Best Gift Ever?

[Beetlenut]

Be sure to ask John what it was like being on that cornice when Dan knocked it down. I forget which Warren Miller movie it was in, but there was one where Dan accidentally knocked down a cornice that John was still on. John somehow jumped off a cornice that was falling down (after first trying to snowplow to a stop). Note that this cornice was overhanging a cliff that's a couple hundred feet high; if John didn't jump off, he'd be dead. I got Dan's version of what happened ("John was screaming, but he always screams, so I didn't think much of it"). I'd be interested in hearing John's version

That sequence IS an all time classic.

I believe that cliff was on the ridgeline of a peak and the sheer drop was over 1,000 feet.

That happened at Grand Targhee, Wy. When I skiied there, you could look up from the peak next to it and see the 1000+ foot sheer drop of solid granite. I saw the footage several times, and that was an amazing escape from sure death!