Backcountry
Pro skier Mali Noyes has completed the Comstock Couloir in British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains, becoming the first woman to descend the line and only the 7th skier overall to complete one of the most demanding objectives from The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America. What sets the descent apart is not only its rarity, but its fidelity to the original vision of the route. The Comstock Couloir was first skied by Greg Hill and partners and published in The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America as a full-value ski mountaineering objective. Rather than a single couloir lap, the route calls for a long and committing traverse of Dawson Ridge, a summit of Mount Dawson (the second-highest peak in the Selkirks) followed by a steep, consequential couloir descent.
Since that first ascent, the line had been repeated only once, and that repeat bypassed the traverse entirely by bootpacking directly up the couloir. According to Public Relations firm Rygr that represents Noyes, who last year completed all 92 lines of the infamous Chuting Gallery in Utah in only 47 days, she and her partners chose a different approach, following Hill’s original beta and completing the route as it was first envisioned.
The team completed the Comstock as a single 14-hour push that demanded far more than just strong skiing. The route involved glacier travel, a highly exposed ridge walk, and a steep descent that required two rappels before transitioning fully to skis. With limited escape options and significant exposure throughout, the objective left little margin for error once committed.
The descent was part of a four-day, three-night expedition staged out of the Mount Dawson drainage, where Noyes and her partners waited for a narrow window of weather and snow conditions. The Comstock Couloir is widely regarded as one of the most serious lines in The Fifty, not because of a single crux move, but because of the cumulative commitment required to reach, ski, and safely exit the terrain.
By choosing to ski the Comstock Couloir as originally intended, Noyes’ descent adds a rare, historically faithful repeat to the line’s short list of completions. It also marks a significant milestone in ski mountaineering, reinforcing that some of North America’s most iconic descents still demand patience, logistics, and full commitment—regardless of how many years have passed since their first tracks were laid.
