Cutting Cornices: An ethics question [nerd alert]

[freshies]

i think this also depends on where you are....but as a rule, i cut /em if it seems safe (roped, etc) to do so. side country at alpine, i ski cut those mofos all the time out in estelle and upper beaver before dropping in....

[Blurred]

We dug a pit the other day and didn't fill it in when we were done. It was sick. The establishment lost.

[joshbu]

How about, quit being a pussy and just huck the thing?

Yeah! Ask Roman Latta about how rad it is to huck cornices!

[freshies]

It's a pretty poor sight to be in a pristine place and see a nice, long cornice marred by a large cut. I go into the backcountry to get away, and a cut cornice is more noticeable than anything else, including ski tracks and slides.

How about, quit being a pussy and just huck the thing?

you are an idiot

[AltaPowderDaze]

obviously this depends on the topography of the area but going around it should be an option too.

reasons not to go around:
--if the temps are rising you might not want to be under one at all.

--the cornice is there for a reason. obviously the slope loads frequently.

--as mentioned before, cutting the cornice may give some insight on the conditions. it should also be mentioned that there are a lot of times that the cronice may not put enough force on the slope or hit the magic button in the start zone. joshbu, there was a cornice cut and dropped in king's chute that day. the impact of the skier hitting a different "sweet spot" set it off and it was later named roman's chute.

[nesta]

reasons not to go around:
--if the temps are rising you might not want to be under one at all.

Also, beware rapid cooling; probably even more so than rising temps to be nowhere near a cornice, particularly under it!

[nesta]

I've been eyeing up Siberian Express on Garibaldi - a huge mother cornice forms above it which is a real big objective hazard climbing it

Hey Lee you might as well forget eyeing it up. You can't use explosives in the park and that's the only way you're skiing that, unless of course you have a death wish. Even if you could annihilate the cornice, then the skiing would suck!

[AltaPowderDaze]

Also, beware rapid cooling; probably even more so than rising temps to be nowhere near a cornice, particularly under it!

good point, nesta. rapid change of any kind is not great for most things on snow.

[Colossus178]

What's a cornice?

[LeeLau]

Hey Lee you might as well forget eyeing it up. You can't use explosives in the park and that's the only way you're skiing that, unless of course you have a death wish. Even if you could annihilate the cornice, then the skiing would suck!

Hey trevor hunt skied it. Maybe if I got a really really long saw? I can dream can't i?

[Colossus178]

What's a cornice?

These seemed funny when I posted it, but now it just seems stupid. Never try to be funny when you've been drinking...

[andrewjesaitis]

No, it's not. Knocking off loose ice when ice climbing is a much better analogy - you are removing a hazard to you and your party. Gratuitous bashing is frowned upon; simple cleaning isn't.

I agree knocking off ice is a better analogy, but the comparison I was getting at was that chopping holds makes the route climbable whereas cutting the cornice makes the slope skiable. The whole problem lies in the fact that chopping holds is permanent, which is why that practice is verboten.