Central Couloir: a big mountain skier’s dream line

I’ve been staring at this line since I moved to Jackson ten years ago. On a blue bird day, it’s the first thing you see when you step off the tram. By all accounts, it’s one of the most desirable technical couloirs you could ask for. It starts from the very top of Cody Peak, a perfect line of snow in a sea of rocks. The couloir is intensely steep, and right when it rolls over to it’s steepest point there is the “crux,” a line of rocks you have to either hop over or precisely snake through. Keep in mind all of this is above the finale, a large cliff drop you have no choice but to air out.

Isn’t she beautiful?

An aesthetic peak, steep skiing, a technical crux, an air out of the bottom, what more could you ask for? It’s a big mountain skier’s dream line, and it’s only a 50 minute hike from the top of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

For my first few years in Jackson, I did not want to ski Central, I wasn’t even entertaining the idea. But as I slowly started to get more comfortable in exposed terrain, a nagging voice started whispering “maybe this year?”

“Not yet.” I’d always reply.

Over another couple of years “not yet” turned into “maybe.” 

Central bore down over me every time I hiked up Cody on a sunny day. Constantly taunting me, it felt inevitable. I knew I would have to ski it one day or another.

This year, I surprised even myself when the voice asked again “will you ski it this year?” and I heard myself reply “yes.”

A closer view of some unknown skier’s tracks

When attacking big goals like this one, it helps to have a partner in crime, someone who can help you over-analyze the weather looking for the right day, and also to help you find similar couloirs to practice on.

I recruited a skier I had long admired, Andrew Whiteford. If you don’t know Andrew, he’s a local legend here in Jackson, an incredibly respected skier from the Storm Show era of films (Storm Show is the local “core” response to TGR. A local production company that filmed unknown Jackson Hole skiers doing the gnarliest lines possible on our mountain).

Andrew is known for skiing the lines that seem impossible, the lines that come into play only once every 5-10 years and that only a handful of people have ever skied successfully.

For example, he’s skied this line called “Talk to Central” which is a line connecting the base jumpers path “Talk is Cheap” into Central Couloir. We’ve already talked about how gnarly Central is. Now imagine skiing a face that ends in a close out so large that people base jump off of it, and instead talking a 25 foot air INTO Central Couloir to ski out. It’s hard to explain how much precision and perfection this requires.

“Talk to Central”

It takes a huge amount of mental fortitude to ski something like that. How do you prepare when there’s no real way to practice? When nothing else compares to the exposure you will feel when you’re in there? Andrew and I talked a lot about visualization, how you can essentially get the reps in without putting your body in danger. And we talked a lot about trusting yourself. Trusting that you’ve put the work in, that you know what you’re doing, and that you are capable.

To find that feeling of trust, I would go through the list of things I had done to prepare. For Central, I ran through the list of steep exposed lines that I had skied: “Once is Enough, Twice is Nice, Horseshoe, Shady Lady, Apocalypse, Triple A, The Womb, mini Gothic…” in my mind I list out all of the technical descents I’ve done and I convince myself that if I did those comfortably and confidently, then I was ready for Central. Eventually, Central goes from being this terrifying beast, to just another line.

Staring down the barrel

Andrew and I had tried to get into Central and bailed twice this year before skiing it. The first time was about four weeks since my injury at Kings and Queens of Corbet’s, and while I was mostly physically recovered, I had underestimated how much that injury was affecting me mentally. I tried to jump back into skiing big lines quickly, but no matter how much I tried to convince myself I was ready, the intense impact and injury I suffered would play over and over in my mind. At the entrance to the couloir, my anxiety was racing and the fear of getting injured again was taking over. I knew I couldn’t get in there that day. 

We spent the next couple of weeks skiing other steep couloirs that I felt more confident in, and slowly but surely I was skiing like myself again.

After another three and half weeks, I knew I was ready, this time physically and mentally. We woke up to blue skies, no wind, and rode an almost empty tram to the top. It was a beautiful, calm day with no one else around. We both knew this was our day. 

When we made our way down into the couloir, I felt this sense of calm come over me. We were there, the filmers were stationed, and we were going to ski Central. All that was left was to actually do it.

Probably the spookiest section of the whole descent. The snow here was much firmer than I expected.

Inside the couloir, conditions were less than ideal. Firm and icy, but I knew the key to making it through was to keep calm and to keep moving. On my gopro you can hear me talk myself through it at a near constant stream. I’m telling myself “keep moving, watch out for that ice, just make it through this section, you’re almost there, you’re doing great…”

The air always looks bigger when you’re standing on top of it, luckily by the time you get there you are almost home free.

Skied straight into a hug after making it through that!

While it might not have been pretty, Andrew and I both made it successfully to the bottom. Stomping the air out and celebrating with a hug. I couldn’t believe how far I’d come. Going from not even considering skiing Central, to making it one of my season goals and accomplishing it in subpar conditions. Making it through this line fills me with so much confidence. I feel like I could travel the world, out to the Alps or Alaska and make it down anything. I’ve said it before but the feeling of working hard and accomplishing something you truly weren’t sure if you could is the best feeling in the world. Skiing Central leveled up my game, and I can’t wait to see where this leads.