The Run of The Century - how steep it is?

Not that steep, but a very nice pitch. Probably 34-38° and the powder makes it easy skiing! 

(  Terrible music, but this is steeper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ChsWGC1DI  )

It's always hard to tell steepness from video, but the steepest extended line I've skied is at Highlands Bowl in Aspen.  The lines we took in there were low-to-mid 40-degree pitch, and there's no way that video shows something that steep.

I'd say the video is low-to-mid 30-degree pitch.  The run sure looks like fun though!

Yes, I skied it about 10 years ago.  I have a poster of it on my wall, and still look at it every day.  It is my understanding that the top section (which is what is in the video) is a glacier that has since developed a large crevasse, so they no longer ski the run.  It got its name because the conditions were very seldom safe or good enough to ski it.  It was a blue bird day without a breath of wind and when we landed on top our guide, who had been with CMH for 3 years, said he had never skied it.  He got out of the chopper, fell to his knees and started doing a Wayne's World "I am not worthy" bow. That's when you know it is going to be a good run.  We were the first group of the day, so it was totally untracked.  The guide led us off the top a short way to a spot in the middle of the face, and then he said "I've never done this before, but I'll see you at the bottom." If I remember correctly,  the face in the video is about 1,500 vert, and only 1/3 of the total run.  My wife and I were some of the first ones to go behind the guide.  We laid a set of 8s as long as our legs would last and did not make it to where the guide was waiting at the bottom of the first slope.

If my memory serves me, the top pitch in the video is about 30-35 degrees.  It was not super steep, but a pretty consistent slope the entire first section, and then steepens up right at the end of that first pitch.  I believe there were some steeper pitches in the two lower sections, but by that point I was in a dream state, so my memory is a little foggy.

Not very steep and why was that guy skiing all that snow that had already been skied

I spend $1200 bucks a day and I don't want to cross a track more than once or twice a day much less one run.  The top part was like a resort powder day....

Quote:

Originally Posted by apeyros 

Hmm, interesting, did it develop the crevasse recently?

 I think I heard about it 3 or 4 years ago from a friend who skied it with us and has some connections with the CMH folks.

 

Here's helmet cam footage from the top in 2009. This is non stop footage of my first run on "ROC" and where I stop is about 50-60% of the way down to the LZ.  Video taken with my first generation Contour so doesn't do a great job of long range shots, but you'll get the essence of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwRe1kTeN8s

Made 4 runs on ROC on our last day with the Gothics.  It is still in the active run list and accessed by both the Gothics and Adamants lodges (technically Gothics tenure, but AD will poach if possible - friendly rivalry).

We had 2 groups of skiers sharing one 212 this day, and the other group was a bit more 'experienced' and slower.  They were given the basic line and skied straight down the middle as shown in the photo above (this poster is also hanging in my home).  This group only made one lap here before skiing some adjacent runs so we could schralp.

Run one for our group (and what is shown on the video above) is down the gut at top (sharing the tracks of group 1) then off skier's right onto a pretty nice pitch.  I'd say the slope angle is 34-38 degrees on average.  Runs 2-4 were skiers left of the middle line from the poster and if you watch this clip, you'll see it gets a bit steeper (maybe 38-40 in parts).  We basically ski lines between the cliff bands that are exposed in the poster shot.

Overall it is a great pitch with a lot of turns to be made and was the memory of our trip that season.  We were with other veteran CMH'ers who've been coming to the Gothics for many years and they say it is a 1 in 10 year type of experience.  I know the member of my group who skied that day remember it fondly and as recently as last year we tried to get there from the Adamants in mid-April but got weathered out before getting close enough to hop over.  Oh well, something to hopefully look forward to the future...

Enjoy!

Run 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TscQr8VE7e0&list=UUrYENrGW_7Uy3pnidGSkb2A&index=9&feature=plcp

Run 4 - http://youtu.be/3ouatJ9JKQM