What is the deepest pow you have skied in?

[ALLSKIING]

Lets hear it!

 

[riverc0il]

this could be a very boastful thread! excluding deep pockets of blown in snow, 2' is about the deepest i have gone.

 

[2knees]

probably about 20 inches or so. But with no base, it was a struggle. not afraid to admit that.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Deepest Powder

Feb or Mar 2005 at Snowbird. It snowed 49" from early Monday to Tuesday morning. That was the measured accumulation. During the storm on Monday afternoon visibility was really poor. I accidentally skied off a trail into a shallow valley where it had really drifted deeply, dipped a tip, and went butt over. I submarined head first, and totally lost all orientation. I literally didn't know which way was up. I panicked for a moment when I realized I was aspirating snow. I stopped breathing, turned my head left and right until I felt I saw a "brighter area" and then did a "breast stroke for the surface." Luckily, the tail of the ski I lost was spotted by my buddy about 20 or 30 feet away. The next morning we were in it up to our hips. It is an incredible feeling not to "find the bottom" with your skis.

 

[mattchuck2]

29 inches in Alta

 

[lloyd braun]

we had a 51inch storm back in FEB 94 or 95, it [storm] was over 3 days. Two winters ago we had 37inches over night and that was sick.

It is always good skiing when the tourists complain that "there is too much powder".

 

[JD]

winter 00-01. 36 inches at J 2 years ago. March 16th last year in Profanity...waist + deep.

 

[Greg]

Probably about 18". Nothing untracked, but still nice...

 

[ga2ski]

43" at Sunday River on December 7, 2003. Started out as 22" in the morning and kept dumping all day. Poached lots of closed trails later in the day for 43".

Last October 28th at Wildcat was sick as well. 3-4 feet. Winddrifts at the top that were about 5-6 feet.

 

[loafer89]

I skied in 3-4' of powder at Brighton in February of 1987, that was the deepest that I can remember. I also skied in 3' + at Plattekill not long after they reopened the mid 90's.

I have skied lots of 2' + dumps at Jay and one at Sugarloaf in February of 2005.

 

[ChileMass]

Somewhere between knee and hip-deep at Copper. It was a silent, steel-gray day with light, light snow dumping down all day. The horizon where the snow met the sky was a thin gray line that was hard to find sometimes and made for some weird orientation problems.

 

[JohnGD33]

My friend and I left East Stroudsburg PA with about 8 inches on the ground drove to smuggs took about 13 hours in 4x4 driving about 45mph and arrived at about 7:30 to about 30 inches of sweet powder. Skied all day had one beer from the shed and passed out on the couch in the coundo with all of my wet ski gear on. One of the best days of skiing of my life. Next day got up in my ski gear and skied trees and fresh powder all day again and it was blue bird. Can't wait for another day like that!!!!

 

[andyzee]

About 30", we had only been skiing about 2 yrs, so didn't have a clue how to handle it. Still was fun though

 

[Powderhound21]

17"


Managed 2 untracked runs.

 

[Masskier]

Manny years ago at Mike Wiegele’s Heli camp in Blue River Creek BC. We skied in the cariboo’s and Monashee’s. Above the tree line the pow would be ankle to almost knee deep. But once we got down into the trees we had days of the powder blowing over our shoulders.

 

[bigbog]

December 7, 2003?..or was it 2004???: up @Sugarloaf

Likewise ga2ski...up at Sugarloaf...~40-46" with 50+" drifts,
My first day of powder above 14";-) ..you know I'm still not sure of the year:lol: , but it was Pearl Harbor Day....and it was epic. ....Got caught without a fattie(major Yuck!), but thankful of the loaf's many trails with enough pitch to maintain some speed. There were more than a few times when my mostly theoretical grasp of old-school deep-powder technique became evident with a rather soft 68mm!-waisted carver;-)
"Being Prepared" now means...having fatties ready to go. *It wouldn't have taken very long for enough footage for Warren/Kurt Miller ski-technique-disasters that day....but like all powder-days....loads of fun.

 

[AHM]

The deepest...........hmmmmmmmm...........

This is gonna be fun after a beer and two glasses of wine (lightweight ?? sure, but it is a Wed night). Luckily, there have been so many deep days........so in no particular order, here are some "high"points:

1. Bottomless deep at Monarch CO (1991) while opening the cat ski operation to the public (really!). It was an early Jan trip and we were at Monarch for what was supposedly the best cat op for advanced skiers in the lower 48 ( a ski/skiing mag quote). Well they were a bit new to the concept, so after a shake down the "guides" let a buddy and I lead. They showed us shots and we determined if they were skiable. This was totally unsafe, but we did not realize it at the time. We were shown a chute called Smith and Jones which we felt was skiable. We went first, and it was absolute bottomless. Your pole would go so far down, touch nothing and you would yank it up for the next turn. It was a free fall bottomless pow on the divide somewhere..........Geoff will know I am sure and grade my post for accuracy!

2. Snowbird/Alta: March 1987. This was a 200 inch trip and it was simply blower deep constantly. The keyhole skied great, Grealy, yellow trail and supreme were beyond belief. Gad II was over the head when it finally opened.

3. Snowbird/Alta: Dec 1992. A 36" recorded dump whereever it is measured. Again, this was over the head kind of deep, as it just blew over you. It was one of the first times I remember turning my head every three or so turns to spit out the wad of snow that was collecting in my mouth. A buddy was watching from behind while under the Tram and he said you could only see a few black swatches from the shoulders of my shell

4. Castle Mt/Fernie/Island Lake Lodge 2002: Caught a 90 cm dump at Castle that stranded us in Crows neck pass between Alberta and BC. Crashed in the rental SUV behind the 7-11 in Coleman Alberta. Next morning skied Castle in what was simply a huge dump. Hit Fernie the next day and due to the 3' dump it didn't fully open until our first day there. It was super deep in Snake Ridge and Cedar bowl. Again, waist deep. Then we headed to Island Lake for 4 days of cat skiing and it was just unreal.

Time for a couple eastern days don't ya think...........

5. Jan 1994 Killington: Tues dump of over 35" was just huge. Being a Tues, and tons of cold, no one was out and it was untracked all day. Had just come from the Bud pro mogul tour at Sugar Bush with friends of the time Scotty Hall, Brad Holmes, and Shane. It was a major day at the K.

6. Jan 1999 (??) Guess here on the year. It was superbowl Mon and as I swept 16" off the car 15 min south of the bush, friends were in disbelief I was driving to Jay. Jay had at least 30" and it was simply an epic Jay day. For those who have caught epic Jay days, you know exactly what I mean.

7. Not really sure what year (after 1999) but it was another epic Jay day. All lifts but bonny down. Used bonny to acess everything, including face with hiking. It was one of the best days of skiing ever!

8. March 1992 Telluride: 40" in 24 hours. Say no more.

9. March 2001: Early March east cost dumper. This was I think the single largest storm to hit Burlington. Caught the beginning of it at Sugarloaf for a std 20" plus loaf dump. It was Mon or Tues and it was a serious dump. First runs on Source of Denile and the nice pillow drop cliffs there as well as the stream gullies and 13 - 15' waterfall. Good stuff.

10. March 1997 Sugarloaf: Had just come in from Quebec and Le Massif. Got caught in a dumper coming into ME that had logging trucks beached all over the place. Customs patrol simply waved us through. Next day at the loaf was 25" plus and being mid week, it was untracked all day.

11. 2001 eastern season. So many days who can recall them all, but the day that stands out was not a pow day. It was deck to deck to deck. We skied MRG and it was natural trails all day long on APRIL 19. 19th and 20th hole were stellar and it was so late. Had a couple beers on the deck at the base box, then grabbed the last lift and skied from MRG to SB North. Then hit the Tav up and their deck for a couple more. Finally, ended up in Moretown at Mr Bigs house for the final deck pub crawl. Next day skied only natural runs at SB, hiking over to the rock and it was superb.

12. We'll leave ya with this one. Its a toss up, either last March (10 - 15) at Valhalla powder cats in Nelson BC, with a 40" storm 2 days before our arrival. Or it would be La Grave last season (Feb 19 - Feb 27) with 140 cm in two days and some of the best French deep you could imagine, at a hill very few ski..............

So thanks for the idea of greatest days of deep.............the smile is more or less cast in stone...........

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

19 Inches at Copper, didnt have a clue how to ski in it, but at least it didnt hurt when i fell.

 

[WWF-VT]

30+ inches untracked on Smugglers trail, Spruce Peak at Stowe

 

[skier90]

48 incheas at pats peak a few years back.