 Poster: A snowHead
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Surely skiing is different to, say running, in terms of normalisation of statistics? Surely, it's almost impossible to make comparisons based on electronic monitoring? I mean, aren't the variables just to, well, variable? Even exactly the same route isn't going to be the same on subsequent days, due to differences in temperature, visibility, other skiers, lift queues, familiarity with the area etc. Perhaps distance and vertical is of moderate interest for the same person doing the same route, as a measure of relative fitness, skill, improvement. But between different people, it's pointless, and betweeen different people in different ski areas, it's meaningless. Isn't it?
I suppose that different people ski with different attitudes. To me, electronic monitoring isn't of any interest at all. I also don't like skiing with people who always need a target destination or target time on the slopes or distance skied. It's a holiday and I like to discard my work preoccupations of objectives, schedules and expectations. Clearly, for other people, monitoring is interesting and targets are valued, which is fine. But what's really boring is people making it a competitive thing and implying that they're better because they ski further/higher/faster, or that others are tardy because they can't match some completely meaningless distance statistic.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
if the pistes were in perfect condition and clear of idiots.
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"idiots" being people skiing around in leisurely fashion admiring the view I suppose? |
Not at all, I was referring to those that are totally unaware that others are using the slopes too, ie don't look before skiing, don't recognise junctions, stop in stupid places, wait for friends on the wrong side of lift gates etc etc etc
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Raceplate wrote: |
| Scarpa wrote: |
Now man up and start acting like an adult towards other people... or will we have to tell you to trig off  |
I think that kind of comment is completely uncalled for. It's personal abuse with no foundation. As a member with nearly 20,000 posts I'm pretty sure you will know exactly why this forum was formed in the first place. It was supposed be an escape from the SCGB but your comments are displaying exactly the same prejudice to "less experienced" skiers that they used to show.
You're more than welcome to ski with me in the 3V's any time I'm there. I'll show you around and if you can keep up, the beer's are on me. |
Excuse me. You were the one who stated that I was removing posts and editing selectively to backtrack on an argument. Now I see that as an unfounded personal allegation. Up until that point I had been very polite and jokey. My original post was noting to do with myself, but about my girlfriend of whom I am very proud, and of you saying that for her to do that distance was impossible. Most of that day was spread out over the mountain on red runs which although not in any way extreme are also not beginner slopes.
| Raceplate wrote: |
, I believe the distance figures. But you're skiing relatively benign slopes. Let's face it, 160km in an 8 hour ski day is an average of 20kmh if you can find a suitable slope and just keep going... any beginner could do that.
This is not about distance or vertical, it's about distance, vertical and average gradient. You can't make any logical comparison about performance unless you know all three. Anybody who's vaguely competent can park and ride on a pair of skis for 8 hours to cover distance if it's a shallow gradient and available.
I notice you've edited your last 3 posts to remove the references to how fit and strong you are and how you ski on slalom skis going flat out to achieve your distance, so you already know I'm right. rolling eyes |
LOL, 20 kph if you include the two thirds of time riding lifts and standing in queues.
No one was making comparisons until you came along. It was just the OP asking what distance people ski in a day and others saying what they have done.
Unfortunately in your case you came across as 'But my gradient is higher so mine is better'.... leading to the response of... 'Awwww, did diddums get beaten by a girl'
I also saw that you started to get a little personal with your comments about others, so I made another joke about telling you to trig off... now if you think that that is me being nasty then you don't know my humor very well. To me skiing is about having fun and adventures. The big distance thing was undertaken because Kooky (and myself during winter) live out here and sometimes like to try different things during the season to keep the skiing fresh.
Hopefully you will be about in three weeks time because I get the feeling that we would all do some skiing, have a cold beer in the sun and giggle about the whole thing 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Raceplate wrote: |
| @hammerite, absolutely it does but the inference is that "how far" is also best. "How far" in the prevailing conditions is actually what's best, which means taking into account gradient and slope conditions. |
I can't conceive that anyone would conceivably equate furthest horizontal distance with best. I'm sure we've all skied fall line runs crossed by zigzagging cattracks. QED.
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Isn't it all completely meaningless? I suspect if you lapped a fast detachable chair via blues or reds on a quiet day you could rack up a massive mileage and vertical but so what? At the other extreme, a couple of long off-piste route in challenging snow, with a bit of route-finding and a little bush-whacking to find your way out might require just as much energy and be a lot more memorable.
10 years ago I did 4 days at Mica Heli in BC Rockies. First and last days were shorter but on the two main days we did 10000m vertical - half in alpine bowls (fairly easy) and half in pretty steep trees / pillows / stream beds etc (much more tiring) and yes we were knackered. The guides took us in when in their words "you are now do as much falling as skiing". We were relieved - had gone a bit powder loopy and needed saving from ourselves 
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@pam w, roflmao
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@jedster, +1
Most of my best memories have been based around being in beautiful scenic terrain and finding lines that just put a smile on your face. But a few special piste days stand out; a large group of us raised £1100 for the Ski for Cancer charity by skiing the height of Everest in fancy dress which included buffs as skirts, dirndls, boxer shorts, crocodiles, tigers, cricketers, dinner jackets, rugby strips, fartbags etc. The highlight was seeing a girl who doubted that she could do it in a day complete the 8850m of vert in 3 hrs. Now that was deliberately hitting one red run over and over (530m I seem to recall) but it was such a fun day with a lot of laughs... both at us by bemused skiers and amongst ourselves.
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35-40km per day is what i aim for and achieved in alpe d'HUEZ last week. All about enjoyment though
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I used strava when we were in Madonna over christmas, leisurly pace as we were with my parents and I was putting in about 50k per day.
I didn't clock it in 2Alpes when we were faster as I left my phone at Manchester airport.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @pam w, roflmao |
You did say you thought @Pam W was, "well capable of leaping to her own defence..".
Looks like you were right
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I only covered 6 - 7 kms this morning. Didn't take long though, and I did it all under my own steam. Lifts are for the feeble. In my young day one had 8 foot long skis and a long stick and those long skirts were frightfully useful when one was caught short on the slopes.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@archetypaloldpunter, Luxury!!! We used to dream of 'avin 8 foot skis. When I were young all we 'ad were pieces ov slate 't ski on, we 'ad one stick 'tween three ov us and in summer our parents made us ski on gravel!!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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no wonder you never covered much ground then, @Scarpa.....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ah say ground, 'twere more like quicksand but 'twere ground 't us!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
'twere more like quicksand but 'twere ground 't us!!!
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oh, you poor dear. Must have been ghastly to be poor. Daddy used to take us to Wengen every year. Such spiffing fun. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Our father used t' take us to Wengen via the sewerage systems. We used to pop our 'eds up out ov toilets and marvel at the beautiful rich folk skiing past.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sometimes we cud 'ide under a long skirt and scamper about pretendin 'twere a proper ski hol; but you needed slates with a very short turn radius to remain undiscovered an if you stood up suddenly you got a wet 'ead and frostbite.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
And what do you know about my mind, old fella?
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With your average output of nearly 12 posts every day for the last 3796 days probably quite a bit 
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@swiftoid,  I can't imagine that archetypicalwillywaver has read many of my posts.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Not sure about a week, but a long weekend trip to Les Arcs earlier this season, we averaged 29 miles per day and 22kft / 7000m.
One of those days, was arc1600 all the way across Paradiski to Montalbert, so geographic distance covered at least.
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(Btw, for reference that's as measured by ski tracks app and is the ski distance, not the overall ski+lift distance)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| under a new name wrote: |
53,000m / 6 = 8,833 m/day.
The Index lift in Flegere is 513m vertical and doesn't need to lead to any particular indirect descents. And is prett fast. So that would mean 17 indexes.
It's a 5 minute uplift at full chat. I'd guess 15 mins descent. Yeah, OK, maybe. 20 min round turn, earliest start, 09:30, could do it in 5hrs 40 each day non stop. No breaks. No queues.
Can't see why it would be much fun though  unless that's your thing. |
I suspect there is something wrong in your figures there, but I'm not sure.
I am not a fast skier by any means, but the last day of my trip this year, skiing with espri at Leogang-Saalbach-Hinterglemm, according to skiline we did 7930m vertical, using 23 lifts, starting about 9:40, and having a reasonably leisurely lunch plus a morning hot chocolate stop.
The 450-550m descents were taking between 9 and 12 minutes, and as I say, I am NOT a fast skier (just ask espri!), so I think your guess of 15 minutes is rather high above.
And I had at least 2 other days on that trip over 6500m, one of which was a day I thought I was really taking it easy, and was rather surprised to see how much I had done.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@alex_heney, alex, you may well be right. I was guesstimating. Most of my skiing these days doesn't chase mileage or hours so my guesstimates could easily be very far out.
As I said above, my initial thought was a pure number one based on vertical in untracked powder. A very different animal. At this point in the season I think I could ski uninterrupted 08:00-17:00 on piste (fast black bumps and powder excepted) without much difficulty at swift but not rude pace (i.e. empty piste - full chat).
Which could easily mean quite a lot of vert/kms.
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@Kooky, @Scarpa, note to self, "Must stop winding people up when I've been in the pub all afternoon..."
Anyway, glad to have brought a little amusement into people's lives.
Unfortunately, my season's done and I'm back in the desert now so I won't be in VT next month. I have to get out of my seasonnaire pi55head mode and back into my serious manager persona and go visit the surgeon again as my supposedly fixed knee looks rather like a child's football. Hey ho. I seriously hope the freezing level drops for you, otherwise you'll be skiing porridge all week. Can honestly say I've never seen so much slush high up in VT and I've twice been there on the last day of the season in May. It's a very strange season.
Just for the record, I couldn't care less if Kooky's a girl. So's Lindsey Vonn and I'm damn sure she skis longer, harder and faster than I ever will. I like skiing hard but the original attraction of the sport to me was the fairly unique combination of exercise, scenery and drinking... I could never put in the level of dedication to training that she does.
All the best.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Regarding the slush... it'll have to be a case of poor man's powder if we don't get a temp drop and some fresh. Fingers crossed.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Raceplate
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I like skiing hard but the original attraction of the sport to me was the fairly unique combination of exercise, scenery and drinking...
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Amen to that!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Kooky wrote: |
Raceplate
| Quote: |
I like skiing hard but the original attraction of the sport to me was the fairly unique combination of exercise, scenery and drinking...
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Amen to that! |
I started age 4 so the drinking element only became important after I was hooked.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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At courch in jan we averaged about 30 skiing miles a day, (best 35, worst 27.5), each day with a tea break and a lunch stop, and quite a bit of dicking about in the woods. At Yllas last week, on the three downhill days we did we averaged 25, all good fun though.
On the days we didn't downhill we did x-country, and averaged 15 miles a day, (best 19, worst 13). We have no idea whether that's good or not, but it was damn hardwork given that we are novice x-country skiers, and lost a lot on energy through bad technique. Again, all good fun though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| pam w wrote: |
| I haven't the slightest idea. |
This....
All this skitracks stuff seems to me the skiing version of watching a concert filming through an iPhone camera. Live for the moment and just enjoy the skiing and don't over analyse.
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| Raceplate wrote: |
| Hey ho. I seriously hope the freezing level drops for you, otherwise you'll be skiing porridge all week. Can honestly say I've never seen so much slush high up in VT and I've twice been there on the last day of the season in May. It's a very strange season. |
Don't worry it'll be fine! I was in VT last week, and have done the same week for the past few years - and last week was so much better than last year at the same time (don't think temperatures got below freezing LY!). Plus they've had a big dump over the past 24 hours.
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Linear distance as in mileage/kilometers? Have no idea. But my vertical aggregate for the year which ends on Friday is as of this morning 2,803,952 feet and that ain't no April Fool's Day joke.
Have a great remaining northern hemisphere ski season................................
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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lucky you! how many days' skiing did your 2803952 vertical ft in a calendar year take you to do, out of interest?
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if this topic is still alive... and if a snowboarder's two bob's worth interests anyone....As a purely personal point of view, I count number of lifts taken and boarding time (up lifts and down on/off piste, bog stops and food/drink stops not included), primarily, as some kind of an indication (albeit a rough and ready one varying from place to place etc etc) of "quantity," how "big" a day, how long a day, how hard a day etc etc etc (although that too goes out the window if it's a powder or an off-piste day, or where lots of that's included...)
No criticism of the km/vertical counters or those who don't want to count any stats at all intended!
the one thing i'd say about Apps like Skitracks, though, is to wonder if they are reliable? Don't know but, e.g., i've tried Skitracks and it was still counting vertical whilst I was sitting still eating lunch....I've also cycled up a lot of mountains and a mate who was using a GPS app to track vertical ascent said it recorded approx 2 x the vertical we knew (from reliable published info) we had in fact ascended.....
Btw, if you take a ski bus uphill (e.g. say from solden to obergurgl or lech to zurs), does that count as a lift in your opinions?!
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FAQ
Funniest thread since Johnny Snowboarder though, so don't give up calculating and comparing.
