PeakRankings
If you ever want to have skiing nightmares, go down an internet rabbit hole of wipeouts at Big Sky’s Big Couloir. Wiping out in the infamous Montana couloir isn’t just a tough slide followed by shamefully retracing your tracks to dispose of any evidence of a yard sale. It’s full-on carnage, it’s broken bones, and potential death.
The triple black diamond run famously requires a check-in and thumbs up from ski patrol just to enter. If you’re one of the lucky few just to sign up for a run down Big Couloir, patrollers designate a time for your run and only permit one person down the couloir every 15 minutes. If patrol determines conditions aren’t safe, they won’t allow people to sign up. And if you think you can simply duck a rope and take your swing at it with or without ski patrol’s permission, enjoy retelling stories of that one time you had your pass pulled at Big Sky.
The video above is an interesting POV view. But the YouTube channel PeakRankings documented what the whole entire process is like during a day at Big Sky. It’s not as simple as getting on a lift and telling ski patrol your plans at the top. There’s the “Penalty Box,” where skiers and snowboarders will sit and wait for God knows how long just to sign up. There are multiple check-ins to see if the trams and the couloir are even open. There’s a waiver you’ll have to sign. And just to make everybody nervous, there is constant talk with strangers about the hassle for a spot, the nerves they’re all feeling, and rumors (or non-rumors) about that guy who just tumbled head over feet down the couloir once he got his shot.
A single run down Big Couloir is an all-day affair in this case. Two skiers document their day at Big Sky and the hours of effort it took before they finally got a 2 p.m. time slot — one of the last few runs of the day. Surprisingly, once they got there, three people were already making their way down the run.
