[1rudeboy]

I toppled into a small ravine at Vail (downhill skiing--inbounds, but remote). It took me 90 minutes to climb-out, a distance of about 20 vertical feet . . . and I was so exhausted that I was done for the day. My brother laughing at me the whole time didn't help.

[dirtboy]

The snow is so fine that you can sink in up to your armpits. I've got snowshoes the size of small canoes, and in deep Colorado powder I would still sink in up to my thighs. Wouldn't have wanted to be in that stuff without them.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Can you explain this to me? I'm not a skier. Was the snow so powdery that you couldn't get a foothold and the snow just kept crumbling under you? Was there no way to pack it down to create 'steps' out of the ravine?
Do we have the same brother? Sounds like something one of my brothers would have done.

[BluH2o]

Ski Vail every other year or so ... interspersed with Park City, Utah. What people forget, you are skiing at altitude in Vail, easily over 7000 feet. Any major exertion is amplified at that altitude.