Past Two Weeks
+ 8
Ariel Chairline
Backcountry Skiing Route
Details
0.44 mi
0 ft
Home to some of the best hits on the mountain.
The black diamond-rated Ariel Chairline is hands-down the best Hollywood line on Mt. Ashland, with some of the best hits on the main mountain found on a small cliff band right next to the chairlift.
The difficulty of the Chairline can be tailored depending on your tastes. If you avoid the major obstacles and stay skier's right on the main slope, you can enjoy a respectable black diamond powder/mogul run down the mountain. If you venture further skier's right, you'll enjoy some variable glades with ripples in the terrain, especially in early season.
But for the big features, look to skier's left. In the skier's left portion of the upper slope, protruding boulders provide opportunities to catch some serious air, with a reasonably steep, wide-open landing zone below. While these boulders undoubtedly fill in a bit as the season progresses, so too do the shark fins hiding below the surface.
For a more substantial set of hits, the small cliff band/boulder pile to skier's left of the main run can be negotiated and hucked from a variety of angles. Be sure to scout your in-run and landing zone in detail before committing, however. Especially in the early season, the lines are non-obvious and technical. Even in late season, the landing zone isn't nearly as wide-open as the landings found on the main slope. Written by Greg Heil
The black diamond-rated Ariel Chairline is hands-down the best Hollywood line on Mt. Ashland, with some of the best hits on the main mountain found on a small cliff band right next to the chairlift.
The difficulty of the Chairline can be tailored depending on your tastes. If you avoid the major obstacles and stay skier's right on the main slope, you can enjoy a respectable black diamond powder/mogul run down the mountain. If you venture further skier's right, you'll enjoy some variable glades with ripples in the terrain, especially in early season.
But for the big features, look to skier's left. In the skier's left portion of the upper slope, protruding boulders provide opportunities to catch some serious air, with a reasonably steep, wide-open landing zone below. While these boulders undoubtedly fill in a bit as the season progresses, so too do the shark fins hiding below the surface.
For a more substantial set of hits, the small cliff band/boulder pile to skier's left of the main run can be negotiated and hucked from a variety of angles. Be sure to scout your in-run and landing zone in detail before committing, however. Especially in the early season, the lines are non-obvious and technical. Even in late season, the landing zone isn't nearly as wide-open as the landings found on the main slope. Written by Greg Heil