Monday 31 December 2012

Chisel Couloir and 9th Hole Dec 29th

Daily Vert: 1050m
Total Vert So Far: 14,265m

The Chisel Couloir is one of Blackcomb's hidden gems.  Arguably its only remaining hidden gem.  Despite being located on the shoulder of Decker mountain, and regardless of the fact you can be standing on top of it about one hour after leaving the Blackcomb gate, this beautiful line sees surprisingly little traffic.  The mostly likely reason for this is that you can't see the line from any of the standard commuter routes in the area.  You can't see it from the Spearhead Col or from anywhere on the standard routes between Decker and Trorey.  Some people like to keep it secret, so if you want to ski it you'll have to find it yourself!  Anyway, enough geography... we skied the line today and it was quite lovely, I thoroughly recommend it.  After reaching the bottom we skinned all the way back to the top of Decker and skied the 9th hole, which also held excellent snow.  A great way for Benoit and I to spend the morning before heading to work at the Spag all night!

Total Zoo at the Blackcomb gate

Just over an hour later we find solitude and look down this steep line

The chisel from below (older photo)

Enjoying the views in Decker Meadows as the sun comes out.



2 comments:

  1. I love this blog. Tonnes of great info.
    Lots of people i know know about this chute, but as you said the lack of visibilty keeps it relatively traffic free. Everyone who i haved spoken too about it asks me to keep it on the d/l.
    Maybe not exposing it to everyone to find would be another way to keep it traffic free for the future as well.

    Anyway thanks for all the photos of your other missions (especially the wedge account as its on my list this year).
    Take it easy
    Andy

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    Replies
    1. Hi there,
      Glad you like the blog. It did occur to me that writing about this line was a bit of a double edged sword- that was the reason that I left out the GPS tracks which I include for all the other trips. I've amended the text to make the location a bit less descriptive, and frankly I don't think my blog receives enough web-traffic that we need to be too concerned!

      See you out there!
      Dan

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