| About two hours after departing the lodge, the group reached the bottom and entered the west couloir. |
| We need crampons and ice axes for the climb, but only use our rope to exit the top notch of the couloir. |
| Under a bluebird sky, he stood staring at 5,000 vertical feet of untracked powder, which disappeared down a steep-walled couloir that hadn't been touched all winter. |
| But at its narrowest the couloir is about two ski lengths wide. |
| Bruce and the Gurkhas were below the rib, and could only see up the couloir. |
| So they turned their attentions to climbing a neighbouring couloir which they completed in eight hours the following day. |
