like an idiot on there, usually falling. it's not tough though, it just always licks me for some reason.

riverc0il said:

also, for some reason i've never had a good run down angel street at loon. it's not that tough of a trail, but i think i just psyche myself out when i stand at the top of the first steep drop. i've been trying that trail for half my life, and i always end up looking like an idiot on there, usually falling. it's not tough though, it just always licks me for some reason.

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Cool run. The start of it seems to just drop into nowhere, doesn't it? I really love those East Basin trails.

Great SR story, Steve. Time for that helmet!

The only trail I ever chickened out on was jumping off the cliff on Rasputin's at Vail.

The hardest trail I ever did in the East was the notch off of Mt. Mansfield at Stowe. There is a chute at the top that's about 8 feet wide and 50 yrds long. That was tough. I also found the bottom part of Julio at Killington tough as it was all skied off and difficult to turn.


cps27

alright, the hardest I have ever skied in the east is tramline at cannon, the part where air is mandatory is especially steep.

the hardest in the west is palavachinni, and it is spectacular,