The Fifty One?

[trogdortheburninator]

Re: Liberty Ridge. When Chris Landry finished the first descent in 1980, he told a local newspaper "It's a classic. Definitely the finest descent I've ever done." Considering that would include what's now known as the Landry line on Pyramid the previous year and a number of other high quality descents included in the 50 book, seems like Liberty may have been worth the nod.

Source: Wildsnow (the book)

I wonder if Dav et al reached out to Landry for a chapter in the book? Ive heard he really doesn't like to talk about skiing or encourage steep skiing. I've only skied a few of the lines in this book. All were very good. Lib was considerably better.

[nest]

Good article from when SI was cool

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...e6_sZvWaRJY9bs

[goldenboy]

I was flipping through the book last night and noticed that Holy Cross' Cross couloir is in there as well. py road approach, Halfmoon pass in each direction, the couloir itself is fairly short, 99% of parties exit the couloir 3/4 of the way down to avoid the chockstone. Meh, even if the discussion was limited to 14ers I could come up with a dozen that I would consider more classic. The old WH Jackson black and white photo is pretty cool though, I guess.

[North]

I was flipping through the book last night and noticed that Holy Cross' Cross couloir is in there as well. py road approach, Halfmoon pass in each direction, the couloir itself is fairly short, 99% of parties exit the couloir 3/4 of the way down to avoid the chockstone. Meh, even if the discussion was limited to 14ers I could come up with a dozen that I would consider more classic.

Managed to have a good outing on HC this week, and thought it was a stellar line, but prime conditions likely played into that. Hard to say if I'd feel the same under typical conditions. Care to share what 14ers you prefer? Not a challenge, but knowing your history in that arena, genuinely curious.

[powdork]

Good article from when SI was cool

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...e6_sZvWaRJY9bs

that was cool but no link to the gopro footage wtf?

[goldenboy]

Managed to have a good outing on HC this week, and thought it was a stellar line, but prime conditions likely played into that. Hard to say if I'd feel the same under typical conditions. Care to share what 14ers you prefer? Not a challenge, but knowing your history in that arena, genuinely curious.

It is a great line, even more so if you ski it in pow, which it sounds like you did. Nice one! Just not sure if I'd give it 50 classic status.

I'd maybe prefer:
Sneffels Snake (or better yet it's longer 4,000' brother )
Jarrett Luttrell's line on El Diente is to me, an instant classic
Needle, even if it doesn't always have snow. Friends just skied Crestone yesterday and it sounds super caked down there (which I would also put over HC)
The book would be too Elk-centric, but I'd re-ski S couloir on Maroon, or the E or the S on Castle before HC.
I'd even put Dead Dog above HC, along with a few others
Again, that's strictly if only 14ers are considered.



Edit: Photo below only represents 1/3 of the line:

[AKbruin]

I'm not sure what the criteria is here. For example, maybe a couple dozen people have skied Split's East Couloir, in part because of the mandatory rappel. It's pretty and definitely an impressive test-piece, but it doesn't strike me as the most "classic" of lines because it's not particularly visible and it's so hard that very few people have skied it. And Avy Gulch is extremely popular and a fine descent, but there are much better lines on Shasta, IMO. I tend to go for long, sustained, aesthetic lines that are steep but not poop-your-pants steep. I also like top-to-bottom skiing of entire mountains, rather than a particular segment of a mountain. Anyhow, here's my $.01 on the Sierra classics that might be considered and which I've actually skied, not necessarily in any particular order:

(1) Tinemaha: 6,500' of sustained moderately steep (never over 40*) always fun skiing, from summit to sage. It's a great looking mountain. For just pure fun skiing, Tinemaha is as good as it gets. (I'd much rather ski it than, say, Avalanche Gulch.)

Tinemaha is on the left in the foreground.



(2) Mendenhall: Definitely a classic. Aesthetic, highly visible, and lots of people ski it and want to ski it. I've never been on a line that it's been so sustainedly steep for so long.




(3) Lone Pine Peak: Very few people ski it, so it's hardly classic. But . . . I did it on Saturday, and, even in sub-par conditions, wow. I'm going to cut and paste what I wrote on the Eastside thread: "Lone Pine Peak, in my opinion, is one of the best descents in the Sierra. First, it's big (6k - 6.5k descent). Second, it's unrelentingly and sustainedly steep. Third, it's got an amazing, hidden couloir right off the summit. Third, you can see at least five 14ers from the summit--Langley, Muir, Whitney, Russell, Williamson, and Split--and at the same time, Death Valley. Fourth, it's just a handsome mountain."

Photo: Google Images


Photo: Andy Lewicky


Photo: CJ

(4) Bloody: IMO, it's 2,600-ish vertical feet of fun descent (plus another 2,500 of getting-back-to-the-car skiing) are a little too short to make my personal list. That said, it's 100% an uber-classic. It's so visible from Mammoth Lakes and even as far as Mono Lake. It's also a fantastic ski.


(5) Ritter (SE Face): Ritter, like Bloody, is just so highly visible. It's also spectacularly beautiful (the Minarets, views of Half Dome, etc.). I don't think Ritter's descent is spectacular (although I didn't get Ritter is great conditions), but it's pretty cool and, as I recall, has about 4,200' of quality skiing.


(6) Pinner: Pinner is definitely a classic. It's not hard, but it's a very aesthetic line that a lot of people ski or want to ski.




(7) Mt. Tom: It's one of the best-looking mountains around and offers 7k to 8k descents, summit to sage. Again, if the coverage is there, I'd take Tom over Shasta.






(8) Red Slate: Uber-classic. It's one of the most aesthetic lines around and a fabulously fun ski. If I had a knock on Red Slate (and, really, I don't), it'd be that the fun-ski vertical is ultimately less than 3,000'.



Photo: franzklammer


Honestly, I was just going to discuss just a few, but found myself wanting to add more and more. To that end, there are many more that I could have mentioned. Birch (8k moderate descent), Scheelite/Broken Finger (6k couloirs), Williamson (Bairs Creek and Giant Steps), the Cross on Tallac (maybe Tahoe's most classic line?), etc. This is hard but fun.

[brutah]

I'm pretty sure the Mendenhall and Bloody are in Dav's book.

I like to hear goldenboy and trogdemburnidor argue Colorado 14er classics. I think Dead Dog is a classic in terms of popularity which the more I think about what defines a classic has a lot to do with determining a classic.

To me a classic needs to be visible from "town" or so beautiful/famous that non-ski touring folk talk/know about it.

[Sky_Shoe]

Hey errybody, I stole that pic of the San Joaquin Couloir from lordhelmut14 on summitpost; it's not mine.

Rainier: Mowich Face vs Liberty vs ? Liberty gets a lot of consideration because it's 5000 vf of the goods and the exposure and aesthetics of turning between Willis Wall and Ptarmigan Ridge are totally insane. Mowich Face is one heckuva line but if memory serves correctly it's only 1,000 meters of the business. If I had to pick something on Rainier and recommend it to people looking to successfully ski something fully epic with decent to good conditions, I'd tell them to also consider Kautz Headwall and Success Couloirs because they're also huge and steep with decent corn more bankable on the southern aspects.

[Sky_Shoe]

Needle, even if it doesn't always have snow. Friends just skied Crestone yesterday and it sounds super caked down there (which I would also put over HC)

Agreed that Crestone Needle is all that. Skied it twice and will likely ski it again. Crestone Peak's northwest couloir deserves a lot of love when conditions are right, too.

[Sky_Shoe]

I think Dead Dog is a classic in terms of popularity which the more I think about what defines a classic has a lot to do with determining a classic.

Dead Dog is pretty classic!

I bought this book a month or so ago. No regrets, lots of stoke.

[MakersTeleMark]

A couple more in Colorado:

Grizzly :

http://www.backcountryskiingco.com/i...hute-thumb.jpg

N. Face of Democrat:

[Chugachjed]

North face of pioneer peak. 0 mile approach.

Not my pics. I’ve skiied other lines off pioneer but never got the N face in condition.

[AKbruin]

North face of pioneer peak. 0 mile approach.

Not my pics. I’ve skiied other lines off pioneer but never got the N face in condition.

Hot damn, that's a good looking mountain. Mind sharing a little more detail--e.g., which state, vertical, etc.?

[Chugachjed]

It’s 6,398’ the bottom you see in that pic is roughly at sea level. In Alaska, immediately above the old Glenn highway. I’ve skiied lines around the corner lookers right and in the basin lookers left of the peak. IMO it should be on every list of classic lines.

http://www.mikerecords.com/2018/11/p...02018.html?m=1

Here’s a link to mag mike records blog TR

[TahoeJ]

Dead flat into a massive mountain of that size - that’s awesome.

[jorion]

I have nothing to contribute except to say this is my favorite new thread of 2019.

[rod9301]

Question for Cody.

On joffre, you said the snow sucked.
Was it because you couldn't ski it fast?

Or you felt it wasn't safe?


Looking at your first three turns, it looked like a lot of the snow i find in the Backcountry, not great, but doable.

Sent from my Armor_3 using Tapatalk

[Angle Parking]

This is a great thread

[powdork]

Question for Cody.

On joffre, you said the snow sucked.
Was it because you couldn't ski it fast?

Or you felt it wasn't safe?


Looking at your first three turns, it looked like a lot of the snow i find in the Backcountry, not great, but doable.

pretty sure you're in the wrong thread. missed it by One.
It did look ok on his first turn but I've had snow like that that looked soft but was just weird on top of crunchy. I got a better feel for it during the sidestep at 9:00.

[MakersTeleMark]

Counters gotta count.

[Tips^Up]

Democrat? Blah.

I counter with La Plata N couloir.

[byates1]

oh fer fuck sake

eas off,

he got the back for it

[byates1]

move them sideways at 50 mph

then let's see how you you feel.

[powdork]

what are you even talking about??