Pipeline

Pipeline is one of those lines on everyone's tick list. It perfectly splits the granite buttress in half, offering good turns all the way down. However, it is usually plagued by an ice bulge. To approach Pipeline, hike along Gulfside Path to the false summit of Mount Clay, you'll see an obvious u-shaped gully with a blind roll. Looking at it from across the valley, you wouldn’t expect the terrain to roll like that. Ski down, the line will slowly come into view. Now, you're in it. You’ve got high walls on both sides and eyes on the fall line. Soon, the crux comes into play, some years, the ice bulge can be easily skirted with a skiers right traverse, other years, it's a fall on waterfall. If it's impassable, you could rappel, but most people hike up the way they came. After the crux, you have open runout below, keep right of a large rock fan and traverse toward Airplane to avoid a boulder field. Hike back up Airplane to exit.