Grand Couloir Hardest ski run in Europe? 

Well done 💪🔥🔥

I love how many options there are for going down... Its not just a straight forward run that takes you from point A to point B

Depends on how you define hard. It’s definitely looks physically very challenging, particularly in the condition that it’s in. But it’s pretty wide with an even fall line, and the snow conditions are consistent, which are all things that (for me at least) up the difficulty level.

It definitely looks like you scooted right on past some much more difficult runs.

did they finally reopen it?

Did that in fairly fresh snow way back when. The track along the ridge at the top was one skier wide and you basically had to ride it to the end as the rut wouldn't allow you to turn. That was the scariest bit of it. Couldn't see much of the way down as it whited out. Never thought about it again until now, thanks for sharing.

You should watch the video and keep an eye on your skis. You are not on your downhill ski for much of the run, probably from being in the back seat on the skis. You also make your left leg work more than your right. It would be great to see another run now that you have skied it and know where you are headed.

Holy shÿt. There is practically no piste, just black poles put on the mountainside. That ridge at the beginning is insane.

For many skiers, getting down it is their ambition, and not falling on it is unachievable. All my skiing mates had done this, but none without falling. For 15 years it was closed every time I went to the start. Then I went Courchevel with my family, teaching them to ski, and on the last day they wanted to try the Snow Ride (it starts where this video ends). I looked up, and the piste was OPEN! I told my wife, I had to go! The arrête is very exposed but beautiful, and I skied across the little bowl at the end and paused on its rim at the top of the steepest part - just like the skier in the video - and planted a pole down-slope to launch... only to realise that my left boot strap had broken. Oh pooh! I had a think, visualised how the turns should feel, and jumped into the first turn. What followed was the most joyous ski of my life - perfect short swings all the way down to that broad piste at the bottom, and riding the moguls down its edge in style and the biggest of grins. Where the video ends, I had arranged to meet my wife. At the instant we met, my children showed up. My son called "Follow me" and without pause we all headed off down the Snow Ride. He'd followed some guided skiers earlier, and went off-piste through a quarry and into the trees, slaloming then out over a jump to rejoin the piste. It was the perfect end to our holiday, an ambition fulfilled, with our family skiing back to our chalet together for tea... and with a story of a loose ski boot, no falls and no stopping - just continuous flow - to tell over dinner. I remember every detail, it was skiing as I had always dreamed it could one day be. Perfect. How did THAT happen? Thanks for bringing this memory back after 25 years. That grin is back on my face.

I've got the skis you wearing - those are power-consuming beasts, demanding speed! Doing the run with these in the backseat is a thigh-killer! Well done!

The sort of run that’s amazing after fresh snow, but a horrible icey smashed up mess when it’s like this.

I've seen much harder than that ! The only issue with that run was the snow was very chopped up and hard .

Heard some snowboarder was doing it faster that very same day 🤔

Looked and sounded gnarly. Makes my run down the green slopes this morning look pretty tame. Bit nicer up here in Cham, I thought you were coming up?

Looks good - steep but short. Good work on the rescue half way through - for a moment I thought you were gonna stack! Beautiful scenery and could tell you were working those legs !! 🎉

Ski safer in the crowds. I wouldn't trust any of those other yahoos. Spot on in your comments on hitting that line on those blades you are rocking. Run looks sweet. Alps are gorgeous.

This is making me nervous just watching! I have a significant fear of heights so I will stick to easier runs. Thank you for sharing places I will never go with the world.

It's sterp, unprepared, has narrow spots. A typical orange diamond, a ski route. And a fairly hard one. But not too bad. What makes it bad, is the snow condition. Half ice, half soft mogules, hardly any soft nice snow, and nothing close to a normal prepared slope, sometimes by many skiers such a slope just develop into an almost prepared one. So quite hard work. I'd go for it. Once. Knowing than, this is just fighting, not skiing, no fun (fun for me is doing medium to long curves on steep hard slopes with about 100 kph, and strong inclination, feeling nice multiple g-forces.

You are crazy man, on my snowboard I’m afraid even on reds 😂

The upper part when I was 17-30 years old but the bottom go for it. Good job skiing guy

Congratulations to your strong legs AND to pay attention before making wider swings.

Even watching it on my iPhone - at the top of the run, I could feel the turtle‘s head

To be honesti sky since i was 5 and did a lot of slobes. Now im 25 and honestly i couldn't understand the stiffness of thr slobe but it looks amazing. Great snow .

I would be surprised is this were the hardest in Europe. Sure, it’s steep, and it looked pretty choppy, but it was very wide. Also, this wasn’t powder, so leaning back as it says in the video description actually makes it harder. Leaning back sets the pressure on the ski in the wrong place and inhibits proper turnin.

Where is this run? Im in les trois vallees right now and i would love to try it, but i cant seem to find it on the map. Whats the lift leading to this slope called?

There are several runs on Mt Hood that are more difficult. And then think about Corbet's Couloir in Jackson Hole. This can't be the most difficult run in Europe.

Its not hard, the slope is just in a poor condition.

Trust me, the camera just doesn’t do justice the incline that colouir has… well done!!

I did it many years ago before there were any bumps; in fact, the approach was in untouched snow. In those conditions, it was certainly very exciting, but not particularly difficult. There is a run or two in Val d’Isere 1:57 that are far harder. Couloir des pisteurs and Tonneau des Danaïdes.

I will say that I have not seen a video yet that conveys just how steep it is when you look down from the second ridge. You suddenly find yourself hanging over the valley. There was a reasonalble snow covering for this run but exposed rocks on the right in the narrow part are very dangerous when there is less snow. Advice only do this run if you are fit enough to jump your turns all the way down!! Also don't start the run if there are more than a few people on the very first section. Fearless teens pushing ahoving and giggling are to be avoided at all costs. Think I might have been there. Enjoy your skiing and take care out there!!!!

Ah, so well done. But there are two couloirs right by it that are more difficult, one under the cable car and a steeper narrower one next to that, le petit couloir, I think.

Great run, thanks for the experience

It’s those little short skis that make it so easy. Why do you keep stopping?

Skiing Taos NM is like that everywhere. The last 1 min on the video that was heavenly though.

Did this run 5 years ago. It's quite a steep black piste, but very well doable if you're a good skier. The first part is the most thrilling, the thin path is really scary and both sides almost go straight down. Thrilling like a bungee jump I would say. The video doesn't show the steepness well enough unfortunately.

I be making those noises coming down Red routes😂😂😂 but I've only skied 5 times in my life. Highest I've gone down is 1803m at Hoch Ybrig in Switzerland 4 days ago

Great footage! Nice run

I did grand couloir and I would say it was alot easier than small couloir on the other side.

wow i came here from another video of yours about st anton and this is actually on my most favorite mountains! niiiice

That run gave me anxiety as I was watching. Then the dude that went right in front of you, man, I was white knuckling it!

@Alex Wrigglesworth what application are you using? recording speed and distance traveled?

Nice Video Alex and well done. These two runs are the only blacks in the three valleys that I have not attempted. I have been in the valleys at least 8 times and never found the bottle to go for the drop in over those rollers. Maybe this year (looking forward to going in March) I will practice the rollers on the side of normal pistes to try and get some sort of skill on them. Hopefully it will make me feel more confident to attempt the Couloir rollers and then all good to go.

Those GoPros never do this justice

bruh the go pro effect makes it not look steep at all

As the Saulire cable car is out of action this year the only way to access this run is via Meribel meaning this is less skied than normal meaning less moguls making it much easier.

This would be a single black at the gnarly dangerous US ski areas. I have to assume there are harder runs somewhere in the whole of Europe.

Well skied. But I will say there are harder runs in Vermont by far. As narrow as your skis and require jump turns, probably some ice, stumps and cliffs involved as well. I could name a dozen off the top of my head that are official on the map runs harder than this. However they will not have the sustained vertical as this run, and thus lack some of the pucker factor (and leg burn factor) for those like myself who suffer from vertigo on steep, wide-open slopes. This does remind me of some of the runs around Lake Tahoe.

I'm sorry to say but you had some really good drop offs that you can take on your left and right hand side. to make it into a hard run. but you just took the easy path good for you for making it down

My thighs were burning just watching this!

This looks pretty easy only scary on top of a mountain.Also theres in italy kromplatz route called silvester its black and its 5km straight black ive went down that and it was HARD.

nice job man! Keep improving, the run’s pretty nasty

I think the one on the Méribel side looks harder, I've never done the one in Courchevel though

i just goy back from chamonix. was blown away with how many bad skiers were there. Did not xpect that

That was great! Thanks for posting this, I miss the snow 😥 that was fun 🤩

If you consider steep and rocky challenging then this is not very challenging. It’s challenging in a different way. The trail is quite wide, and the snow is not icy nor is it so snowy you can’t move. The moguls look quite challenging especially when your trying to keep a steady speed and trying to keep control. This is at least my opinion. :)

Looked hard on the old legs and lungs. The drop in looked pretty sketch too 😬

Flypaper at Glencoe in Scotland seems steeper.

Extreme Skiiers on wild alpine trails be like.....

Hi, what camera do you use for recording?

Is this a green route?

how maximum degree on this slope?

Candide Thovex: "Hold my bordeaux"

Camera really doesn’t capture how steep this really is, looks so easy but that is some scary shii

On the camera, when you look downhill, it does not look that steep, but when you look uphill 😅, yeah it is scary

Looks fairly simple and Heavly ran look at the cuts

love the stats in video

I mean I don't know but maybe the harakiri slope in tirol would be good if you haven't done it yet

I have done it once in fog. It was good fun.

I was up at the top a few years ago, so decided to have a quick look at it and eventually decided to just take in the views! Then, walking back to the other side, a little team of 5 kids about 10 to 13 yrs old passed me and just dropped into the off-piste section one by one! I guessed they were locals and had been skiing for 9 to 12 years!?

This is when I’m skiing I’m not just good at biking but also at skiing

why would you go there with those skis?

What ski resort????

What gopro did u use?

Where is it?

Doesn't look too steep but very tracked up, great work out though... I'd probably be gassed after that run.

you have a better stopping distance than MB with ceramic brake pads:)

Incredibile bravo 👍👍

Well done considering you are on Redster x9 a pair of carving skis

It's certainly not the hardest run in the Alps! It's bit of a tourist run and one that skiers seem to want to tick off the list. The wall is more challenging for the first 20 metes because it has big traverse lines across it where people are struggling to turn, after that, it's a good bump run.

this video doesnt show how steep and awkward it is up there ,you did well for the first time

This place Reminds me of kicking Horse 🐎 Canada

The top looks dodgy , but after that just seems to be some sections are thigh burners due to snow conditions and grooming. But the top definitely not for a beginner or intermediate skier

Is there a reason to why it could be referred to as the "Hardest ski run in Europe" ? I'm pretty sure its physically challenging and not easy to master, but i`ve been skiing in Europe for close to 15 years now and I can think of atleast a few runs with greater descend, steeper parts and way worse condition than what is shown in the Video, the only part being hard about it is the lenght in my opinion. Anyways good run, keep it up.

Cool run, wanna go to ski from now 😪

That's the crazy thing, you can't feel the steepness with a go pro

Why is he doing it solo?

My god i wouldnt even know where to go, all sides are just super steep

Ive not skied from a long time but the toughest run ive skied was the glacier in andermatte

Where are all the snowboards?!

Comes charging down the intermediate run like a bat out of hell.

Nice skiing

That’s really only a single black. It’s not too steep, and nice narrow parts or moguls.

This is a wide open blue run with no exposed rocks and no terrain to navigate. What's difficult about this run? The 50mph wasn't even until the groomed run at the bottom. This is total click bait.

ive been on that exact run at the top

Not sure what makes this run very hard. Granted fov looks to be around 120 so it looks a lot less steep but watching your speed for the whole beginning I'm guessing most of that was pretty mild. And most places I see people moving at your speed weving as agresivly as your are I normally pass like there moving still. Also doesn't seem like an overly long run so I'm not assuming endurance it a huge stress on this run. Idk must just be way more agressive in person

He was flying at the end. Don’t hit anybody!

Where is the hard part? Where is the coolie?

Looks easy.

It is obvious that the camera angle does not do it justice at all :)

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