Can someone rank the black runs at Willamette Pass from easiest to Hardest?

[u/musemike]

Going to Willamette for the first time next weekend and my girlfriend has just started to dabble in some black runs. Wanted to see if there was any local knowledge for progression from easier blacks to harder blacks?

Any help is appreciated!

List of runs I can see online:

Frontside - Eagle's Flight

• Good Time Charlie

• High Lead

• Timburr

• Success

• RTS

Backside: - June's Run

• Northern Exposure

• Down Under

• Escalator

• Destiny

[u/mshaw09]

The frontside blacks are pretty much ranked in the order you have them listed. Eagle’s Flight is more of a blue run, in my opinion. They seem to get progressively steeper as you get to RTS.

RTS is one of the steepest inbound runs in the country, I believe. I haven’t snowboarded down that, yet.

Destiny is probably the easiest black on the backside.

[u/Public_Pumpkin_6951 → u/mshaw09]

If you do, remember they don’t groom RTS. And remember to traverse constantly to keep your speed down. 

I used to run it all the time when I snowboarded as a kid growing up. Have to make sure you’re someone who can stay calm in high stress situations, as it’s not the kind of run you want to make a mistake on. 

I had and acquaintance who broke their neck and died on impact back in the day on and easy blue/green run at willamette pass. They weren’t that experienced, and tried to ride in the trees unfortunately. 

RTS is like that, but on steroids. Like if you make a minor mistake on RTS, you’re probably gonna die or end up in the hospital. One of the last times I went down RTS around 2009, I went solo in the trees and almost died falling in a tree well. Luckily I was able to take my board off and climb out. 

From Wikipedia: “Willamette Pass is best known for having one of the steepest runs in the world, "RTS", which at its steepest point is 52 degrees. It hosted the 1993 Subaru U.S. Speed SkiingChampionships, where a top speed of 111.56 mph (179.54 km/h) was achieved.”

[u/musemike → u/mshaw09]

Good to know. RTS by accident would be a mistake hahaha. Appreciate the info!

[u/OsitoShalimar → u/mshaw09]

One of the steepest inbounds in the world even =) love it with fresh deep pow

[u/jawid72]

When I was a kid Real Tough Shit was the toughest. Not sure now.

[u/musemike → u/jawid72]

Is that what it stands for hahaha

[u/starfish_mantra]

RTS is STEEP. Standing on the edge and looking down gives me vertigo.

I think a speed skiing record was set on that slope.

[u/Public_Pumpkin_6951 → u/starfish_mantra]

That’s pretty cool about the speed record.

I used to Solo RTS all the time growing up when I was like 12-17 back in the day, as it was rare to find anyone comfortable enough to go down it with me.

I actually used to ride in the  trees on RTS a lot too. Just very sketchy with tree wells and avoiding smacking trees when it’s that steep. 

I used to be quite the adrenaline junky when I was young, and going down RTS was up there with free climbing. It really forces you into a certain headspace, as one wrong move can mean injury or worse. 

[u/Spicyvespa → u/starfish_mantra]

Willamette pass wiki

1993 speed skiing championships did 111 mph down it. I remember seeing the "loop" they did at the bottom to stop, way out to an area that's not covered by any lifts. Some of the trees in that former path look to be growing up and getting bigger.

[u/pnwmedic1249]

I’m just proud of myself for making down duck soup tbh

[u/candaceelise]

The front side you have listed in order of easiest to hardest. They groom Eagle’s Flight so I would start there. On the backside you have them listed from hardest to easiest with June’s Run & Northern Exposure being equal and they tend not to groom the black diamonds on the backside.

[u/musemike → u/candaceelise]

Awesome, thanks for the insight! This is a big help!

[u/candaceelise → u/musemike]

You’re welcome. If you have any other questions feel free to ask :)

[u/Public_Pumpkin_6951]

RTS is the most difficult on the front side, as it’s basically a double black diamond compared to a majority of other black diamonds.

Certain sections are so steep, it almost feels like it’s a 90degree angle, with you sliding straight down if you don’t know how to constantly traverse back and forth.

Unless you’re and intermediate to expert Snowboarder/Skier, you’re taking a big risk attempting RTS imo. Unless I’m misremembering, RTS is usually/always ungroomed due to how steep it is. 

 If you start to panic, you might hit a tree, or if you’re unable to catch and edge/traverse sideways to stop yourself going straight down, you’ll have a good chance of breaking bones when you start to tumble down. It has moguls, as they don’t groom it.

On the backside, you have the cliffs which run below the lift which are probably the toughest section on the mountain, aside from out of bounds areas.