(1) Coated with tasty Utah powder, the narrow couloir below us was nothing less than a 2,000-vertical foot statement of nature's perfection.(2) But at its narrowest the couloir is about two ski lengths wide.(3) My board takes a real beating as I exit the couloir .(4) We dropped our packs and did a fast recon up to the base to find our line: a steep couloir to a knife-edge ridge to the summit.(5) Above them, a giant serac - a hanging block of glacial ice - had collapsed and was tumbling down the couloir .(6) This technique will get you down a couloir no wider than your skis, allow you to climb - albeit strenuously - without skins, and save you from all manner of hairy situations.(7) Under a bluebird sky, he stood staring at 5,000 vertical feet of untracked powder, which disappeared down a steep-walled couloir that hadn't been touched all winter.(8) They were not roped together at this point, and Doug decided to scout a way across the rock face into another chimney, or perhaps to a couloir they could use as a way down.(9) So they turned their attentions to climbing a neighbouring couloir (a gully up the side of a mountain) which they completed in eight hours the following day.(10) About two hours after departing the lodge, the group reached the bottom and entered the west couloir .(11) We pick a line of lesser resistance, but nonetheless find ourselves perched above a steep couloir .(12) u2018Those couloirs have been there forever,u2019 says Dawson, u2018and we've had athletes capable of skiing them for 20 or 30 years.u2019(13) The group threaded its way up treacherous couloirs and 50-degree snow slopes, cutting steps with ice axes.(14) Now, in a region better known for radical couloirs than radical causes, air quality has moved to the top of the agenda.(15) Under his wing, the full range of skiing opportunities became apparent: within the space of two days we tried everything from the easiest green runs to double black diamond couloirs .(16) Shorter skis weigh less, are easier to carry on a pack, and will turn with ease through the tightest trees and narrowest couloirs .
