Thread: best couloir in north america?

as they say in canada and new england...wicked. glad this thread is going so well. it's already a resource for me and i hope it continues to grow. let's keep the pics coming. here's something for y'all to reckon when may and june roll around and things are getting brown up here in the north half.

in my humble opinion the discussion of no-brainer access to big couloirs begins and ends with las lenas. the site is still under construction but in a month or so check out www.penumbraguides.com. pray for snow...doug

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Originally Posted by covert

how much vert on the fuhrer finger?

enough to get the pucker factor to set in. It's on my list of stuff to ski. Beautiful line, as well as the thumb.

for a convenient day trip with good vert, i gotta go with Y...

Originally Posted by altasnob

If you're talking couloirs that you can actually ski easily in a day from your car:

Y Couloir LCC

I'll get pictures up sometime...(they're on my machine at work).
List limited those I've done.

Bloody (frequently done, but sweet)
Mendenhall
Dana
Hourglass
Powerhouse


There are many others both well known and not in the sierra.

has anyone here seen the western chugach? Pioneer peak, east twin, and ptarmigain peak come to mind

Originally Posted by Eldo

!!!

I forget the name, but it's on the north face of Mt. Temple in the Canadian Rockies. (I think Trackhead knows the name.)

As seen from the ski slopes at Lake Louise.

It's called the Aemmer colouir. It's steeper and tighter than 3/4 colouir on Moraine. Even better, it doesn't have the rockfall danger 3/4 does.

Mntlion, didn't you ski the line down the front of Cascade? If you ask me that should be in this category. Guess it's not a true colouir though.

Aside from the rules I think the clear winner is the south face of denali.

From www.395.com
"Broken Finger Peak 13,280+ Scheelite Couloir
This couloir arguably has the most drop of all the Sierra Chutes. The total drop to the exit in Pine Creek canyon is 4800' but the 45° main chute is about 2500' with the lower half at a 35° pitch in a lovely and spacious gully. The upper couloir is steep and tight, but never has a lip since it faces east. Access is at the crest of the Pine Creek Canyon road just prior to Scheelite along the power line. Look for the biggest chute you ever saw on the right."

This one is on my list for sure

Originally Posted by covert
how much vert on the fuhrer finger?

standard camp is at ~9,800ft and summit is at 14,400ft but much of it may not be skiable. and the wilson glacier leading up to standard camp is too broken to ski.

the local stuff here isn't real long but this one definitely get's the 40* and pushes the 1500'.

I kinda like SFB because I can see it from all over the county, a vertical slash of snow. Very pretty.

Coming in from the top is freaky, much tougher than the skiing. I'd like to do it again, from the bottom and see how fast I can sprint up with crampons.

Cool thread, although I have to say I don't have couloirs on my mind right now. Powder turns and hucks and teaching grommets over their Christmas holiday.

Originally Posted by KillingCokes

From www.395.com
"Broken Finger Peak 13,280+ Scheelite Couloir
This couloir arguably has the most drop of all the Sierra Chutes. The total drop to the exit in Pine Creek canyon is 4800' but the 45° main chute is about 2500' with the lower half at a 35° pitch in a lovely and spacious gully. The upper couloir is steep and tight, but never has a lip since it faces east. Access is at the crest of the Pine Creek Canyon road just prior to Scheelite along the power line. Look for the biggest chute you ever saw on the right."

You always have the coolest ideas!

Awesome thread.
I was gonna add Diagonal Couloir near Jackson, but the pics from WYsplitride's awesome TR are no longer there:
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29091

Is there an acceptable definition of "Couloir"???

To me, an essential part of a coulie is having rock walls on either side of you, feeling the rock and the mountain envelope and enclose you.
A narrow ribbon of snow not surrounded by rock walls would be more of a "chute" to me.
Not sure where I got that distinction other than by observation of named routes.
I could be wrong. Just wondering if there is any consensus.

The french word "couloir" is actually the word for hallway, implying narrow with two walls, but when it was first used in mountain climbing in the 19th century, the meaning was more "passageway" (hey, I looked that up on the web).

don't know if this is technically a couloir or a ramp, but she's a beauty...

Meteorite


Copyright: Odin

The Wire, Telluride


San Joaquin Chute, Telluride


Snake Couloir, Mt. Sneffels

^^^Those above me are the hot sauce, as was the Mt. Temple Coulior.

But SFB? Come on....that coulior is way too accessible in my opinion, may as well be considered inbounds, not too difficult and way too many people have done it. I personally enjoy exploring just about any mountain range in colorado during the late spring. There is just so much to be skied, so somewhere, anywhere from colorado gets my vote as long as its deep in the rockies.

Originally Posted by BRUTAH

But SFB? Come on....that coulior is way too accessible in my opinion, may as well be considered inbounds, not too difficult and way too many people have done it. I personally enjoy exploring just about any mountain range in colorado during the late spring. There is just so much to be skied, so somewhere, anywhere from colorado gets my vote as long as its deep in the rockies.

Everything you say is a given.

But have you done SFB and then rode A Basin chairs and twisted your arm off from patting yourself on the back?

The proximity makes it a backyard run and that's pretty cool in itself. Don't you like to look around you at all the various lines you've skied? Your neighborhood lines?

Only 45 minutes from the city of sin; Elko,NV. Check out "Super Cooly" in the Track TGR Archives...

Originally Posted by KillingCokes

From www.395.com
"Broken Finger Peak 13,280+ Scheelite Couloir
This couloir arguably has the most drop of all the Sierra Chutes. The total drop to the exit in Pine Creek canyon is 4800' but the 45° main chute is about 2500' with the lower half at a 35° pitch in a lovely and spacious gully. The upper couloir is steep and tight, but never has a lip since it faces east. Access is at the crest of the Pine Creek Canyon road just prior to Scheelite along the power line. Look for the biggest chute you ever saw on the right."

This one is on my list for sure

It's about freaking time this showed up!! I've attempted this monster twice only to get blocked by cliffs b/c of not enough snow each time. Never got into the upper part of this but it looks awsome. One thing though, there was more natural rockfall here than any other place I've been to. Nothing big but a constant rain of fist sized rocks every 30 sec. or so. Kinda unnerving to say the least.

Soooo many more eastside giants to list...
Everything in the Palisades (including one at entrance to S. fork Big Pine Creek I skied once)
Everything on Mt. Emmerson
Wahoo Gullies
the list goes on...

Originally Posted by SheRa

Everything you say is a given.

But have you done SFB and then rode A Basin chairs and twisted your arm off from patting yourself on the back?

The proximity makes it a backyard run and that's pretty cool in itself. Don't you like to look around you at all the various lines you've skied? Your neighborhood lines?

Ski what you see!!! I'm working my way down the front range. I've done about 3 of the 30 or so mountains I can see from my house. Almost there!!

Does anyone else feel so much more comfortable inside a couloir, rather than on an exposed ridge. I know I do, the rock walls are like a blanket of volcanic composition.

Originally Posted by TOLOCOMan

Mntlion, didn't you ski the line down the front of Cascade? If you ask me that should be in this category. Guess it's not a true colouir though.

not really a col, but still long, fun and steep

from the summit go left down the ridge to the false summit, turn down and follow the avi path to the road.
4000ft of skiing.

Its a bit of a stretch to call it the best in North America, but its definately the best one day-trippable from my house:


I can't find a picture of it but University Peak (somewhere in Alaska) has a positively stunning line on it that was skied a few years ago by John Chilton and company.

I have to agree with Trackhead as well. Skillet Glacier. The new rule should be best couloir in north america that you have skied/snowboarded

Mt. Moran, Skillet Glacier



My second favorite in north america is the Diagonal Couloir (2000 vert, 45-50 degrees, plus you have to worry about grizzly bears chasing your ass..I know from experience) in the Pinnacles (Wyo)


view from the top of Dcouloir:

the drop

Originally Posted by Tap

The Wire, Telluride

Ha, nice picture of Lance!

Ellingwood couloir on the Middle Teton, or the Northeast couloir/Molar tooth couloir on the Grand Teton. Larger pucker factor associated with these two.