jimk
Active member
Here's a challenge: name a few of your favorite individual ski runs you've ever taken in your life. This could be hard to narrow down to just a few. I'm talking about a specific run on a specific day. However, if you've got a favorite run that you've done many times and want to mention it as a collective experience that's ok too. If you have photos to share that's good too. If this has already been done on FTO, then point me to the correct thread.
Here are a few examples from me, in no particular order of favorites. They're all good
Snowbird - North Chute:
One fine spring day in 2017 my son Vince, a PSIA L-3 instructor, led me and two other friends down a super steep and beautiful chute at Snowbird, Utah called North Chute. North Chute cuts under the upper section of Snowbird’s aerial tramline near the summit of Hidden Peak. It's steep and bordered by cliffs. The snow was soft and edgeable enough this day that the four of us kicked up plenty of loose sluff as we took turns going down one-at-a-time in single file. Everyone in the group skied it well and safely. Talk about exhilarating! It was one of those runs that evoked mandatory high-fives from all participants upon completion. I've been down it since then, but that first time was really memorable.
North Chute is in the center of this photo, bordered by trees on left and rocky cliffs on right.
Bonus photo I took of a friend on that day high up in North Chute:
Crested Butte - Funnel Chute:
In April 2019 I enjoyed another great ski run with my son Vince. It was 1:45 p.m. on a beautiful spring afternoon when we took the High Lift t-bar and saw a bunch of hikers climbing above all lifts to the 12,162-foot peak of Crested Butte, Colorado. We spontaneously decided to join them. It involved perhaps a 300-foot vertical climb that was easy for Vince, but I took it slowly. It was worth the effort. The 360-degree views from the true summit of CB were stupendous in a year when the Rockies were loaded with snow.
After hanging out at the summit for a few minutes, we dropped a pleasant snowfield off the northwest face and followed a somewhat sketchier traverse (Banana High Entrance), passing a bunch of classic chutes on the front/south face of the mountain such as Peel, Banana, and Funnel. We chose Funnel Chute on that run from the summit. It chokes down to a narrow pinch called Deep Throat and there’s a huge rock cliff bordering the entire right side of the chute. Wow, it was a super picturesque run consisting of nearly 3,000 continuous vertical feet of double black diamond terrain.
Dropping the cornice at the true summit of CB:
Looking down Funnel Chute at CB:
Banff-Sunshine - Delirium Dive
One day in late March 2018, again with my son, I took a memorable run down Delirium Dive at Banff-Sunshine in Canada. It requires a short hike to get to the entrance and ski patrol also requires that you wear avi gear (transceiver/probe). My son and a friend tried it first that day. When my son came back he said, "you can do it Dad, no problem." My son had his own avi gear and his friend loaned me his stuff. The sketchiest part of the run was climbing down a set of metal stairs they built to enter the top of the run/bowl. You had to take off your skis and walk a few feet on a rocky, exposed ridge to descend the stairs. If you lost control of your skis or your footing doing this you could be screwed. Once in the run/bowl, it contained some of the softest, deepest, high angle snow I've ever skied.
Delirium Dive from afar, the entrance area is in the center of this photo under the bit of blue sky.
Snowmass - Longshot Glade
Longshot Glade is a long, open, medium angle gladed run that is fun as heck. I've taken it a few times over the years. I led a couple friends down it on an especially pretty blue-sky day in Feb 2022. This run is off the Elk Camp lift and getting to it requires a few hundred yards hike and maybe a climb of 80' of vertical. Not hard, but just enough trouble to make traffic pretty light on Longshot. You can often ski it mostly by yourself and the surface conditions stay quite nice.
Looking up Longshot:
Looking down Longshot:
Breckenridge - Zoot Chute:
I did not make my first visit to Breckenridge until 2015. That year I discovered the fun hike-to terrain above the Imperial and Kensho chairs. In February I took a friend on the hike above the Imperial chair to ski the Lake Chutes area, in particular Zoot Chute. The hike was short, but challenging at 13,000' for two 60 year old flat landers. My friend loved it and Zoot Chute was another one of those memorable runs where I high fived a partner when we completed it.
View of semicircular entrance to Zoot Chute:
My buddy skiing Zoot Chute:
Here are a few examples from me, in no particular order of favorites. They're all good
Snowbird - North Chute:
One fine spring day in 2017 my son Vince, a PSIA L-3 instructor, led me and two other friends down a super steep and beautiful chute at Snowbird, Utah called North Chute. North Chute cuts under the upper section of Snowbird’s aerial tramline near the summit of Hidden Peak. It's steep and bordered by cliffs. The snow was soft and edgeable enough this day that the four of us kicked up plenty of loose sluff as we took turns going down one-at-a-time in single file. Everyone in the group skied it well and safely. Talk about exhilarating! It was one of those runs that evoked mandatory high-fives from all participants upon completion. I've been down it since then, but that first time was really memorable.
North Chute is in the center of this photo, bordered by trees on left and rocky cliffs on right.
Bonus photo I took of a friend on that day high up in North Chute:
Crested Butte - Funnel Chute:
In April 2019 I enjoyed another great ski run with my son Vince. It was 1:45 p.m. on a beautiful spring afternoon when we took the High Lift t-bar and saw a bunch of hikers climbing above all lifts to the 12,162-foot peak of Crested Butte, Colorado. We spontaneously decided to join them. It involved perhaps a 300-foot vertical climb that was easy for Vince, but I took it slowly. It was worth the effort. The 360-degree views from the true summit of CB were stupendous in a year when the Rockies were loaded with snow.
After hanging out at the summit for a few minutes, we dropped a pleasant snowfield off the northwest face and followed a somewhat sketchier traverse (Banana High Entrance), passing a bunch of classic chutes on the front/south face of the mountain such as Peel, Banana, and Funnel. We chose Funnel Chute on that run from the summit. It chokes down to a narrow pinch called Deep Throat and there’s a huge rock cliff bordering the entire right side of the chute. Wow, it was a super picturesque run consisting of nearly 3,000 continuous vertical feet of double black diamond terrain.
Dropping the cornice at the true summit of CB:
Looking down Funnel Chute at CB:
Banff-Sunshine - Delirium Dive
One day in late March 2018, again with my son, I took a memorable run down Delirium Dive at Banff-Sunshine in Canada. It requires a short hike to get to the entrance and ski patrol also requires that you wear avi gear (transceiver/probe). My son and a friend tried it first that day. When my son came back he said, "you can do it Dad, no problem." My son had his own avi gear and his friend loaned me his stuff. The sketchiest part of the run was climbing down a set of metal stairs they built to enter the top of the run/bowl. You had to take off your skis and walk a few feet on a rocky, exposed ridge to descend the stairs. If you lost control of your skis or your footing doing this you could be screwed. Once in the run/bowl, it contained some of the softest, deepest, high angle snow I've ever skied.
Delirium Dive from afar, the entrance area is in the center of this photo under the bit of blue sky.
Snowmass - Longshot Glade
Longshot Glade is a long, open, medium angle gladed run that is fun as heck. I've taken it a few times over the years. I led a couple friends down it on an especially pretty blue-sky day in Feb 2022. This run is off the Elk Camp lift and getting to it requires a few hundred yards hike and maybe a climb of 80' of vertical. Not hard, but just enough trouble to make traffic pretty light on Longshot. You can often ski it mostly by yourself and the surface conditions stay quite nice.
Looking up Longshot:
Looking down Longshot:
Breckenridge - Zoot Chute:
I did not make my first visit to Breckenridge until 2015. That year I discovered the fun hike-to terrain above the Imperial and Kensho chairs. In February I took a friend on the hike above the Imperial chair to ski the Lake Chutes area, in particular Zoot Chute. The hike was short, but challenging at 13,000' for two 60 year old flat landers. My friend loved it and Zoot Chute was another one of those memorable runs where I high fived a partner when we completed it.
View of semicircular entrance to Zoot Chute:
My buddy skiing Zoot Chute:
Last edited:
