11 of the world’s scariest ski runs

[KustyTheKlown]

I was talking to a patroller on the lift at Bretton Woods a couple weeks back about Jackson Hole. He said he'd done Corbet's Couloir and that it wasn't too bad. Apparently it's all about sticking the landing at the entry and then it's smooth sailing.

corbet's is not scary or particularly difficult. it's just exposed to public view. that's the only reason it's so famous. you see it from the tram, and regular skiers can just pull up at the bottom of it to watch. its a ~10 foot vertical drop in into a pretty damn wide chute that is always full of great snow. even if you eat shit on the entry, you pop up in deep fluff. aint no risk of death in freakin corbetts.

 

[jimk]

I'm sure all those places have stuff that can get your sphincter to tighten up. There are a couple I can actually comment on from recent experience.
(Caveat, I'm old and suck and often go into survival mode on steep terrain. I post the following with great humility because anything I can ski, all of you guys can ski better.)

I made multi-day visits to Jackson Hole in 2015 and 2018 and both times I inspected Corbet's Couloir at length and watched how people entered and exitied it. It's doable by mortals, but if you mess up the first 40 feet you could get hurt. I was over age 60 before the first time I ever saw it and am not willing to make an old fool of myself by trying it and getting hurt on it. Under the right circumstances I might have tried it as a younger person. It's a little like Paradise at MRG only in the respect that it sets-up a bit differently each year, so it can sometimes be "easier" to ski. In 2018 you could side-step all the way into it. In 2015 there was a steep side-step, then a six foot mandatory air. A deeper snow pack usually makes western steeps easier and less rocky.

I skied Delirium Dive at Sunshine Village ski area in Western Canada on March 19 in very good snow conditions. It was a much wider and more forgiving run than Corbet's. However, there are two primary ways to enter DD, 1) the higher, more sporty entry requires choosing one of several tight little chutes off a cornice and straight-lining for a short distance before entering the main bowl which is pretty wide, or 2) you can walk down a ladder like I did and directly enter the wide part of the bowl The hardest part of this second choice is getting your skis back on at the bottom of the ladder. My son, who skis pretty much everything at Snowbird (except Pipeline AFAIK!) called DD overrated. SS Couloir at Jackson is akin to Pipeline at Snowbird - only for elite extreme skiers or crazy people.

If you can get to these very steep "side country" type runs they usually have much better snow than regular inbounds double black diamond runs because they receive relatively light traffic. They also usually don't have big, hard moguls for the same reason and that can make them less punishing to ski than a long, burly bump run like Outer Limits. I was at Snowbird during a super snowy week in January 2017 and my son took me down Elevator Chute. I'm a geezer with the reflexes of a turtle at this point, but it was relatively straight forward because it was loaded with soft snow. Good snow makes everything easier. Anybody skiing double blacks in New England on a regular basis could have done Elevator Chute that day. In fact, they were calling Jaws, a nearby chute, Gums that week.

Corbet's mid-March 2018:
Entering:

Looking down:

Delirium Dive March 19, 2018
Avalanche beacon/probe/shovel required for this run, also a short hike:

From Goat's Eye trail pod, DD is the snowy bowl in upper, center/right:

Higher entries are along ridge to right, stairway to lower entry is in upper left:

continued...

 

[jimk]

Stairs to Lower entry:

Looking down Delirium Dive:

There's a short video in this link with moi in Elevator Chute at Snowbird, Jan 2017: http://www.dcski.com/articles/1526

I found a random photo of Pipeline I took at Snowbird, it is the long chute angling to lookers left behind the young lady in this pic:

 

[kingslug]

For me its all about that first damn turn..if you jump in and freeze..your screwed. This goes for any steep run. Gotta make that turn and keep going. I practice this all the time..then i get to a 40 degree thing and..woa..if its wide i go for it..narrow ones kill me. Hop turn time

 

[machski]

The Cirque @ Bachelor !!
On par w/ Tuckerman Headwall...

The Cirque at Bachelor is not bad at all. Nothing like BIg Couloir at Big SKy or Elevator or Escalator at Remarkables in NZ.

 

[Scruffy]

corbet's is not scary or particularly difficult. it's just exposed to public view. that's the only reason it's so famous. you see it from the tram, and regular skiers can just pull up at the bottom of it to watch. its a ~10 foot vertical drop in into a pretty damn wide chute that is always full of great snow. even if you eat shit on the entry, you pop up in deep fluff. aint no risk of death in freakin corbetts.

It depends on the conditions. The entrance can be anywhere from ~8' to ~ 27', and the landing can be soft or icy and rocky. If the snow blows up slope it fills in nicely and is more accessible. So, you've might of skied it when it was good, but I've been there when seasoned pros, who've skied it many a time, wouldn't think of skiing it.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Yup. Did any trails in the East make the cut?

I dont know that any would anyway, but you'd have to predict the European bias in a European publication.

 

[Jcb890]

I dont know that any would anyway, but you'd have to predict the European bias in a European publication.

I didn't read close enough, but I assume this was an in-bounds article?
If so, the East has nothing in-bounds that holds a candle to things out West. Some side country/back country stuff might be close though.

 

[spk27alumni]

I didn't read close enough, but I assume this was an in-bounds article?
If so, the East has nothing in-bounds that holds a candle to things out West. Some side country/back country stuff might be close though.

Pipeline Gully, in the Great Gulf Wilderness area of Mount Washington, for Eastern back country! 'No Fall' Stuff.

 

[AdironRider]

Corbets is probably very easy..once you stick the landing..once.
SS which is next to it is another matter.

Corbets right now has a gaper ramp. Low level intermediates are getting in there currently. These situations are pretty wind dependent but it plays a large role in how difficult it is. The photos above show a bit of said gaper ramp, but it is currently not even a side step.

S&S is skied maybe a handful of times a year, pretty much by pros only and select locals. You have to sign a liability form with ski patrol, so I find it hard to consider it a true "run" in the same sense as Corbets.

There is very little to get hurt on in Corbets, everyone fears hitting the rock wall but I've yet to see it happen. Tomahawks though happen all the time, and as others have said, are almost always into soft snow. The actual couloir never sees sun.

 

[AdironRider]

I dont know that any would anyway, but you'd have to predict the European bias in a European publication.

As well it should, if you've never been to Euroland there is some stuff over there that makes even Jackson look tame.

 

[kingslug]

Its one reason why mr coombs went there...he could have gone anywhere...
Europe is for people who get bored skiing the steepest stuff here..its another world.
Maybe in another life..too late now to ever deal with that level..

 

[Jcb890]

Itsone reason why mr coombs went there...he could have gone anywhere...
Europe us for people who get bored skiing the steepest stuff here..its another world.
Maybe in another life..too late now to ever deal with that level..

Wait... your sig says you're driving us all though!

 

[abc]

People who got bored with the steepest here go to Europe.

People who got bored with the deepest over there come to North America.

 

[kingslug]

If you can all fit in the truck.