the.com/couloir
a mountain's narrow throat that swallows the brave and spits out the lucky.
means A steep, narrow gully or gorge cut into a mountainside, often used as a route by climbers and skiers.
from Straight from French couloir, 'a passage' or 'corridor,' from couler, 'to flow' or 'to glide' — the same root that gives us 'percolate' and the idea of liquid slipping through a channel. The word traces back to Latin colare, 'to strain or filter.' So a couloir is, quite literally, a thing that water (and snow, and the occasional climber) flows down — the mountain's drainpipe, named by the Alpine French who knew them best.
- french origin
- From couler, to flow — like water, or you, downward
- avalanche chute
- Same gullies that funnel skiers also funnel snowslides
- steepness
- Many exceed 45 degrees, steeper than most rooftops
- climber's prize
- Coveted alpine routes despite obvious lethal geometry
- natural funnel
- Rockfall and ice converge here by design
grande jorasses north face — the hirondelles couloir on mont blanc's north face, where dozens of climbers die annually from rockfall and avalanches
wildcat couloirs — steep gullies at wildcat ski area in new hampshire's white mountains, famous for extreme backcountry skiing
teton couloir — the needle couloir on the grand teton in wyoming, a classic alpine ski descent rated grade 5