Ski-Off Time!

[chase]

I agree..I still won't ski Corbetts..

2nd...In skied jackson for the first time last march...I skied alta 1 and 2, tower three chute and tons more steep stuff without too much trouble but when i looked down Corbetts I $h!t my ski pants and went back to rendezvous bowl...

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2nd...In skied jackson for the first time last march...I skied alta 1 and 2, tower three chute and tons more steep stuff without too much trouble but when i looked down Corbetts I $h!t my ski pants and went back to rendezvous bowl...

On youtube I saw so many crazy ragdoll wipeouts on Corbetts that I didn't even think of attempting it..I'm too nervous about getting injured. Looking up Corbetts from 10-sleep bowl..there are so many grand piano sized rocks. I've skied Jackson Hole the past 4 seasons and am happy skiing the other 99.8 percent of the mountain..

 

[koreshot]

I agree..I still won't ski Corbetts..

That right there sums it up when talking West vs. East.

I have made it down most of the labeled/known challenging EC runs like Goat, Pump House, Saddle, Castlerock, etc... and some I found pretty challenging and requiring a lot of caution and attention. I fell on some, got back up and refocused and kept going.

Standing on top of Corbets I was scared. I mean really scared. I noticed my knees were actually shaking from fear and adrenaline. You just can't learn this kind of stuff at Hunter or Killington or Stowe. There aren't many places on the EC that offer 1000 vert feet of uninterrupted 50 degree slope. Or places where you enter a tight chute with rock on both sides, landing on a 60+ degree hard surface after 20 feet in the air.

Here is an East Coaster trying Corbets for the very first time, picture taken 3 years ago. He was pretty good in the bumps but he got screwed by Corbets all the same.

 

[kcyanks1]

2nd...In skied jackson for the first time last march...I skied alta 1 and 2, tower three chute and tons more steep stuff without too much trouble but when i looked down Corbetts I $h!t my ski pants and went back to rendezvous bowl...

That was me when I was there a few years ago... Skied everything else but Corbet's freaked me out. I really though I might get myself to do it this year given how much more snow there was -- supposedly there wasn't too much of a drop -- but I didn't bother planning to go up there until the last day, and then Sublette and East Ridge were on wind hold. Who knows, I might have chickened out again, but with 600" of snow, that was the time.

 

[koreshot]

On youtube I saw so many crazy ragdoll wipeouts on Corbetts that I didn't even think of attempting it..I'm too nervous about getting injured. Looking up Corbetts from 10-sleep bowl..there are so many grand piano sized rocks. I've skied Jackson Hole the past 4 seasons and am happy skiing the other 99.8 percent of the mountain..

People like to do it because it is a challenging signature run, not necessarily because the skiing in there is great. Actually, there are a few even more dangerous and challenging (mostly unmarked) runs at JH that the real experts focus on. But they aren't under the (now dead) tram.

 

[hardline]

That right there sums it up when talking West vs. East.

I have made it down most of the labeled/known challenging EC runs like Goat, Pump House, Saddle, Castlerock, etc... and some I found pretty challenging and requiring a lot of caution and attention. I fell on some, got back up and refocused and kept going.

Standing on top of Corbets I was scared. I mean really scared. I noticed my knees were actually shaking from fear and adrenaline. You just can't learn this kind of stuff at Hunter or Killington or Stowe. There aren't many places on the EC that offer 1000 vert feet of uninterrupted 50 degree slope. Or places where you enter a tight chute with rock on both sides, landing on a 60+ degree hard surface after 20 feet in the air.

Here is an East Coaster trying Corbets for the very first time, picture taken 3 years ago. He was pretty good in the bumps but he got screwed by Corbets all the same.

you are compleatly wrong. there is stuff just as steep at mansfield and spruce. not stowe the ski area. plus there is a bunch of stuff in the whites. you just have to where to go which is a good thing because you don't get people that should not be there trying to descend it. there is even stuff in plain sight.

or these, some require a mandatory rapel to access

 

[chase]

People like to do it because it is a challenging signature run, not necessarily because the skiing in there is great. Actually, there are a few even more dangerous and challenging (mostly unmarked) runs at JH that the real experts focus on. But they aren't under the (now dead) tram.

For the first few days i was out there it dumped snow...the upper mountain got something like 40 inches in four days. The fifth day was completely cloudless but still cold...I didn't ski the side country but the most prominent lines were tracked up before noon...there were multiple tracks coming off of cliffs thats must have been 40-60 feet. There were even tracks down S&S and alta zero. It was crazy.

Oh and when you say runs more dangerous than corbetts do you mean stuff in the side country?

 

[2knees]

take a few days off and come back to this. You guys are nuts.

I figure the start of school signifies the first major step towards ski season. No more "true" summer.

The weather in N.H. is out of this world wild btw. I wish i knew how to kayak. It must be a freakin trip on some of those rivers right now.

And riverCoil would make me his bitch on most any terrain, that much i would bet on. Gregs gonna get me beat up one of these days. :lol:


How about Andyzee and Grassi. Thats the one i want to see.

 

[Greg]

I have made it down most of the labeled/known challenging EC runs like Goat, Pump House, Saddle, Castlerock, etc... and some I found pretty challenging and requiring a lot of caution and attention. I fell on some, got back up and refocused and kept going.

Standing on top of Corbets I was scared. I mean really scared. I noticed my knees were actually shaking from fear and adrenaline. You just can't learn this kind of stuff at Hunter or Killington or Stowe. There aren't many places on the EC that offer 1000 vert feet of uninterrupted 50 degree slope. Or places where you enter a tight chute with rock on both sides, landing on a 60+ degree hard surface after 20 feet in the air.

Not sure I get your point. There are plenty of things in the East that humble me; some that scare me, and plenty of challenging stuff out here still that I haven't even skied yet. I know for a fact I don't have the skill to ski something like Corbet's. If I can't fully rip everything at places like Hunter, Killington or Stowe, why would I disillusion myself into thinking I could ski anything like Corbet's?

 

[powhunter]

Jonnypoach vs awf170

 

[chase]

Not sure I get your point. There are plenty of things in the East that humble me; some that scare me, and plenty of challenging stuff out here still that I haven't even skied yet. I know for a fact I don't have the skill to ski something like Corbet's. If I can't fully rip everything at places like Hunter, Killington or Stowe, why would I disillusion myself into thinking I could ski anything like Corbet's?

I think you need to have stood on top of corbetts to get what he means...corbetts isn't like the extreme stuff in the east where you have to hike, you get off the chair and there it is. Plus when your standing on top of corbetts its a little nerve racking to think that there is stuff a lot more intense in the JH side country.

I've never seen a pic of something in the east like corbetts, look at hardline's first pic, it shows some steep demanding terrain that is riddled with cliffs but it shows nothing i would call an equal to corbetts. Skiing out west is a whole different world than the east coast.

 

[Greg]

Jonnypoach vs awf170

Now, that would be a match-up! Young vs. not-so-young, but equally insane.

I think you need to have stood on top of corbetts to get what he means...corbetts isn't like the extreme stuff in the east where you have to hike, you get off the chair and there it is. Plus when your standing on top of corbetts its a little nerve racking to think that there is stuff a lot more intense in the JH side country.

I've never seen a pic of something in the east like corbetts, look at hardline's first pic, it shows some steep demanding terrain that is riddled with cliffs but it shows nothing i would call an equal to corbetts. Skiing out west is a whole different world than the east coast.

I have no doubt it's intense. That's not my point, which was that it seems silly to diminish the challenge of East-coast terrain, if you can't ski it all with proficiency. Perhaps I just suck.

 

[chase]

Now, that would be a match-up! Young vs. not-so-young, but equally insane.



I have no doubt it's intense. That's not my point, which was that it seems silly to diminish the challenge of East-coast terrain, if you can't ski it all with proficiency. Perhaps I just suck.

I kinda thought the same thing before i ever skied out west but once you get out there you realize that some of those runs deserve a much higher level of respect. If you skied every day of the season at stowe would you ski whatever inbounds feature you now fear? Unless its a giant cliff i would guess yes. Many people ski jackson 100 days a year for 5 years and still never touch corbetts.

Sorry for the pointless posts...i"m taking a brake from writing a really long and boring research paper.

 

[hardline]

I think you need to have stood on top of corbetts to get what he means...corbetts isn't like the extreme stuff in the east where you have to hike, you get off the chair and there it is. Plus when your standing on top of corbetts its a little nerve racking to think that there is stuff a lot more intense in the JH side country.

I've never seen a pic of something in the east like corbetts, look at hardline's first pic, it shows some steep demanding terrain that is riddled with cliffs but it shows nothing i would call an equal to corbetts. Skiing out west is a whole different world than the east coast.

the pic is intentionall croped not to show the ridgeline, the rollover is just as bad as corbets it is about a 8 to 10 foot drop to stupid steep(don't have inclinometer)but my pack is right on the wall on my heelside.
Granted out west you get off the lift and you are there. the comment i took issue with was "there is nothing in the east to prepare you for the west." there is nothing in the west that i could not ride because of the stuff i have ridden in the east.(i am much more conservative now with what i ride but when i was younger there was nothing that i wouldn't drop)
one the reasons you see less deaths in the east from extream terrain is because you have to:
A. know where it is
B. have to make commitment to getting there.
the people that do this gennerally have the knowledge to be there. but we digress from the OT. i just want to be back on snow its 65 now it feels like fall and i am cranky.

 

[chase]

the pic is intentionall croped not to show the ridgeline, the rollover is just as bad as corbets it is about a 8 to 10 foot drop to stupid steep(don't have inclinometer)but my pack is right on the wall on my heelside.
Granted out west you get off the lift and you are there. the comment i took issue with was "there is nothing in the east to prepare you for the west." there is nothing in the west that i could not ride because of the stuff i have ridden in the east.(i am much more conservative now with what i ride but when i was younger there was nothing that i wouldn't drop)
one the reasons you see less deaths in the east from extream terrain is because you have to:
A. know where it is
B. have to make commitment to getting there.
the people that do this gennerally have the knowledge to be there. but we digress from the OT. i just want to be back on snow its 65 now it feels like fall and i am cranky.

Okay i see your point but If you had never skied OB in the east would you have acted the same? I think the most of the comments about east vs west were based on inbounds terrain only.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

That right there sums it up when talking West vs. East.

I have made it down most of the labeled/known challenging EC runs like Goat, Pump House, Saddle, Castlerock, etc... and some I found pretty challenging and requiring a lot of caution and attention. I fell on some, got back up and refocused and kept going.

Standing on top of Corbets I was scared. I mean really scared. I noticed my knees were actually shaking from fear and adrenaline. You just can't learn this kind of stuff at Hunter or Killington or Stowe. There aren't many places on the EC that offer 1000 vert feet of uninterrupted 50 degree slope. Or places where you enter a tight chute with rock on both sides, landing on a 60+ degree hard surface after 20 feet in the air.

Here is an East Coaster trying Corbets for the very first time, picture taken 3 years ago. He was pretty good in the bumps but he got screwed by Corbets all the same.

Mentioning Goat and Castlerock in the same sentence as Corbetts is just plain wrong..lol

 

[koreshot]

Man, I am misunderstood.

- I am not saying there isn't enough challenge on the EC. I am in complete agreement with Greg - there is plenty of stuff that is challenging here on the EC. And I am definitely not saying that there isn't enough on the EC to keep me challenged. Far from it. I'm just saying that there is the level of difficulty and amount of easily accessible challenge in the West puts EC to shame. It better with the terrain features and the snow they get!

- My picture was showing an EC skier, one of those guys who spends most of his time on EC bump runs and is pretty damn good at it. He went for it in Corbets, which takes balls to do, so props to him - and he didn't fair very well. Just saying that "bumps make a man" is only valid to a degree. Bumps don't prepare you for something like Corbets. They help, but....

- If you really want to bring backcountry into the picture, all I have to say is this. 1 hour hike access from JHMR.

 

[koreshot]

Mentioning Goat and Castlerock in the same sentence as Corbetts is just plain wrong..lol

Amen.

 

[AdironRider]

On youtube I saw so many crazy ragdoll wipeouts on Corbetts that I didn't even think of attempting it..I'm too nervous about getting injured. Looking up Corbetts from 10-sleep bowl..there are so many grand piano sized rocks. I've skied Jackson Hole the past 4 seasons and am happy skiing the other 99.8 percent of the mountain..

Sack up and do it. I was the exact same way for over half this past season. Every pow day Id make it to the top, wuss out and just rip pow laps in Rendevous. Then one day in Feb I had a few drinks (yes at 730 in the morn), looked down and just did it. I ragdolled, a long ways. But, all those rocks and stuff are really pretty damn hard to hit the way the fall line tends to project you once you're actually in there. To hit either of the side walls you'd almost half to be trying to go there in the first place. Its way easier than everyone cracks it up to be. Second time I nailed it, and railed pow turns the whole way down. Best part is theres a great little roll over at the bottom that you can come maching into and launch off of. Perfect kind of roll for it, it kicks you up before the top, so you kind of float above it for 20-40 feet or so (depending on balls/speed) no more than a foot or two above the pow, then land smooth. Either way, its actually way easier than alot of things people ski there everyday. Tower 3 can get gnarly on holiday weeks with all the traffic it sees, same with the Alta's, or hell even the backside of alta like Bernies or Bird in Hand can be way worse during a tough freeze cycle. Corbets stays protected all season long, minimal traffic, and gets windloaded more consistently than anywhere else on the mtn. Hell, skiers right under S&S can have the deepest snow on the hill. I dont even care to let out the stash, you need to the chops to get to it, and most arent going to take my word for it.

Its true that many Jackson locals dont go into Corbets, but the ones that do know the truth.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Sack up and do it. I was the exact same way for over half this past season. Every pow day Id make it to the top, wuss out and just rip pow laps in Rendevous. Then one day in Feb I had a few drinks (yes at 730 in the morn), looked down and just did it. I ragdolled, a long ways. But, all those rocks and stuff are really pretty damn hard to hit the way the fall line tends to project you once you're actually in there. To hit either of the side walls you'd almost half to be trying to go there in the first place. Its way easier than everyone cracks it up to be. Second time I nailed it, and railed pow turns the whole way down. Best part is theres a great little roll over at the bottom that you can come maching into and launch off of. Perfect kind of roll for it, it kicks you up before the top, so you kind of float above it for 20-40 feet or so (depending on balls/speed) no more than a foot or two above the pow, then land smooth. Either way, its actually way easier than alot of things people ski there everyday. Tower 3 can get gnarly on holiday weeks with all the traffic it sees, same with the Alta's, or hell even the backside of alta like Bernies or Bird in Hand can be way worse during a tough freeze cycle. Corbets stays protected all season long, minimal traffic, and gets windloaded more consistently than anywhere else on the mtn. Hell, skiers right under S&S can have the deepest snow on the hill. I dont even care to let out the stash, you need to the chops to get to it, and most arent going to take my word for it.

Its true that many Jackson locals dont go into Corbets, but the ones that do know the truth.

I don't hit Corbetts for the simple fact that I don't want to ragdoll down..to me that's not fun and skiing for me is about fun..I'm not into scaring myself..and S and S couloir is a whole nother animal..I'll take powder in the steep woods off of Thunder anyday..