#dangerous-ski-runs

#dangerous-ski-runs

"Our ops teams have been working magic all winter long, but even that magic can't really fight back what Mother Nature has delivered at the tail end of this season for us."

Avalanches kill about 100 people in Europe each year, with vast masses of ice, snow and rock regularly crashing down on hikers and skiers who have been caught unawares. The structure of the snow, angle of the slope and variation of the weather can dictate whether a gentle disturbance like a gust of wind or the glide of a snowboard can trigger a deadly shift in the mountain.

In the mountain village of Capracotta, snowdrifts reached over five feet, burying streets and forcing residents to dig tunnels through the snow.

The 2025-26 winter saw extreme weather, with the eastern half experiencing consistent cold and heavy snowfall, while the western half endured record warmth and a lack of snowfall.

Owl's Head has officially joined the Indy Pass, a fantastic news for Townships locals and travelers alike. It remains fiercely independent since Fred Korman opened it in 1965 with just three lifts.

Isaac Kaufman is earning quite a reputation for epic airs and gnarly flips, many of which take place at his home mountain of Palisades Tahoe.

The sport originated thousands of years ago in Europe by necessity when hunters used long skis to travel and explore over mountain passes, placing animal skins on the bottoms of their skis for traction when climbing. Military units used similar gear to patrol the Alps in the late 1800s, sometimes engaging in speed competitions, which were likely the prototypes for the format of the Olympic skimo debut this February.

Runaway snowboards were a cause of great concern in the early days of snowboarding as snowboards don't have breaks like skis. This concern was justified in many ways as proto snowboard bindings much less secure and reliable than modern systems using simple straps, rubber components, or basic buckles that could loosen or fail more easily during a crash.

Jamie Pierre is widely regarded as holding the world record highest ski cliff jump at 255 feet set in 2006 in the backcountry of Grand Targhee, Wyoming. Jamie's leap was 100% deliberate but there is another skier who unintentionally sent a larger cliff and his record is somewhat disputed around the ski world.

The most dangerous ski runs will always be those located outside of ski resort boundaries. With no avalanche control or ski patrol to help you out in the event of an injury, a run in the backcountry comes with risks that rarely exist on resort. But what are the most dangerous ski runs on resorts? It would be near impossible to make a definitive list without injury statistics that simply don't exist, but Uncovering Skiing still took a stab at it.

Cornice collapses can be incredibly dangerous, having the potential to crush people, pull them down mountains and potentially over rocky cliffs, and cause larger avalanches. Professional skier Josh Daiek doesn't seem to be impacted by cornices as much as a regular skier or snowboarder would be, though. This incredible line starts with a heart pounding moment as he looked over the edge.