The Little Italy Couloir

Type: Backcountry or Sidecountry

The Pikes Peak Highway costs $12/person to get up the road.

Park at any of the several pulloffs below Glen Cove and begin skinning up into the cirque. Little Italy is the very obvious couloir just right of the center of the cirque and left of the large bowl on the west side.

Keep skinning until it gets too steep and you get to the base of the couloir. The climb from here really only requires boots and poles, and kicking steps up the right side of the couloir is rather straightforward and easy.

This is serious avalanche terrain, so be cautious and know the snow conditions before you go. Pikes Peak often has a completely unique snowpack compared to the rest of the Front Range, so it is wise to dig a pit and assess stability before you begin climbing up the couloir.

Climb to the top, rip skins and let 'er rip down the 40-60ft wide couloir! It's a very straightforward ski, but as you get to the bottom and the couloir begins to bootleg skier's right, be careful of the convex rollover, which can be a trigger point for a slide in the lower section. You can ski this line all the way down to the bottom of the Cirque.

This has long been a classic ski descent on Pikes Peak and rivals the Y Couloir for it's quality.