Pucker Face

Pucker Face should in fact make you pucker! This bulging face is unsupported, and the snowpack is usually thinner than neighboring areas. There have been more than a few avalanche accidents and fatalities over the years. Often believed to be the easy way down Cody peak, as it’s less vertical than other runs further up the ridge, the face hide numerous traps. It’s best to wait for a deep and stable snowpack before attempting to ride. However, when stable conditions are present, this face is a great run. To access Pucker Face use the Cardiac Ridge Bootpack. The saddle where you click out of your skis to start the bootpack is a good place to snap a photo of the face, as you will not be able to see it from the top of the run. Once past the scramble section of the bootpack and onto the second saddle, continue along the wind scoured north side up the ridge then wrapping around to the west side until topping out on the ridge again. This is most likely the area where you will enter Pucker Face. From here you will notice that you are most likely on the edge of a cornice, and that you cannot see very far down to the face due to the convexity in the slope. It is this convexity that makes the face so unstable, along with the fact that the face takes a lot of sun, as well as the rocks underneath the snow. A ski cut is strongly recommended no matter if the slope has been skied before you. The slope typically avalanches from the very top and all the way across, so be on your game. Once skiing, you’ll find that as you reach the rollover, you begin to see the rest of the slope below you. Make sure to find your way between the cliffs that line across the entire lower section. Be wary of rocks throughout the entire run, and remember that the further skier’s right you are, the more exposed you become to larger cliffs below you. The sweet spot is in the vague gully just skier’s right of the middle of the face. Once finished, you will find yourself with two options, either traverse to the Powder 8 bootpack, or continue in the same direction towards Rock Springs Canyon.