RIP John Simms — skier, angler, entrepreneur (Simms Fishing) and artist — pioneered a dizzying ski run at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and took its secret to the grave. Who was first down S&S Couloir?

RIP John Simms — skier, angler, entrepreneur (Simms Fishing) and artist — pioneered a dizzying ski run at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and took its secret to the grave. Who was first down S&S Couloir?

John Simms and Charlie Sands took the leap back in the late 1960s, the first people to ski S&S Couloir.

S&S stands next to world-famous Corbet’s Couloir, but it makes that harrowing ski run look like a pale cousin. From the wind-blown cornice at the top of S&S, there’s up to a 20-foot drop — accounts and measurements vary — into the rock-walled chute to the snow landing below.

A cheese-grater slab on the skier’s left would shred your Arc’teryx parka if you got near it. If you nail the landing, you might not break a femur.

In the rarified world of ski history, being the first carries significance. So the story of S&S remains incomplete.

But above the lip, Simms and Sands forged a compact. They would share the glory, notoriety, or whatever recognition the obscure feat might bring.

The compact has held for more than 50 years.