as in canyon
a narrow opening between hillsides or mountains that can be used for passage
at one point the steep, ice-encrusted walls of the couloir are no more than 50 feet apart
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Recent Examples of couloir
Many skiers argue over the final number of chutes, since the book often describes areas that are home to multiple couloirs.
—
Jake Stern, Outside Online, 25 Apr. 2025
Many of these ski lines are clustered in the same drainages, but while in years past Noyes has been able to complete multiple descents in a day, this year, the hot April sun shortened the windows during which those couloirs would be safe from wet avalanches.
—Jake Stern, Outside Online, 25 Apr. 2025
The group going above the hut to the right will gain a high ridge and continue up the adjacent alpine valley to ski Groove Tube, a beautiful couloir with a wide apron below a prominent peak called La Clytte.
—Jesse James McTigue, Outside Online, 20 Mar. 2025
For more than eight hours, rescuers worked to reach the hikers and lower them from the couloir.
—Daniella Segura, Sacramento Bee, 27 May 2024
While the walls of the steep, narrowing gully quickly rise to more than 100 feet on either side and the couloir is large enough to be rippled with a few ski lines, a snowball tossed from the top can nearly reach the bottom of the gully and the creek that drains it in winter.
—Christopher Solomon, Outside Online, 22 Mar. 2018
In August, 21-year-old Jadyn Weiss fell 300 feet to her death while descending a steep mountain gully known as the Flying Dutchman couloir.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 2 Oct. 2023
That includes backcountry boarding and skiing with friends, ice climbing, snowshoeing, hiking and climbing couloirs.
—Chris Meehan, Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2023
Rivulets and rocks made the couloir treacherous.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023
Jake Stern, Outside Online, 25 Apr. 2025
Many of these ski lines are clustered in the same drainages, but while in years past Noyes has been able to complete multiple descents in a day, this year, the hot April sun shortened the windows during which those couloirs would be safe from wet avalanches.
—Jake Stern, Outside Online, 25 Apr. 2025
The group going above the hut to the right will gain a high ridge and continue up the adjacent alpine valley to ski Groove Tube, a beautiful couloir with a wide apron below a prominent peak called La Clytte.
—Jesse James McTigue, Outside Online, 20 Mar. 2025
For more than eight hours, rescuers worked to reach the hikers and lower them from the couloir.
—Daniella Segura, Sacramento Bee, 27 May 2024
While the walls of the steep, narrowing gully quickly rise to more than 100 feet on either side and the couloir is large enough to be rippled with a few ski lines, a snowball tossed from the top can nearly reach the bottom of the gully and the creek that drains it in winter.
—Christopher Solomon, Outside Online, 22 Mar. 2018
In August, 21-year-old Jadyn Weiss fell 300 feet to her death while descending a steep mountain gully known as the Flying Dutchman couloir.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 2 Oct. 2023
That includes backcountry boarding and skiing with friends, ice climbing, snowshoeing, hiking and climbing couloirs.
—Chris Meehan, Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2023
Rivulets and rocks made the couloir treacherous.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for couloir
Noun
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The same button allows the driver to summon V-mode for canyon carving and track days.—
Mark Phelan,
Freep.com,
31 July 2025
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Excellent guide/driver combos take guests off-roading on geological Big 5 safari drives to see salt flats, geysers at 14,000 feet, canyons and dunes that rival Jordan and Utah, and a string of volcanoes that make this part of Chile one of the most active sites in the world.—
Laura Dannen Redman,
Robb Report,
28 July 2025
Noun
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Most of Camp 25 happened to be spread along the bottom of a ravine.—
Charles Pellegrino,
Rolling Stone,
6 Aug. 2025
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But the armed groups that succeeded him still control huge swathes of the surrounding hills, where the Garcia ravine that claimed Sara Millerey weaves around dusty apartment blocks.—
Ladan Anoushfar,
CNN Money,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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However dogs that gorge on cicadas will find their exoskeletons difficult to digest, resulting in an upset stomach, abdominal pain, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.—
Chad Murphy,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
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How to Get There: From the Canyon Mouth Day Use Parking Area lot at Little River Falls, take the Little Falls Trail for .75 miles down into the bottom of the gorge.—
Graham Averill,
Outside Online,
20 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Couloir.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/couloir. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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