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Sluice Box

Blue Showdown, MT

Steepest pitch19°
Vertical332 ft
Length1,422 ft
Average pitch14°
FacesSE
Top7,726 ft

Sluice Box drops 332 vertical feet over 1,422 feet of skiing, with a steepest pitch of 19° about 600 feet below the top. That's steeper than 35% of the 5,615 blue runs we've measured in North America, and the 23rd steepest of 34 named runs at Showdown. It faces southeast.

How well Sluice Box holds snow

Snow preservationPoor

Facing southeast at an average 14°, Sluice Box gets about 120% of the winter sun that flat ground at Showdown does, December through March. That's sunnier than 87% of the runs we've measured, and the 7th sunniest named run at Showdown. Its top sits at 7,730 feet.

Angled toward the low winter sun, it bakes: powder turns heavy soon after a storm, and in spring it softens early in the day and refreezes hard overnight. Shading from ridges and trees isn't counted yet.

Sluice Box profile

under 25°25–35°35–45°45°+ Hover to follow the line on the map.

Where it is on the mountain

Runs like Sluice Box elsewhere

Nearby at Showdown

Measured by ZRankings from 1-meter USGS lidar. Steepest pitch is the steepest stretch of about 50 vertical feet along the skiable line. Run lines come from OpenStreetMap and can sit a little off the skied path.