[Tagging] Feature Proposal - Voting - Couloir 2

[Kevin Kenny]

On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 4:10 PM Volker Schmidt <voschix at gmail.com> wrote:

> In addition, in many definitions "a couloir is a kind of gully" or even
> "couloir or gully is...".
> I fear that this a highly specialized term un mountaineering. I guess
> couloirs exist in all alpine regions, but the term is used by only a very
> small group of advanced mountain lovers.
> To me it looks like a frequent feature, I have often seen in the European
> Alps. How are these tagged at the moment, if they are tagged at all? All
> couloirs seem to be the top end of larger features like screes. Where does
> the couloir end, and where does the scree  begin?
> I still have problems with this proposal, to be honest.
>

Frankly, I do, too, and I am a (relatively unskilled) mountaineer.

Every couloir is a gully.  A couloir is a narrow gully with vertical sides
(usually of rock) and a steep slope. Around here, the usual term is 'rock
chute' rather than 'couloir', but the terms are nearly synonymous. Not
every gully is inclined enough, or has enough gradient, to be called a
couloir or rock chute.

Where does the couloir end and the talus begin? Where there are no longer
walls on either side.  Which means that there's no longer a gap to be
loaded with snow in a crosswind, so you tend to get very different ice
conditions.

Couloirs/chutes offer climbing and ski routes in cliffy terrain, although
they're best avoided in seasons where the snowpack is unstable; it's too
hard to assess the avalanche hazard before committing to them.  A
less-steep gully would also offer a good route, except that less-steep
gullies typically don't exist in such places.

The difference to me is that in winter, if someone calls a thing a couloir
or chute, I expect to need a modicum of technical gear (at least ice axe
and crampons), while if a mountaineer calls it a gully, I might be able to
climb or descend it on snowshoes or spikes with just my ski poles.
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