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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Examples of couloir in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For more than eight hours, rescuers worked to reach the hikers and lower them from the couloir.
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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
Six members of the group were ascending the gulley, called a couloir, early Sunday afternoon when the lead climber triggered the avalanche, the sheriff’s office said.
—Gene Johnson, Hartford Courant, 23 Feb. 2023
The view opened up over the other side of the col: the steep west face of Mount Helen and its northwest couloir, still packed with snow in early August, and the peaks of the east side of Titcomb Basin.
—Brendan Leonard, Outside Online, 14 Aug. 2020
Chin and Monod bootpack up a perfect couloir on Surprise Pass, Alberta.
—Grayson Schaffer, Outside Online, 14 May 2015
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
Six members of the group were ascending the gulley, called a couloir, early Sunday afternoon when the lead climber triggered the avalanche, the sheriff’s office said.
—Gene Johnson, Hartford Courant, 23 Feb. 2023
The view opened up over the other side of the col: the steep west face of Mount Helen and its northwest couloir, still packed with snow in early August, and the peaks of the east side of Titcomb Basin.
—Brendan Leonard, Outside Online, 14 Aug. 2020
Chin and Monod bootpack up a perfect couloir on Surprise Pass, Alberta.
—Grayson Schaffer, Outside Online, 14 May 2015
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'couloir.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Couloir.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/couloir. Accessed 20 Sep. 2024.
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