Lines/Runs You Wish You Could Ski....

[MadMadWorld]

I had heard of the infamous Rocket Pocket at Sunshine Village and have only found a few links that mentioned a handful of people that have skied it (there was apparently a video of Colin Puskus skiing it but I have only seen pics). Until no one has seen video proof that anyone has skied it. These guys have huge balls and the video doesn't do this thing justice....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydEGPtiWWk4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Which brings me to my final point.....what is the one line/run you wish you had the guts to ski?

 

[Puck it]

I have only back away on one run. It was Corbet's. It was not the run, it was the conditions. It was rock hard in the landing area and did not want to risk an injury with more skiing to do. In powder, there is no backing off if the snow conditions are right.

 

[deadheadskier]

I would've skied Corbett's in high school without blinking an eye. Now a couple of decades older, I have more of a sense of self preservation that I just don't need that kind of a thrill. I still enjoy a good challenge, but I can't say that I wish I have the balls now that I did when I was younger.

It's impressive to see footage of others skiing lines like that and that Pocket Rocket shot, but I never really think to myself, "boy, I wish I could do that."

 

[thetrailboss]

Someday...Pipeline at Snowbird:

That looks pretty sick:

 

[MadMadWorld]

Nice shots. I bet that holds snow really well in the spring....and pretty much all winter

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice shots. I bet that holds snow really well in the spring....and pretty much all winter

From what I saw this season, yes it does. We just did not get enough snow to make it worthwhile. Some folks were hiking it in April or so.

 

[MadMadWorld]

I would've skied Corbett's in high school without blinking an eye. Now a couple of decades older, I have more of a sense of self preservation that I just don't need that kind of a thrill. I still enjoy a good challenge, but I can't say that I wish I have the balls now that I did when I was younger.

It's impressive to see footage of others skiing lines like that and that Pocket Rocket shot, but I never really think to myself, "boy, I wish I could do that."

I skied JH once in college and did Corbet's twice that day. The above poster is right, I would definitely not want to do it under certain conditions. Many people might disagree with my next statement. But I think that Corbet's fame comes from the fact that it is the hardest marked run in North American that is easily accessible to the average skier. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of more difficult inbound chutes out there but they are generally not marked on the map or require boot packs or avalanche gates.

 

[MadMadWorld]

From what I saw this season, yes it does. We just did not get enough snow to make it worthwhile. Some folks were hiking it in April or so.

What lift is that close to? How long is the hike up?

 

[thetrailboss]

What lift is that close to? How long is the hike up?

Here is a trail map that shows the Pipeline. The newer versions do not:

From what I have heard it is a 45 minute hike, either by ascending the ridge from Little Cloud or by going up a bootpack/gate right before Road to Provo becomes Mark Malu.

The map does not do justice to the size of the Little Cloud Basin or the bowls underneath the Twins. There is a lot of great skiing there. I skied Pipeline Bowl this season and it was nice.

And Corbet's looks sick.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I had heard of the infamous Rocket Pocket at Sunshine Village and have only found a few links that mentioned a handful of people that have skied it (there was apparently a video of Colin Puskus skiing it but I have only seen pics). Until no one has seen video proof that anyone has skied it. These guys have huge balls and the video doesn't do this thing justice....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydEGPtiWWk4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Which brings me to my final point.....what is the one line/run you wish you had the guts to ski?

Sunshine Village is no joke. Most incredible place I have ever skiied. Blessed to have had the oppotunity to go there (also Lake Louise and Norquay on the same vacation).

There are a few "runs" at Sunshine I would back away from. Rocket Pocket is probably one of them. Delerium Dive might be another. I did not ski Delerium Dive or Silver City at Sunshine, in part because that is some wildly steep stuff (and I was younger / less experienced skiier at the time as well). But in big part also being that these mountains were way up in the clouds a lot of the time. Visibility was sketchy. Going into those chutes for the first time, knowing they are notoriously steep and long, and not being able to see far ahead (down) is scary shit.

At least I can say I skiied Hell's Kitchen and The Wildside on Goat's Eye. Hell's Kitchen is insanely steep and I ate a few trees on that one!

In recent years, I've only turned around or exited runs two times I can remember. One time was at Jay where I started heading down the Ridge off the beaten path and found myself looking straight down a rocky face packed with shrubs. The other time was in some glade at Killington that was closed at the time and the snow was so crusty I kept catching my skis on every turn, it was slow going and a real pain so I made a sideways exit through the trees to the nearest trail.

So I don't know if there's much I can't ski that I would actually want to. Trails like Corbet's Couloir don't appeal to me. To be honest Paradise at MRG is about as far as I care to take it... and other sidecountry-ish areas of similar difficulty. I don't go skiing so I can risk falling a thousand feet to my death and then get covered by an avalanche.

But yeah, Sunshine Village FTW. If anyone goes there check out the Garbage Chutes on Mt Standish. Nothing really extreme but that was one of my favorite runs. Fond memories.

And for Lake Louise my favorite area was the chutes and trees off the Ptarmigan Chair. Lots of big bowls there, but I like the tighter runs.

 

[drjeff]

I would've skied Corbett's in high school without blinking an eye. Now a couple of decades older, I have more of a sense of self preservation that I just don't need that kind of a thrill. I still enjoy a good challenge, but I can't say that I wish I have the balls now that I did when I was younger.

It's impressive to see footage of others skiing lines like that and that Pocket Rocket shot, but I never really think to myself, "boy, I wish I could do that."

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What DHS said!

 

[MadMadWorld]

Sunshine Village is no joke. Most incredible place I have ever skiied. Blessed to have had the oppotunity to go there (also Lake Louise and Norquay on the same vacation).

There are a few "runs" at Sunshine I would back away from. Rocket Pocket is probably one of them. Delerium Dive might be another. I did not ski Delerium Dive or Silver City at Sunshine, in part because that is some wildly steep stuff (and I was younger / less experienced skiier at the time as well). But in big part also being that these mountains were way up in the clouds a lot of the time. Visibility was sketchy. Going into those chutes for the first time, knowing they are notoriously steep and long, and not being able to see far ahead (down) is scary shit.

At least I can say I skiied Hell's Kitchen and The Wildside on Goat's Eye. Hell's Kitchen is insanely steep and I ate a few trees on that one!

In recent years, I've only turned around or exited runs two times I can remember. One time was at Jay where I started heading down the Ridge off the beaten path and found myself looking straight down a rocky face packed with shrubs. The other time was in some glade at Killington that was closed at the time and the snow was so crusty I kept catching my skis on every turn, it was slow going and a real pain so I made a sideways exit through the trees to the nearest trail.

So I don't know if there's much I can't ski that I would actually want to. Trails like Corbet's Couloir don't appeal to me. To be honest Paradise at MRG is about as far as I care to take it... and other sidecountry-ish areas of similar difficulty. I don't go skiing so I can risk falling a thousand feet to my death and then get covered by an avalanche.

But yeah, Sunshine Village FTW. If anyone goes there check out the Garbage Chutes on Mt Standish. Nothing really extreme but that was one of my favorite runs. Fond memories.

And for Lake Louise my favorite area was the chutes and trees off the Ptarmigan Chair. Lots of big bowls there, but I like the tighter runs.

Conditions at Sunshine can sometimes be sketchy at best. They really should rename the place! One foggy day we were trying to ski Garbage Chutes and ended up skiing off the back of Standish and ended up having to hoof it across the lake and up through the meadows. Thankfully we had skins and avi gear to help us get out of that mess but it was so foggy that day we had no idea we were even standing on that massive lake. Silver City is no longer open. I don't even know why they bothered. That place is an avalanche waiting to happen. The angle of the slope, the amount of sunshine that spot gets and the massive cornice that builds up at the top screams danger to me. Delirium Dive reminds me a lot of Tuckerman's. If you can ski the Headwall at Tucks, then Delirium Dive is within your ability.

I am with you on Hell's Kitchen. It is a fun trail that has a lot of character. It is just as steep as any of the couloirs and chutes next to it in the Wild West area. Thankfully, when the trail gets really steep it opens up and there not many trees.

 

[arik]

this thread is making me hungry, particularly the good pics of pipeline

 

[bobbutts]

I feel like I could ski or board tons of things I don't. There's several excuses (safety, expense, conditioning). As with some others, my bar has gone down from previous times, but it really wasn't all that high even at it's peak. Of course there's some desire to go after it, I think we all feel it.

 

[bigbog]

EDIT: Would really like to try to ski as much of the NE as possible this coming season...good part is...the skiing is mucho better, downside is that I just can't drive without sufficient sleep anymore..LOL.

That is beautiful stuff TB. Think this coming season is finally time to get out West...

 

[AdironRider]

Sunshine Village is no joke. Most incredible place I have ever skiied. Blessed to have had the oppotunity to go there (also Lake Louise and Norquay on the same vacation).

There are a few "runs" at Sunshine I would back away from. Rocket Pocket is probably one of them. Delerium Dive might be another. I did not ski Delerium Dive or Silver City at Sunshine, in part because that is some wildly steep stuff (and I was younger / less experienced skiier at the time as well). But in big part also being that these mountains were way up in the clouds a lot of the time. Visibility was sketchy. Going into those chutes for the first time, knowing they are notoriously steep and long, and not being able to see far ahead (down) is scary shit.

At least I can say I skiied Hell's Kitchen and The Wildside on Goat's Eye. Hell's Kitchen is insanely steep and I ate a few trees on that one!

In recent years, I've only turned around or exited runs two times I can remember. One time was at Jay where I started heading down the Ridge off the beaten path and found myself looking straight down a rocky face packed with shrubs. The other time was in some glade at Killington that was closed at the time and the snow was so crusty I kept catching my skis on every turn, it was slow going and a real pain so I made a sideways exit through the trees to the nearest trail.

So I don't know if there's much I can't ski that I would actually want to. Trails like Corbet's Couloir don't appeal to me. To be honest Paradise at MRG is about as far as I care to take it... and other sidecountry-ish areas of similar difficulty. I don't go skiing so I can risk falling a thousand feet to my death and then get covered by an avalanche.

But yeah, Sunshine Village FTW. If anyone goes there check out the Garbage Chutes on Mt Standish. Nothing really extreme but that was one of my favorite runs. Fond memories.

And for Lake Louise my favorite area was the chutes and trees off the Ptarmigan Chair. Lots of big bowls there, but I like the tighter runs.

You realize they are owned by the WORST owners is all of skiing right?

I usually tend to think most ownership griping is unwarranted and mostly a "me first" attitude problem, but in this case, they really are terrible.

Background for those who don't know. Ownership fired a bunch of ski patrol two years back for getting the owners son in trouble for skiing a closed, un-patrolled area in high slide danger. Rather than commend the patrollers for doing their jobs, they just canned anyone who looked at them funny. Then when word got out, they threatened to sue anyone who wrote about it on the internet, including TGR.

Terrain is pretty awesome though, so I agree with you 100% there.

 

[MadMadWorld]

Indeed

You realize they are owned by the WORST owners is all of skiing right?

I usually tend to think most ownership griping is unwarranted and mostly a "me first" attitude problem, but in this case, they really are terrible.

Background for those who don't know. Ownership fired a bunch of ski patrol two years back for getting the owners son in trouble for skiing a closed, un-patrolled area in high slide danger. Rather than commend the patrollers for doing their jobs, they just canned anyone who looked at them funny. Then when word got out, they threatened to sue anyone who wrote about it on the internet, including TGR.

Terrain is pretty awesome though, so I agree with you 100% there.

Yes, this was a horribly mishandled situation by SV owners. The owners son was trying to show off for a group of buddies by taking his friends into Delirium Dive when it was closed. Patrol pulled their passes and they got fired as a result. A bunch of other patrollers and director of avi safety got let go because they stood behind the other patrollers. However, a great thing came out of this because all those patrollers opened up a cat skiing operation over at Fortress Mountain. For those that aren't familiar, it was the mountain featured in the movie Inception and can also be seen in the trailer for Bourne Legacy. It is a great experience for anyone that wants to experience champagne pow and do some tree skiing! Here is the link, these guys are awesome!

http://wwww.kpow.ca