April 28th, 2021

The King’s Little Secret - King Ravine

In my opinion, the ski potential in King Ravine has always flown under the radar a bit. The rocky approach can be both physically and mentally taxing, and by the time most parties reach the floor of the ravine their efforts usually default to Great Gully — the most prominent line in a collection of disheveled-looking gullies.

High up on the climber’s-left side of the ravine sits a narrow little gully, flanked by rocks on either side and sealed off at the base by an ice bulge. This ribbon of snow has captivated my imagination for a few seasons now, but I just never got around to checking it out. The base of this gully doesn’t feed into the same snowfield as the rest of the gullies, and the start isn’t all that close to any of the other top-outs. This extra bit of effort kept me from ever taking a stab at it, and I have to imagine the same is true for most other skiers who venture into King Ravine as well.

When putting together PRESIDENTIAL SKIING, I intentionally left this route out. I didn’t know much about it, nobody I talked to knew anything about it, and there was nothing about it online. It certainly had the appearance of being a stand-out route in King Ravine, but there was just no information to work with. Plus, you gotta save something for future editions of the book!

I finally decided to just commit to the long walk in and see for myself what this route was all about. I opted to approach from above and took Airline right to the top of the route. There was just enough snow to make the upper portion of the route passable, and once past the rocky upper choke I was able to rip perfect late-season corn right down the middle of the couloir to the top of the ice bulge. 

I was especially curious to see how big this bulge was in person, and found about 30 vertical feet of low-angle ice. Even with our skinny snowpack, I was able to pick my way through the bush on the skier’s-right side — although this would have been much more enjoyable with even just a little more snow. For those looking to rappel, there’s plenty of rock just above the bulge to build an anchor in. Instead of battling the dense vegetation and talus field that waited below me, I opted to climb back up the couloir and descend via Valley Way.

There’s an entry on Mountain Project from this past December that calls this gully “The King’s Little Secret,” and I found the name fitting. A description for this route in the style of PRESIDENTIAL SKIING is as follows:

The King’s Little Secret

Vertical Drop: 800’

Aspect: Northwest

Max Slope Angle: CD

A nice little couloir just far enough off the beaten path to keep skier traffic practically non-existent. There are two entry points to this route, with the skier’s-left start being the more reliable option. After navigating a rocky choke, the route opens up to about 25 feet wide and heads down the ravine at a moderate slope angle. Eventually, the gully starts to trend skier’s-right before reaching a short, low-angle ice slab. During high-snow years, this feature is passable in the bush to the skier’s-right. Otherwise, a short rappel is required to reach the floor of the ravine. If approaching from the bottom, stay on the King Ravine Trail past the junction with the Great Gully Trail and head climber’s-right towards the ice slab. 

In terms of full-value east coast ski mountaineering, this route has it all: a remote setting, narrow couloir skiing, and a technical ice bulge to contend with. While I’m not sure it’s worth the long approach as a standalone route, it’s a nice addition to the collective knowledge of skiable terrain in King Ravine and will certainly be included in future editions of PRESIDENTIAL SKIING.

-KN