In what has become a semi-iconic event, Kings and Queens of Corbet’s has been canceled for the 2024 winter. The competition was slated for February 3-10 this year, but according to the video above, provided by the Jackson Hole events team, a lack of storms pre-New Years has contributed greatly to a shallow snowpack. And whenever you have high-end skiers and riders chucking themselves off a 20-foot ledge into a chute, organizers want for anything but marginal snow depth.
“We’re saddened to announce that Kings & Queens of Corbet’s 2024 is cancelled,” Jackson Hole Resort posted to its Instagram. “@Jacksonholeskipatrol, Mountain Operations, Event Leadership, and current/former competitors worked together yesterday to assess conditions in the couloir for the competition scheduled for Feb. 3-10. Eighty inches of snow has blanketed the Resort in the past two weeks and the mountain is open wall-to-wall.
However, Corbet’s Couloir requires specific weather factors to fill in properly and create a competition-worthy environment that supports landing mind-blowing tricks and carrying high speed through it. Unfortunately, this last storm didn’t deliver what we needed. Upon first-hand inspection of the snowpack within the couloir, the competitors agreed that conditions are not at the level needed to run an elite competition. However, they all agreed that it is skiable for those with expert abilities. We are working to open Corbet’s to our guests very soon and will update you when it’s ready.”
Mountain officials said the event will live on next season. Thus ends a run of freeride competitions unlike any seen in recent history, pitting skiers and snowboarders directly against one another in a smorgasbord of send. Each athlete gets two attempts, working to put a top-to-bottom line together for the W. The first drop is a doozy, as they say, and always started the money lines off right. If competitors could stomp that first big trick, nail one of the in-couloir man-made features, and then cap it with a good ender on the table-top at the bottom, they could sniff the podium.
Kings and Queens has remained purely a resort-run entity – independent, with no affiliation to other tours or contest collabs. It’s one of a kind. A three-hour, made-for-Red Bull TV event that has always gone off smoothly as these things go (knock on wood). I’m looking forward to a Corbet’s come back in 2025.
