Hardest Trail

[krisskis]

My hardest trail had to be Plunge at Bromley this past march. It was especially hard for me and my 11 yr old son as we recently started skiing in the trees last year. I have to say we almost shit our pants but we made it down and did it again and again

 

[snowsprite]

It's a tie. One was at Killington on double dipper one crowded Saturday with thigh-high moguls (and the memory of that poor guy's death fresh in my mind).

The other candidate was a chute in Mineral Basin at The Bird that I basically got halfway down, decided it would kill me, and had to hike into the woods to get out of. It looked so do-able from the first few turns too...

Skiing over your head...always good for an adrenaline rush and a few laughs later (if you make it out intact!).

Sprite

 

[thetrailboss]

My hardest trail had to be Plunge at Bromley this past march. It was especially hard for me and my 11 yr old son as we recently started skiing in the trees last year. I have to say we almost shit our pants but we made it down and did it again and again

Welcome to the board, krisskis. Hope to see you in here and learn more about Bromley. :wink:

 

[Geoff]

Hardest trail....

For the east, I submit:

Killington. Lower Bear Claw. Any Saturday at 1:30.

Low-expert (barely). Huge amount of traffic. There's a touron parked on every bump. Typical skiing surface is 10 yard uncontrolled skids on unedgable porcelain into frozen granular wall bumps.

There are dozens of places at Whistler/Blackcomb that have huge pucker factor. You need a resort that gets huge gobs of heavy snow to cover the cliffs and open up that kind of terrain. AltaBird also gets enough snow to fill in the cliffs.

 

[Zand]

The Cannon ones were 2 days after 3'+ of snow, so the wind got a hold of them already. The Sunapee one was just a bad trail. Wachusett was... well... Wachusett.

 

[eatskisleep]

Backcountry stuff...

 

[awf170]

Backcountry stuff...

like doing a creek when it is half blue ice, had that fun last year

 

[awf170]

It's a tie. One was at Killington on double dipper one crowded Saturday with thigh-high moguls (and the memory of that poor guy's death fresh in my mind).

The other candidate was a chute in Mineral Basin at The Bird that I basically got halfway down, decided it would kill me, and had to hike into the woods to get out of. It looked so do-able from the first few turns too...

Skiing over your head...always good for an adrenaline rush and a few laughs later (if you make it out intact!).

Sprite

where was that in mineral basin, i love mineral basin so sick and steep, fun

 

[snowsprite]

We ended up in the trees between Chamonix Chutes and Double Down. It was very hairy, and quite dangerous as we had our kid w/ us.

We somehow got off that Mineral Basin Road trail (a blue) because we thought we could get a shortcut & the general grade didn't look too steep. The weather wasn't great that day, windy and poor visibility. So we go a little further and...guess what? The grade was STEEP and bad/icy coverage. This was mid-Decemeber and there had been a bit of snow drought.

What an ordeal! But all's well that ends well I guess. Just a few bruised egos to show for it. :wink:

Sprite

It's a tie. One was at Killington on double dipper one crowded Saturday with thigh-high moguls (and the memory of that poor guy's death fresh in my mind).

The other candidate was a chute in Mineral Basin at The Bird that I basically got halfway down, decided it would kill me, and had to hike into the woods to get out of. It looked so do-able from the first few turns too...

Skiing over your head...always good for an adrenaline rush and a few laughs later (if you make it out intact!).

Sprite

where was that in mineral basin, i love mineral basin so sick and steep, fun

 

[awf170]

We ended up in the trees between Chamonix Chutes and Double Down. It was very hairy, and quite dangerous as we had our kid w/ us.

We somehow got off that Mineral Basin Road trail (a blue) because we thought we could get a shortcut & the general grade didn't look too steep. The weather wasn't great that day, windy and poor visibility. So we go a little further and...guess what? The grade was STEEP and bad/icy coverage. This was mid-Decemeber and there had been a bit of snow drought.

What an ordeal! But all's well that ends well I guess. Just a few bruised egos to show for it. :wink:

Sprite

It's a tie. One was at Killington on double dipper one crowded Saturday with thigh-high moguls (and the memory of that poor guy's death fresh in my mind).

The other candidate was a chute in Mineral Basin at The Bird that I basically got halfway down, decided it would kill me, and had to hike into the woods to get out of. It looked so do-able from the first few turns too...

Skiing over your head...always good for an adrenaline rush and a few laughs later (if you make it out intact!).

Sprite

where was that in mineral basin, i love mineral basin so sick and steep, fun

ya the drop comes out of now where, it is just nice and flat and then a cliff and chutes, very scary

 

[snowsprite]

Nah, it's not like that...flat and then suddenly cliffs, chutes, or whatever. :-?

In fact, you know what--I gotta retract my original post. I did not even technically ski that chute because I only made a couple of turns, realized I was over my head, and then hiked out. Sooo...it does not count.

Nevermind!
:wink:
Sprite

 

[awf170]

Nah, it's not like that...flat and then suddenly cliffs, chutes, or whatever. :-?
Sprite

huh what do you mean its not like that? :-?

 

[skibumtress]

Tough to answer….. because some of the hardest runs I’ve done have ended up to be some of the best runs (challenging wise for me) I’ve done when the conditions have been good (at Killington: Double Dipper & Cascade). However I had one run at Kirkwood this season which I thought NO WAY can I do this. First thing that kind of got to me was the sign at the bottom of Chair 10 (Experts only, if you fall be prepared to slide down a long way ). Anywho, the conditions weren’t that great so the Sisters were out, so we did the run right next to it (The Wall?). Looked down, didn’t think about it, prayed to anyone who would listen and went for it. After two turns I’m thinking to myself “Holy shmickles, I’m actually skiing this and making tight turns! Get a quarter of the way down and my buddy is waiting for me and says “so, you want to do this run again?” My response: YEA BABY! Prolly one of the best adrenaline rushes I had all season… man, I love that feeling!

 

[awf170]

Tough to answer….. because some of the hardest runs I’ve done have ended up to be some of the best runs (challenging wise for me) I’ve done when the conditions have been good (at Killington: Double Dipper & Cascade). However I had one run at Kirkwood this season which I thought NO WAY can I do this. First thing that kind of got to me was the sign at the bottom of Chair 10 (Experts only, if you fall be prepared to slide down a long way ). Anywho, the conditions weren’t that great so the Sisters were out, so we did the run right next to it (The Wall?). Looked down, didn’t think about it, prayed to anyone who would listen and went for it. After two turns I’m thinking to myself “Holy shmickles, I’m actually skiing this and making tight turns! Get a quarter of the way down and my buddy is waiting for me and says “so, you want to do this run again?” My response: YEA BABY! Prolly one of the best adrenaline rushes I had all season… man, I love that feeling!

i love going out west, after skiing the east the stuff looks horifying but without the ice and with nice soft deep snow it isnt that bad... same thing happen at snowbird and alta then i loved all the steeps

 

[skibumtress]

i love going out west, after skiing the east the stuff looks horifying but without the ice and with nice soft deep snow it isnt that bad... same thing happen at snowbird and alta then i loved all the steeps

Agreed.... it's like magic. The steep headwalls back here in the east didn't fighten me the rest of the season.
However, on this day at Kirkwood, it was weird conditions (don't know the term for it).... sort of icy but not east icy. Seems when you hit patches of ice here in the east your skis chatter, but the conditions on this day, you would hit these strange patches and your whole body would chatter. I swear even my brain was chattering against my skull.

 

[snowsprite]

That slope is called "All The Way." It's pretty crazy. You can't see anything at all when you drop in, because it's a very narrow entry way and a sheer drop too. It was scary as hell but fun. My husband fell all the way down though--it looked crazy and I got it on video. The guy before me took a pretty long tumble too, and I had to pick up his ski and ski it down to him.

The difficulty w/ that slope is you don't know what's up below so you have to wait a few minutes after the person in front of you goes and hope that if they wipe out (like the dude who went before me) they do not leave their equipment laying in the middle of the slope where you make your first few turns. Though w/ that pitch, I doubt anything...even considering ski brakes... would sit near the top of the slope for long w/out sliding.

Sprite

Anywho, the conditions weren’t that great so the Sisters were out, so we did the run right next to it (The Wall?). Looked down, didn’t think about it, prayed to anyone who would listen and went for it. After two turns I’m thinking to myself “Holy shmickles, I’m actually skiing this and making tight turns! Get a quarter of the way down and my buddy is waiting for me and says “so, you want to do this run again?” My response: YEA BABY! Prolly one of the best adrenaline rushes I had all season… man, I love that feeling!

 

[snowsprite]

I know the frozen crud you speak of. It's deceptive b/c it looks like it might give way...but it doesn't. No way to edge it or anything to regain control, you have to just hold on and ride it out!

Sprite

However, on this day at Kirkwood, it was weird conditions (don't know the term for it).... sort of icy but not east icy. Seems when you hit patches of ice here in the east your skis chatter, but the conditions on this day, you would hit these strange patches and your whole body would chatter. I swear even my brain was chattering against my skull.

 

[skibumtress]

No, this wasn't one of the chutes... right next to it. Didn't have a narrow entry way.. it was open terrain. No one was skiing the chutes that day 'cause of the conditions. It was the run, right off of Chair 10 to the right.

That slope is called "All The Way." It's pretty crazy. You can't see anything at all when you drop in, because it's a very narrow entry way and a sheer drop too. It was scary as hell but fun. My husband fell all the way down though--it looked crazy and I got it on video. The guy before me took a pretty long tumble too, and I had to pick up his ski and ski it down to him.

The difficulty w/ that slope is you don't know what's up below so you have to wait a few minutes after the person in front of you goes and hope that if they wipe out (like the dude who went before me) they do not leave their equipment laying in the middle of the slope where you make your first few turns. Though w/ that pitch, I doubt anything...even considering ski brakes... would sit near the top of the slope for long w/out sliding.

Sprite

Anywho, the conditions weren’t that great so the Sisters were out, so we did the run right next to it (The Wall?). Looked down, didn’t think about it, prayed to anyone who would listen and went for it. After two turns I’m thinking to myself “Holy shmickles, I’m actually skiing this and making tight turns! Get a quarter of the way down and my buddy is waiting for me and says “so, you want to do this run again?” My response: YEA BABY! Prolly one of the best adrenaline rushes I had all season… man, I love that feeling!

 

[awf170]

That slope is called "All The Way." It's pretty crazy. You can't see anything at all when you drop in, because it's a very narrow entry way and a sheer drop too. It was scary as hell but fun. My husband fell all the way down though--it looked crazy and I got it on video. The guy before me took a pretty long tumble too, and I had to pick up his ski and ski it down to him.

The difficulty w/ that slope is you don't know what's up below so you have to wait a few minutes after the person in front of you goes and hope that if they wipe out (like the dude who went before me) they do not leave their equipment laying in the middle of the slope where you make your first few turns. Though w/ that pitch, I doubt anything...even considering ski brakes... would sit near the top of the slope for long w/out sliding.

Sprite

Anywho, the conditions weren’t that great so the Sisters were out, so we did the run right next to it (The Wall?). Looked down, didn’t think about it, prayed to anyone who would listen and went for it. After two turns I’m thinking to myself “Holy shmickles, I’m actually skiing this and making tight turns! Get a quarter of the way down and my buddy is waiting for me and says “so, you want to do this run again?” My response: YEA BABY! Prolly one of the best adrenaline rushes I had all season… man, I love that feeling!

is there anyway u can put this video online?

 

[RustyK]

First thing that kind of got to me was the sign at the bottom of Chair 10

The west is certainly tougher than the east. Chair 10 area was steep for a groomed run for sure. I think the chair ride was scarry too.
Squaw was the toughest this year for me out west.
East coast toughest this year was backcountry at Stowe. Really struggled to keep up and must of walked at least five miles that day. Those TGR kids lived there and beat me up.