It doesn’t take a POV camera to prove that sending it straight into Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s infamous Corbet’s Couloir at full speed is sketchy. We’re talking about navigating a 50-degree slope with high walls on both sides. The entrance is a narrow one, no wider than about 10 feet. And of course, getting through the narrow chute requires sticking the landing off of a drop you can’t exactly ease into. There’s a reason many consider it one of America’s most challenging ski runs.
This is the paradox of the Kings and Queens of Corbet’s each year, though. The most insane and experienced athletes there make it look easy — nothing like an afternoon spent watching the Corbet’s Couloir cam and all the everyday Joe’s who regret thinking they too can send it through Corbet’s.
A first-person view sheds a far more extreme light on it though. As Yuki Kodano can be heard repeating over and over during a run at this year’s competition, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” The drop in point looks even steeper, and that 50-degree slope looks a heck of a lot faster than third-person highlights could ever show.
Not to be a bummer on this party, but I’m too old and lived through too many sprained limbs, one brutal knee injury skiing, and enough concussions to think that I’ll ever stand at the top of Corbet’s with the intent to drop in. I’m am going to go adjust my DIN setting after watching this though.
