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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481

    TR: The Diagonal Couloir, Pinnacle Butte (11,516 feet), WY

    TR: The Diagonal Couloir, Pinnacle Butte (11,516 feet), WY
    By Wyomingsplit_ride (Jeramie Prine)

    With spring in Wyoming, the backcountry opens up a whole new aspect of riding. Three words: steep-couloir-riding. The Diagonal Couloir found on Pinnacle Butte (Togwotee Pass) is the epitome of these three words. It is truly a classic couloir that drops 1500 vertical feet, is a sustained 45 degrees (steeper at the top), and is surrounded by huge vertical walls that add to the true mystic of it. The Diagonal is not for the faint-of-heart or a place you want to get flushed for that matter.

    Shad Hamilton and Wyomingsplit_ride decided to make a second attempt on this line. We left for the mountains at 3:45 am. Unlike the Sierras, wet slides are much more common and we knew that we would need to be riding this shot before it got too warm. Our timing was perfect and we made the summit by 10:30 am. The snow was solid and had undergone a proper melt freeze cycle that would aid in our ascent and descent.

    Pinnacle Butte and our approach and descent route (Photo Kevin Forrester):


    Looking up at the Diagonal Couloir from the bottom (Photo Kevin Forrester):


    Shad climbing the apron:


    Into the Diagonal:


    Shad Further Up and starting to commit. The snow seemed pretty solid despite frozen melt balls:


    Wyomingsplit_ride in the gut of the beast. Notice the frozen melt balls. They made the riding interesting on the way down:


    About halfway up the couloir looking down:

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481

    Part TWO: The top pitch and summit

    Part TWO: The top pitch and summit
    The top pitch made the pucker factor climb a bit. I was thinking….gosh and we get to come down this…stoke-age or broke-age:

    Shad climbing the top pitch:


    A little steepness perspective on the top pitch of the Diagonal. Only jump turns down this section:


    Shad climbing the last 40 feet of the Diagonal Couloir:



    One of the sickest views from the top of the Pinnacles and the Diagonal. Togwotee Pass and the Tetons in the background. Truly, phenomenal!


    Mandatory summit shot…grins to boot!


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481

    Part Three: THE DESCENT

    Part Three: THE DESCENT
    Wyomingsplit_ride drops the Diagonal. WHO SAYS VOILE SPLITBOARDS ARE FLEXI? I wish they would send me a Mountain Gun!




    Looking back on the summit, couloir, and the sun shining down on the Pinnacles. The perfect end to the perfect day! Thank you Jah.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Fallbroke, SD-CA
    Posts
    1,641
    Sweet!

    Nice looking couloir...

    peace,
    BS.
    "There's a truth that sanity denies...." --Sprung Monkey

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Alco-Hall of Fame
    Posts
    2,997


    "It is not the result that counts! It is not the result but the spirit! Not what - but how. Not what has been attained - but at what price.
    - A. Solzhenitsyn

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    SF
    Posts
    3,627
    Balls.
    Craig Kelly is my co-pilot.

    Buy Your Lift Tickets in Advance and Save

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    amidst 5 mountains
    Posts
    3,854
    get er done!!! More stoke for a Monday! Thanks.
    "In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair." -Emerson

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    My armchair
    Posts
    4,892
    very noice!!!!
    "... she'll never need a doctor; 'cause I check her out all day"

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    2,373
    Nice!
    "Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
    - Kurt Vonnegut

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    North of South, South of North, West of East
    Posts
    1,718
    Unfuckablewith!
    I should probably change my username to IReallyDon'tTeleMuchAnymoreDave.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481
    thank you all for the positive comments. I appreciate it.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Near Perimetr.
    Posts
    3,857
    Titties!

    The floggings will continue until morale improves.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Green River, WY
    Posts
    1,080

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    1,833

    Solid Core

    Way to rock the Rockies!

    That is the most boss couloir I've seen on this site in a while. What a fucking view from the top. BALLS is an understatement!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    fighting cock, ak
    Posts
    1,628
    Very nice TR. I did some hiking/climbing right in that area last summer. Very cool place with lots of lines for the taking.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    P-tex, CA
    Posts
    8,660

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    funland
    Posts
    5,250
    another awesome Wyoming TR!!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Land of the 14ers (5,623 ft.)
    Posts
    550
    Great job!

    My voile splitter wants some of that!
    Living the good life.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    A LSD Steakhouse somewhere in the Wasatch
    Posts
    13,234
    Kick Booty TR. Thanks for the it so aint over inspo. Waxen em up for to git some tommarrow. Tis the season to bag good lines. Whats another day of unemployment gonna hurt anyhow.
    "When the child was a child it waited patiently for the first snow and it still does"- Van "The Man" Morrison
    "I find I have already had my reward, in the doing of the thing" - Buzz Holmstrom
    "THIS IS WHAT WE DO"-AML -ski on in eternal peace
    "I have posted in here but haven't read it carefully with my trusty PoliAsshat antenna on."-DipshitDanno

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481
    Quote Originally Posted by skifishbum
    Kick Booty TR. Thanks for the it so aint over inspo. Waxen em up for to git some tommarrow. Tis the season to bag good lines. Whats another day of unemployment gonna hurt anyhow.
    Not a damn thing...employement can be highly overrated when lines are to be had

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Dystopia
    Posts
    21,054
    FKNA
    I have been dreaming about that line for years.
    You gave the best TR and detailed multiple photos I have seen.
    thanks so much.
    Schweeeet Sickness

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Lander, Wyoming
    Posts
    481
    Where do you live Core Shot? It is definitely one that I will get back to, but there are two other couloirs (Chockstone Dog Leg and the Bottleneck Classic) that are just as nice. Thanks for the kindness.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Emulating the ocean's sound
    Posts
    7,008
    that did me a kindness.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    hole
    Posts
    1,272
    fknA

    567890
    Live To Ski!

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    The Ranch
    Posts
    3,792
    What we have seen here is a text book example of how the gnarl gets schralped.

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