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Report from Friday The 13th, March, 2026

Corbet’s Couloir takes no prisoners…

Mainly because so many of us come from all over the world to ski Corbet’s Couloir at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and we just aren’t fully prepared for it.

I was a bit nervous to ski Corbet’s for the first time in 9 years on Friday the 13th…

Honestly, it wasn’t even in my mind, but I’d met up with Willie and Luke in the Jackson Hole marketing department today and they mentioned that it had been skiing well.

As I was skiing the lower mountain around midday, I saw two people lace the drop-in and rip huge turns down the chute.

That’s when I realized I should probably go up there and have a look…

I was on the 1 p.m. tram to the summit and I couldn’t quite get a good look at it over the crowd on the way up.

No matter. The important thing is how it looks from the top.

I slowly skittered my way to the entrance of the chute, slid through the gate, negotiated the crowd, and had a look down the chute.

“OH HELL NO!” was my body’s initial reaction.

The cornice drop was steep, icy-looking, with a ferocious, sweeping, committed right turn that dumps you right into the chute proper with speed you’ll need to get rid of in a hurry.

I worked my way to the skier’s left of the drop-in and was extremely lucky to watch a tall drink of water drop in and make it look easy.

That helped. Now, I could see it.

I stepped back, put on my camera, pushed my way through the crowd, watched a guy try to drop in three times and balk three times, asked him if I could go first, rolled up to the edge, and dropped without hesitation.

The sweeping right turn was firm, and my skis chattered.

I just kept it together on my left-hand speed check turn at the top of the chute, directly into wintry chalk bliss.

I slid turns on the skier’s left of the chute, where the snow looked fresh where the severe rock walls spat color onto the snow.

The skiing was good, likely due to spindrift that blew into the chute from the raging 100 mph winds last night.

I bounced my way down the chute, stopping at multiple places near the bottom to eyeball the chute, the crashes, and my aspirations of S&S Chute someday…

When I refocused on Corbet’s, there were three skiers with a grand total of four skis between them.

I watched four people crash behind me before ski patrol closed it for the day.

I’m not sure why they closed it.

Maybe because the percentage success rate was simply too low.

Maybe it’s normal for them to close it around 1:15 p.m.

I may never know, but I’m extremely grateful to have been on the last tram of the day allowed to enter.

I skied expert chutes down to the Thunder Chair and got a cheeky tip from a new chair friend that Tower 3 Chute was skiing great.

I did two laps in Tower 3 Chute and she was right.

Fantastic skiing in chalky snow and superb terrain.

After two Tower 3s, I called it and glided home with a smile.

Thanks, Wyoming!

Photos