On Classics
So what makes it a classic?
Over the last 5 years, as I criss-crossed the country ticking of the “Classics” list, I often had to figure out exactly why the mountain / line I had just skied qualified to be a classic. For some it’s inherently obvious. Mt. Shasta is possibly one of the best corn skiing runs on planet earth. Mt. Superior dominates the view of Little Cottonwood Canyon and it’s open face just begs for fall-line tracks—hundreds of them per day actually.
Others though, it was a question. For my least favorite line in the book, The Watson Traverse on Mount Baker, it felt like it’s 100 year history was perhaps the main reason it made the cut. Or it was just an excuse to get you on top of Mt. Baker. Other lines felt like they wanted to balance out the regional diversity of North America and include lines just because California has 5 lines, so they need to get 4 in Idaho…if you know what I mean here.
Moving forward, a goal of the The FIFTY+ is to make a new list of lines that I deem to be “classic” under my own rules. Those rules..well follow below
Total: 30 Points in total.
Emoji = 1 Point
Classic = >20 Points
Aethetics: 📸📸📸📸📸 (5 Cameras Outta 5)
Popularity: 🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋(5 People Outta 5)
Dream Factor: 💭 💭 💭 💭 💭 (5 Clouds Outta 5)
Ski Quality: ⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷ (5 Skiers Outta 5)
Climb Quality: 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ (5 Climbers Outta 5)
Bragging Rights: 🗣 🗣 🗣 🗣 🗣 (5 Loud Mouths Outta 5)
Aesthetics: Exactly how it sounds. How beautiful, eye-catching and photogenic is this line? I’m unsure why the beauty of a mountain, of a ski line, makes a skier so desperately want to lay tracks down it, but alas, the eye-catching nature of a line is often what allures so many riders to so many mountains and lines. The Aesthetics of a ski line are often defined by its view from afar, but other lines capture you once you’re within the belly of the beast, and even other lines don’t reveal themselves until after you’ve skied down.
Examples:
📸: Watson Traverse, Mt. Baker, Washington
📸📸: Mt Washington, New Hampshire
📸📸📸: Terminal Cancer Couloir, Nevada
📸📸📸📸: The Grand Teton, Wyoming
📸📸📸📸📸: Meteorite Mountain, Alaska
Popularity: How many people are going to this mountain, dreaming about it and riding it. Now popularity ain’t everything, because there are plenty of amazing lines that don’t get skied as much as a Mt. Superior in Utah but still retain the Classic quality. But popularity is important to determining a Classic because in order to be a Classic in my opinion, it has to represent a wide swath of people’s defining line for a region, for a period of time or a level of experience.
Examples:
🙋: Mt. St. Elias, Alaska
🙋🙋: Mt. Stimson, Montana
🙋🙋🙋: Mt. Whitney, California
🙋🙋🙋🙋: Terminal Cancer Couloir, Nevada
🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋: Mt. Superior, Utah
Dream Factor: Does this line keep you up at night? Does it make you dream of one day skiing it, no matter what level of skier you are. This is a hard one to quantify but ultimately, it represents the creme de la creme of lines a backcountry skier fantasizes of skiing one day.
Examples:
💭: Castle Peak, Idaho
💭 💭: Cold Fusion, Mt. Timpanogos
💭 💭 💭: Bloody Couloir, California
💭 💭 💭 💭: The Grand Teton, Wyoming
💭 💭 💭 💭 💭: Denali, Alaska
Ski Quality: The best ski lines in the world, aren’t always the most beautiful. Ride-ability is often dictated by aspect, pitch, elevation, terrain contours, elevation and snow pack. Probably any ski line in the world in perfect snow is worth skiing, but certain factors will lead to a ski line having a high quality ski experience. It’s a combination of factors, but usually immediately after you ski down, you know exactly if it’s a high quality ski line, regardless of the exact conditions that day
⛷: Cold Fusion, Mt. Timpanogos, Utah
⛷ ⛷: Ford-Stettner Couloir, Grand Teton, Wyoming
⛷ ⛷ ⛷: Fuhrer Finger, Mt. Rainier, Washington
⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷: Mt. Shasta, California
⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷ ⛷: Mt. Moran, Wyoming
Climb Quality: Backcountry skiing is as much about the up as it is the down. Factors like approach, tour-ability, overhead exposure, beauty, airiness and just the pure joy of climbing the line. There are often lines where everything comes together on the way up for just as much of a good experience getting to the top as it is getting back down to the bottom.
🧗♂️: Castle Peak, Idaho
🧗♂️ 🧗♂️: Huntington Ravine, Mt. Washington
🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️: The Sickle, Idaho
🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️: Skyladder, Mt. Andromeda, Alberta
🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️ 🧗♂️: Grand Teton, Wyoming
Bragging Rights: If you came back to work and no one knows what you’re talking about, does it even matter? All kidding aside, there is that factor of pointing to a peak and being able to tell someone you skied that—if you can, please do it without sounding like an asshole. A Classic should be recognizable, should be mythic in quality and should be known by many, so that when you walk into the bar with your harness still on and banging like a wind chime, everyone will be in awe when you said what you did that day. Again, don’t be an asshole about it.
🗣: Watson Traverse, Mt. Baker, Washington
🗣 🗣: McGown Peak, Idaho
🗣 🗣 🗣: Bugs to Rogers Traverse, British Columbia
🗣 🗣 🗣 🗣: North Maroon Peak, Colorado
🗣 🗣 🗣 🗣 🗣: Denali, Alaska
