Member of the Month

KilaTsunami
October, 2024

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Steepest slope you've ever skiied?

profile picture
nshap54
Posts: 312 - Karma: 2,736
I live in Tahoe and usually ski at Mt. Rose. It is a small mountain but has the chutes which, when filled with pow, are some of the best skiing I've ever done. The chutes are 55* but ive hit spots that are 60-65*. What is the steepest you guys have ever skiied?
Dec 15 2012 6:45PM
4 0
profile picture
minihef
Posts: 813 - Karma: 781
The steepest i've skied is in the late 50s probably although it's difficult to say as you don't start faffing around with inclinometers when things are that steep.

Here's a POV screen grab of one very steep section on a line. POV always makes things look way less steep than they actually are of course.

Click for larger image
Dec 16 2012 2:48AM
0 0
profile picture
TheGnarwhal
Posts: 871 - Karma: 49
I live in the resort next to the 'swiss wall' and yes, it really is 55 in parts and I think the average over the whole run is 45..
Dec 16 2012 3:01AM
0 0
profile picture
minihef
Posts: 813 - Karma: 781
So like he said - it's 45, not 60 or 55 as originally stated.
Dec 16 2012 3:04AM
0 0
profile picture
doGelyst
Posts: 2492 - Karma: 509
I did it with park tools in hand. Claim.
Dec 16 2012 3:11AM
0 0
profile picture
LC.
Posts: 5952 - Karma: 2,423
So much bullshit in this thread. That Swiss area is not even 45. Not even close. 35 to 40 at a push. Above 40 you really know about it. My mother has skied that run, who is an OK skier at best. I've skied sections of 50, and consistent 45 (well documented in literature over 30 years old) and that run doesn't even compare.
Dec 16 2012 3:26AM
0 0
profile picture
eheath
Posts: 61603 - Karma: 123,093
I came to post this haha
Dec 16 2012 4:00AM
0 0
profile picture
ShredMasterPlus
Posts: 1159 - Karma: 807
I would really like to see some stuff with a clinometer. I have one on my beacon and was playing around with it a little bit. Brownshirt Main gully at Lake Louise is about 45 degrees just after the chute and to the left.(buddy randomly asked how steep it was and remembered I had my clinometer). Might take it out and measure some of the steeper stuff tomorrow.
Dec 16 2012 4:12AM
0 0
profile picture
Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
I think the steepest part matters in this case.
Dec 16 2012 4:13AM
0 0
profile picture
steeze-free_lee
Posts: 295 - Karma: 28
sensing some serious overestimating in this thread.

i've skied some pretty damn gnarly lines and i don't think any of them have exceeded 55 degrees for more than a few dozen vert.

i know at squaw all but one of the lines off the palisades are 53+, and damn they're steep enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up when i look to drop in.
Dec 16 2012 4:19AM
0 0
profile picture
washparkdub
Posts: 266 - Karma: 66
lulz
Dec 16 2012 4:42AM
0 0
profile picture
washparkdub
Posts: 266 - Karma: 66
lulz again
Dec 16 2012 4:44AM
0 0
profile picture
washparkdub
Posts: 266 - Karma: 66
this
Dec 16 2012 4:45AM
0 0
profile picture
onenerdykid
Posts: 6657 - Karma: 10,898
I've stood at the top of the Mouse Trap jump on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel. It's the only time in my life that my hands started to sweat while on a groomer. Sections of the course are closed to the public 100% of the year because if you fall, you can slide to your death. That's a fucking gnarly groomer.
Dec 16 2012 5:31AM
0 0
profile picture
ChasingFlakes
Posts: 822 - Karma: 1,544
lol i was coming here to post that ^


Here's what 60 looks like



Dec 16 2012 6:01AM
0 0
profile picture
Craigskis
Posts: 6650 - Karma: 1,645
Ding Ding Ding #Winner

I was going to post that lol
Dec 16 2012 7:10AM
0 0
profile picture
a_burger
Posts: 5235 - Karma: 20,715
Probably Spruce Cliffs at Sunday River, they took it off the map a year ago.

It's dirt almost year round, upper part is fun though.


I hope to get to tucks this year though
Dec 16 2012 8:37AM
0 0
profile picture
deepfriedtwinkie
Posts: 434 - Karma: 389
rambo at crested butte
Dec 16 2012 9:15AM
0 0
profile picture
jordy19
Posts: 2550 - Karma: 427
holy
Dec 16 2012 9:25AM
0 0
profile picture
Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
ok but the run changes from 80 to 90 to 75 throughout....
Dec 16 2012 9:27AM
0 0
profile picture
minihef
Posts: 813 - Karma: 781
I don't think so - there has to be some consistency to the pitch. Plus you ruin any credibility you might have had on the debate when come here claiming the run as 60 or even 55 degrees when in actual fact only a tiny part of it is 50ish and the rest is 40ish.
Dec 16 2012 9:38AM
0 0
profile picture
PeppermillReno
Posts: 4805 - Karma: -650
80, 90, and even 75 are jumps, cliffs, drops. You sir...are a fucking idiot if you think you have skiied something with an 80 degree drop. Please apologize now for your stupidity.

Just think of all the cliffs and rocks you would huck off most protrude from the mountain (if they don't they are caves) they're gonna be 75, 80, 90.


Most of the people on here talking large would piss themselves at 40 degree pitch. FACT.
Dec 16 2012 9:39AM
1 0
profile picture
Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
Ok the headwall of tuckerman's ravine is 75-80 for a good portion and then begins to fatten out....who else has skied it here
Dec 16 2012 9:47AM
0 1
profile picture
Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
I can't remember numbers when I'm drunk.
Dec 16 2012 9:48AM
0 0
profile picture
[J_Gasper]
Posts: 2983 - Karma: 1,594
Not gonna lie, some of the shit off of the e-chair at breck is pretty steep if you take the glades inbetween the runs. Lake chutes is pretty scare to, but pretty short.
Dec 16 2012 9:49AM
0 0
profile picture
minihef
Posts: 813 - Karma: 781
Bullshit.
Dec 16 2012 10:05AM
0 0
profile picture
Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
u skied it? what is it
Dec 16 2012 10:06AM
0 0
profile picture
Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
http://www.mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/tuckerman-ravine/tuckerman-ravine-terrain/

It says the steepest part of the headwall is 90 and sustained is 60..that is because at the bottom it flattens out. I was just estimating based off of what i skied
Dec 16 2012 10:08AM
0 1
profile picture
LoneRanger
Posts: 75 - Karma: 96
This. My legs were screaming like a banshee
Dec 16 2012 10:54AM
0 0
profile picture
a_burger
Posts: 5235 - Karma: 20,715
The steepest area of tucks (Icefall and most of the center headwall) are 60 at max. Top of left gully is 55. Image for refernce

Click for larger image
Dec 16 2012 11:01AM
1 0
profile picture
theschneidler
Posts: 2099 - Karma: 355
360 degrees......in all seriousness there's one part of a run at my mountain that takes like 10 seconds that's maybe 40-45
Dec 16 2012 11:08AM
0 0
profile picture
Che~
Posts: 2108 - Karma: 296
That is because there is a cliff on center headwall. I wouldn't count 90 as something you skied.
Dec 16 2012 11:24AM
1 0
profile picture
Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
alright i skied tucks...60 degrees
Dec 16 2012 12:01PM
0 0
profile picture
TheGnarwhal
Posts: 871 - Karma: 49
It's pretty consistently 50ish though. The length of the run is incredible, it covers about 500 meters of vert and only flattens out at the bottom.
Dec 16 2012 12:25PM
0 0
profile picture
Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
that looks like it's pretty much straight down...how much steeper can it have been in real life?
Dec 16 2012 12:28PM
0 0
profile picture
Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
you must have really sucked at geometry
Dec 16 2012 12:36PM
0 0
profile picture
skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
there is one run up at Lutsen that drops off the back of moose? mtn that is supposedly the steepest in Minnesota. its pretty steep, but what makes it scary is how icy it is.
Dec 16 2012 12:38PM
0 0
profile picture
Giulio
Posts: 107 - Karma: 70
Gowdy's on Snowmass...I've heard it's 45. A thing about slopes is that they are easy to overestimate. Gowdy's is a fucking cliff in the summer, and it feels like it's 70 degrees. However, there isn't a chance in hell that it's 70 degrees.
Dec 16 2012 6:54PM
0 0
profile picture
PlaygroundRapist
Posts: 1307 - Karma: 26
after the intial 20m it does go down at 55 degrees then goes to 50 and then mellows out to 45-40ish.

The 55 part isn\'t too long.

But what makes the Swiss Wall hard is it's conditions, I've been there at the begin of season after a dump and you could straight line that bitch.

I've also been there at the end of the season, by then the moguls are the size of 4X4 and as hard as concrete, it's south facing and completly open so it's icy, very icy.

It's most notorious for the amounts of lives it has claimed, it's not the most difficult of runs but when you get in a tumble, there is no way to recover.
Dec 16 2012 7:03PM
0 0
profile picture
ASmileyFace
Posts: 11 - Karma: 12
Kinda freaked for a second since this is my picture and I just wasn't looking at who posted it.

Shit's really steep.
Dec 16 2012 7:21PM
0 0
profile picture
rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868

That still looks pretty damn steep to me...

Personally it's probably the chutes around Whitewall at Kicking Horse. No idea of slope angle, I'm going with steeper than 45* though.

Dec 16 2012 7:40PM
0 0
profile picture
Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
Hangman's in Mammoth. Start is a 52 degree incline, mellows out to 32 degrees though for a total of 1100 vertical.

If were going consistency, Lincoln is all around 40 - 45 degree and consistent with something like 1000 vertical.

Checking out my favorite runs and they all seem to be 38 - 42 degrees and typically with trees.
Dec 16 2012 7:54PM
0 0
profile picture
walrussteeze
Posts: 327 - Karma: 212
http://vimeo.com/34869494# not me but the little Wasatch face is crazy (don't know how to embed videos from vimeo)
Dec 16 2012 8:07PM
0 0
profile picture
cuntdestroyur
Posts: 358 - Karma: 17

The bunny hill

#MyEpicBackyard

Dec 16 2012 8:09PM
0 0
profile picture
gingaskier
Posts: 623 - Karma: 263
probably 50-55 degrees. The steeper the safer =D
Dec 17 2012 1:09AM
0 0
profile picture
RIP_leos_shack
Posts: 710 - Karma: 3,200
For all who are arguing about tucks being 60+ degrees....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckerman_Ravine#Anatomy_of_the_Bowl
Dec 17 2012 2:25AM
0 0
profile picture
Steeze_Irwin
Posts: 161 - Karma: 218
to some of u fucktards that are ridiculously overestimating slopes, the top section of the red bull supernatural course was 55 degrees and that was pretty fucking gnar. some of the competitors would get the slightest bit of air at speed and end up pretty far down the slope..
Dec 17 2012 4:06AM
0 0
profile picture
Vincenzo
Posts: 304 - Karma: 445
Dat mogul paradise......
Dec 17 2012 5:21AM
0 0
profile picture
DrunkViking
Posts: 154 - Karma: 53
I did Harikiri in Mayerhofen, Austria. It has a max drop of 78 degrees, but it wasn't even that bad, huge wide slope, but if you fall, there is no getting up until you get to the bottom.
Dec 17 2012 8:24AM
0 0
profile picture
Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
It's a 78% gradient, you should not confuse that with degrees.
It's roughly around 38 degrees from the top of my head.
Dec 17 2012 8:29AM
0 0
profile picture
LC.
Posts: 5952 - Karma: 2,423
It's 78% of 45 degrees, meaning 35 degrees. They name it like that because big numbers sound cool.
Dec 17 2012 8:45AM
0 0
All times are Eastern (-5)