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Steep Groomed Slopes in N. America


Jeff E

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A reply from Kirkwood,

Hello Jeff,<o></o>

<o></o>

We groom several runs from the top as you know. Within a couple of degrees, here is the information I have for the steepness of the groomed areas.<o>:p></o>:p>

<o></o>

The Wall 42 degrees<o></o>

Monte Wolfe 38 degrees<o></o>

Zachary 36 degrees<o></o>

Olympic 38 degrees<o></o>

<o></o>

Anything else that we groom would be less steep. Hope this is helpful.<o></o>

<o></o>

<st1>Dave Myers</st1><o></o>

VP Mountain Operations<o></o>

<o></o><o></o>

I <o>have never seen them groom the wall, but I only go there midweek. It sure would be a nice wide, open run.

</o>

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Hey Jeff,

Check out the chutes at Mt. Rose - 40-55 degrees :smashfrea

http://www.mtrose.com/on_the_mountain/chutes.php

http://www.mtrose.com/snow/snow_report.php

Check tahoecarvers forum, Tae Kim is the guy at Mt. Rose that rides the chutes all season as well as back county carving too. I rode with him about a month ago at Rose just before leaving for the OES.

--Hugh

Guest Rescue in Progress is another way of saying, "Man Down"

post-92-141842254926_thumb.jpg

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The steepest groomed run I can think of in Colorado is Corona Bowl at Eldora. It's quite wide for most of the run, but they usually do leave a mogul strip off to rider's left. I don't know how long or steep exactly, I can't find the info, but I would guess 800 or so feet and 35 - 40 degress for the main part of the run. Maybe Bola knows.

When I rode softies back in the 90s, Eldora was the mountain I spent the most time at, since my aunt lives in Nederland. I only got 5ish days a year in back then, but I was damn proud of myself the first time I made it down Corona, on my alp 163 with 3 strap Burton bindings. I'm sure none of the turns were pretty, but that hardly mattered to me at the time. I do remember the run being steep enough that falling could result in sliding a pretty significant distance down the slope before I managed to stop myself.

I'll feel good about my carving ability the day I get down Corona without skidding a turn.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Next would be something like International at Crested Butte. I know they winch cat that run.

I'll have to agree here-some nice groomed steeps at CB! I have yet to experience anything steeper in NM/CO, but I also missed the Ajax day at SES 06.

Carving International was quite good, but it was dust on crust on that side of the mountain so we only hit it a few times.

Ruby Chief right off the Paradise lift was epic. Perfect pitch and plenty wide for the 12m+ boards. Actually anything off the Paradise lift was amazing, and the lift itself is the fastest lift I've ever ridden hands down. Now I know the true meaning of "high speed quad". :D

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I dont have any pictures to upload at the moment but I doubt you guys have even heard Of The Mount Shasta Ski Park. It is small, Only three lifts, with three seperate Hills. If you ever come to Northern California in the winter... A ticket is cheap ($35-40) and we have some great alpine terrain. Many steep pitches, Many!!!

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  • 6 months later...
From the Lutsen Mountains Winter E-Newsletter (10/31/2008):

"The Plunge is Back!: Making its comeback as the steepest run in Mid-America, The Plunge redefines expert terrain in the Midwest with winch-cat grooming on a 90% slope."

:lol:

I believe a 90% slope is just shy of 45 degrees -

My understanding is when slopes are quoted in x% it means x feet drop over 100 feet hotizontal = so 100% slope = 45 degrees

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From the Lutsen Mountains Winter E-Newsletter (10/31/2008):

"The Plunge is Back!: Making its comeback as the steepest run in Mid-America, The Plunge redefines expert terrain in the Midwest with winch-cat grooming on a 90% slope."

:lol:

Hey Russ is that the Run on the backside of Moose about 1/2 way from the day lodge. Looked at that last year and it was rocky and stumpy to say the least. I would have to say if that's it, it is plenty steep even for out west standards. Wanted to give it a shot, but decided to break ribs elsewhere on the Mt.

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My understanding is when slopes are quoted in x% it means x feet drop over 100 feet hotizontal = so 100% slope = 45 degrees

Correct.

Great steeps at Sugarloaf: : Sluice Headwall, Narrow Gauge Headwall, Cribworks, Flume, White Nitro below the crosscut. Trails with good steep sections: Spillway, Sluice, Haulback, Hayburner, Upper Gondola Line, Skidder, probably a few others...

GeoffV on Skidder... doesn't quite do it justice, but you know what they say about cameras and ski slopes...

060308_1558.jpg

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I'll be in Duluth from Dec 18th to Jan 12th, and we're planning on gettng a season's pass to Lutsen. Didn't pay for the Spirit pass last year. Ended up going to Mont Du Lac for Tele Tuesdays, and schooling the boys on bumps. Would love to hook for for a trip to Lutsen, or maybe Spirit if I can find a pass or two.

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Greg;

I've got a couple of extra 4 hour tickets for Spirit; give me a call when you get to town and we'll see if we can hook up.

I took my daughter out to Mont du Lac last year to go tubing and found that their senior pass (55+) is only $10, so I plan on spending some time there as well. From your profile, it looks like you don't quite qualify for this one yet.....

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OK,OK what is this? I thought we were all about turns on groomed runs? Does Buttermilk ring a bell? The late John Goodwin said it all when he said, "Carving is a groomed sport on runs that are boring to the expert skier" Can you say turns? Oh yeah, going back up the hill? John and I ski bumd in Sun Valley in the early 60'S. Now I know that there are many on this forum that were not born yet. Sun Valley, run for run is the over all steepest mountain in the US. We used 210 Head Vector Comps with Marker or Look Long Thong bindings. Leather lace up boots. No wonder I'm not in a wheel chair? LOL Hey, Mammoth is open!

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I mathed it up to find out that Avalanche at Cannon Mt has an average of 23 degrees over 2500 feet, while Paulie's Folly right next to it comes out to 26 degrees over it's 2000 feet. It's some goooooooooood riding when it's groomed (never). Paulies actually has whales on it through almost the whole season, so there are actually many lines down that push 50-60 degrees, but they're manmade and way too scary for me.

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OK,OK what is this? I thought we were all about turns on groomed runs? Does Buttermilk ring a bell? The late John Goodwin said it all when he said, "Carving is a groomed sport on runs that are boring to the expert skier" Can you say turns? Oh yeah, going back up the hill? John and I ski bumd in Sun Valley in the early 60'S. Now I know that there are many on this forum that were not born yet. Sun Valley, run for run is the over all steepest mountain in the US. We used 210 Head Vector Comps with Marker or Look Long Thong bindings. Leather lace up boots. No wonder I'm not in a wheel chair? LOL Hey, Mammoth is open!

I thought it would be nice to have sort of a reference thread of steep groomed slopes in North America. When we travel, we can look up say Kirkwood, Ca , and say oh yeah! I'll have to try the Wall while I'm there, and see how far I can carve noskid turns at 40+ degrees! It looks like from the posts, resorts are offering alot more winch-cat groomed slopes now.

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Now I know that there are many on this forum that were not born yet. Sun Valley, run for run is the over all steepest mountain in the US.

^^^^^^^^^

Truth spoken here. For how hard I like to carve a lot of areas are too flat and you run out of steam halfway through. Forget euro style on the flatter spots as that takes all your mo away.

Upper Warm Springs, Upper Greyhawk, Upper Limelight, International all winch cat, and all will take your breath away. In the good way. Unless you do it wrong and then it kind of sucks.

RIP John.

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