On my 29th birthday, Eric and I skied the North Face with a direct finish variation.
The standard North Face gets you 2800 vertical feet of quality, mostly steep skiing with glorious exposure, but the lower half is at a lower angle. The west-facing couloir variation saves the steepest terrain for the finish.
Then in February 2009, Dan Helmstadter and I skied the North Face in wintry conditions with the entrance being spICY (as Dan put it on summitpost).
Some days this drop of ~4300 vertical feet to Price Lake feels nothing but exhilirating. At this moment it might have felt intimidating.