A steep, narrow gully or ravine on a mountain, especially one filled with snow or ice that climbers must navigate.
From French couloir, meaning 'corridor' or 'passage,' derived from couler (to flow). The term was adopted by mountaineers to describe the water-carved channels that flow down alpine slopes.
Mountaineers on famous peaks like Mont Blanc use couloirs as natural highways up the mountain—flowing water carved these perfect (but avalanche-prone!) pathways over millennia.
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