Central Couloir
Wade McKoy / Bob Woodall photos
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort historical photos
Larry Detrick, Steve Lundy, June 1974 (ski patrol, roomate) Larry Detrick: “Steve Lundy, my buddy from college, looked at Cody, pointed at Central Couloir, and said, ‘We should go ski that.’ I knew a little bit about avalanches but not enough to be worried. We stood on top and threw rocks into it. I don’t remember the crux being too bad, nor the jump out. But I was 23 then and looked at things differently. The funniest thing, though, in the crux I looked down to see my boot not really in the binding. I clicked back in and didn’t think much of it. After the jump I looked again and my whole ski had delaminated, the whole top sheet where the bindings were screwed in was separated from the rest of the ski. Whoa, I’m glad I didn’t see that when I was in there. I would’ve freaked out. The next weekend we went back up the tram looking to ski something else and Central had slid. It was a brown streak right to the bottom. First descent? Well, I think so. Back then people didn’t really brag about it. It wasn’t as big a deal as it is now. We told Pepi and his eyes got really big. It was just a lark. It scares me just thinking about it now, but then it didn’t seem that hard.”
Pucker Face
Kirby Williams, John Simms (ski patrol), early 1970s Kirby Williams: “I remember when Simms and I skied what became known as Pucker Face. We had scouted it from Mountain Station, but when we got over to the ridge, we couldn’t see over the edge and your line has to be about right to ski through those cliff bands. It was a big year and the snow was good. I believe John was first, we were probably putting eights in. It rolls over, and rolls over, and rolls over, and you make about twenty turns before you can actually see the cliff band, see your line through it. And by then you’re only two turns from either stopping or going for it. We got lucky and picked right line. We got down and I said, ‘Boy, that was spooky. Good choice of lines, John.’ And he said, ‘Man, I was puckered.’ And I said, ‘I was puckered, too.’ That’s how the name came about. It was the early ‘70s, during the Powder 8s. It Davie Agnew was a spring cycle, but it wasn’t corn because I remember the tracks showed up and stayed for about a week. We were pretty proud of that.” Bob Sealander: “A bunch of us went over to ski it. Everybody was a little nervous when making that first turn. It’s just natural. Watching from the top, the guy would just disappear over the edge, probably dropping twenty feet on that first turn. I was putting my skis on and one or two of the guys took off. They all planted their poles two or three times before they finally made that turn. And I smiled and said, ‘Well, these guys are all puckered up.’ I took off to make the turn and I did the same darn thing! It made me laugh. I was laughing when I got to the bottom. ‘Every one of you guys was puckered up.’ I said, ‘You all
Pepi Stiegler, Cody Peak background, circa 1960s
planted your pole about three times before you made that first turn! But the worst part of it is, I did it too!’ So we decided to call it Pucker Face.”
Four Shadows
Pepi Stiegler (ski school director), late 1960s Robbi Fuller (ski patrol): “As I remember it, Pepi Stiegler was the first guy to ski Four Shadows and Sam Southwick named it right after Pepi skied it. Sam, an old Alta skier, came out here with Dick Barrymore and Doctor Smith (inventor of double-lens ski goggles) to film one of Barrymore’s early ski movies.” (Editor’s note – Check out YouTube too see the clip and its description: Dr. Bob Smith tests his new goggles in deep powder at Jackson
Hole, Wyoming, in 1967. He is joined by Sam Southwick and Pepi Stiegler. The footage is from the film, The Last of the Ski Bums, by Dick Barrymore.) Davie Agnew: “One day a bunch of us went over to Cody Bowl when Pepi was running his race camps. Dean Moore, Jorge Colon, Mike Fitzpatrick, Dean Betts, and Jerry Balint. Jerry and myself had Mike Doyle’s monoskis, Mike Fitzpatrick was on his pins. Fitzpatrick was really good, not many people were skiing on pins back then, except guys like Robbi Fuller and Whitey (Ray White). I know that Balint and I did the first monoski descent of Four Shadows and Fitzpatrick did the first pin descent. Pepi got a kick out of seeing all this ragtag of assorted snow-sliding equipment coming down Four Shadows.” continued
Jackson Hole Ski Patrol, circa 1970s, from left, kneeling: Peter MacKay, Joe Larrow, Larry Detrick, Corky Ward, Jim Kanzler, Kirby Williams, Bob Sealander; standing: Dean Moore, Gary Poulson, John Bernadine, Callum MacKay, Jackson Frishman, Jake Elkins, Tom Raymer, Todd Harly, Jerry Balint, Robert Nelson, Jerry Amadon, Bob Coolidge, Phil Steck, Don Nansen 2 0 1 3 J AC KS O N H O L E S K I E R
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