Vertical

[Steeps]

Had an epic day today at Whitewater; there were only 7 inches of snow in the last 24 hrs (and 4.3 overnight), but with 33" in the last week things were nicely filled in and soft. Was on the fourth chair up in the morning (second down the main run under the chair), and kept it going until last chair was called with maybe a half-our of coffee and snack breaks all day.

It's the first day this season my legs have been able to handle a full day, and I was well done by the end. Didn't dare take any air by the last run.

Back of the napkin calculation says I bagged a little over 26,500 vertical feet today over 17 runs; it's short of last year's best day on Kicking Horse (35,000 ft - 7 'superlaps' of the gondola and Stairway To Heaven chair) but not bad for a small hill with fixed-grip chairlifts and a maximum drop of 2044 ft on the longest lift. Mostly steep glades all day, where possible, with a few side trips to more open and drop-filled powder runs. Hiked a bit for those, but it doesn't count as it was fairly minimal vertical.

What's a good day of vertical for you?


_{(I noticed the speed record threads, and I'm out on that, unless it's measured in vertical speed, not absolute velocity)}

[Wookie]

Had an epic day today at Whitewater; there were only 7 inches of snow in the last 24 hrs (and 4.3 overnight), but with 33" in the last week things were nicely filled in and soft. Was on the fourth chair up in the morning (second down the main run under the chair), and kept it going until last chair was called with maybe a half-our of coffee and snack breaks all day....

First, let me say that you guys on the West Coast and in the Rockies are forbidden from ever starting a post complaining that you “only” got 7in of snow in the past 24hr to go with the 33in you got last week. You don’t know how good you have it. That week is a whole season for us Midatlantic riders. This Friday we “only” got 2in of rain, plus a 1/2in of ice, and a delightful dusting of powder to go with our 24” 100% manmade base. Oh, and did I mention it is 4 deg on the hill this morning with a brisk wind chill of -14.

When I do my Rockies trips and I’m on the ski bus at the Colorado resorts and some local complains that the runs are icy I sometimes want to punch him right in the mouth. You guys have it good, enjoy what nature gives you like we enjoy the ice here.

(rant over .... urge to kill fading) [emoji3]

....It's the first day this season my legs have been able to handle a full day, and I was well done by the end. Didn't dare take any air by the last run.

Back of the napkin calculation says I bagged a little over 26,500 vertical feet today over 17 runs; it's short of last year's best day on Kicking Horse (35,000 ft - 7 'superlaps' of the gondola and Stairway To Heaven chair) but not bad for a small hill with fixed-grip chairlifts and a maximum drop of 2044 ft on the longest lift. Mostly steep glades all day, where possible, with a few side trips to more open and drop-filled powder runs. Hiked a bit for those, but it doesn't count as it was fairly minimal vertical.

What's a good day of vertical for you?...

My home resort is a grand total of 400 vertical ft. On a great day I can get in 40 laps recorded in what looks like an EKG on my Ski Tracks app which equates to a 16,000 ft day. For me chasing max vertical is a fools errand, don’t judge your day by the stats but by who you met, how you felt, and how beautiful your surroundings were. Enjoy the journey not just the destination.

My favorite day of the season so far was a crappy stats day. I only got in a handful of runs but spent the day with a friend who had been very sick and away from skiing for a long time. On his first day back on the hill we were only able to get in a dozen or so runs on the bunny hill but he was overjoyed to get back out there and I enjoyed sharing the day with him. If we got over 2000 vertical in that day I would be shocked but every foot was pure joy.

_{(I noticed the speed record threads, and I'm out on that, unless it's measured in vertical speed, not absolute velocity)}

I am the idiot the arbitrated the speed challenge posts so I’ll confirm it is a max linear velocity tracked using a GPS or ski tracker app. I didn’t start a new tread this season since last year it became a skiing contest not a Skiboarding contest as riders were sneaking in 140cm short skis and such. If there is interest from the forum I would be happy to start a new thread, perhaps a short speed challenge running through the end of February but I would insist that all speeds be recorded on a 130 cm or shorter skiboard.

[Bad Wolf]

Vertical

130 cm???

So it’s a longboard challenge[emoji3]

[Wookie]

130 cm???

So it’s a longboard challenge[emoji3]

LOL .... No just didn’t want to exclude Sherpa riders. How about a 115cm cutoff? Crossbows or smaller?

[Wookie]

......_{(I noticed the speed record threads, and I'm out on that, unless it's measured in vertical speed, not absolute velocity)}

130 cm??? So it’s a longboard challenge[emoji3]

So as not to further hijack Steeps thread and since my day on the hill has been ended early due to my kids not feeling well in the bitter cold I have resurrected the Fastest Skier Challenge. Post your speeds and complain about the divisions here:

https://www.skiboardsonline.com/foru...603#post161603

[Steeps]

I am the idiot the arbitrated the speed challenge posts so I’ll confirm it is a max linear velocity tracked using a GPS or ski tracker app. I didn’t start a new tread this season since last year it became a skiing contest not a Skiboarding contest as riders were sneaking in 140cm short skis and such. If there is interest from the forum I would be happy to start a new thread, perhaps a short speed challenge running through the end of February but I would insist that all speeds be recorded on a 130 cm or shorter skiboard.

Hey, don't worry about the stats, man... Just kidding! I'll stay out of that one, I don't use a smartphone and will have to settle for what feels too fast.

I agree on it not being a numbers game, but since I'm almost always riding solo so far this season, number of runs / vertical / hours ridden is quite often a good measure of how much fun I was having. If I'm not feeling it, I pack it in early. Doing a big day like yesterday was partly about pushing my stamina, but mostly about it being way too much fun to stop!


We are spoiled out here though. Yesterday was surprisingly slow in the morning.... usually if I get to the lift a half-hour before it opens I'm mid-pack in the line, not fourth chair. The early crowd was scratching their heads a bit, but consensus seemed to be that "there were too many good days all week". Usually anything more than 20 cm overnight floods the place before opening.

Lists are to be taken with a grain of salt of course, but according to this Top 10 of small resorts for powder hounds I'm spending my season at 2 of the top 5. It crossed my mind to do the morning at Whitewater and drive an hour to Red to ski the afternoon yesterday, but I was having too much damn fun where I was.

Ok, I better stop before Wookie rips my head off and sticks in my tree well. I give you East Cost riders major credit for riding the conditions you do. I'm not sure I'd be a skiboarder if I'd grown up on that stuff.

----

Yesterday's vertical was not typical for me, and I probably won't have many over 20,000 ft this season. My average 'full day' vertical now that my legs are in shape is more like 18-20,000 ft (10 - 12 runs) and if I'm up for a short day in the afternoon, I aim for at least 6 runs (8 - 10,000 ft). Today is a total write-off because I trashed my legs, back, ankles and knees doing entirely too much vertical yesterday! Might make it up for a few runs late in the day, but if I do, it'll be on the small and mellow side of the hill that I usually never get around to riding.

[Steeps]

This may be a local obsession.... just saw this on Red's website:



That dude's badass. My dad sold his downhill mountain bike and stopped hucking 30 ft gaps when he turned 60, this guy's upping the ante.

[Wookie]

.... Ok, I better stop before Wookie rips my head off and sticks in my tree well. I give you East Cost riders major credit for riding the conditions you do. I'm not sure I'd be a skiboarder if I'd grown up on that stuff.....

Sorry for the rant, it was a bit of a crappy weekend. While we've gotten little real snow it has been a pretty good season for us with a a long cold spell that has allowed to resorts to makes snow 24/7. Unfortunately most of that snow got killed with a rainy warm Friday which sent the resorts scrambling trying to salvage the Presidents Day holiday weekend. What was was going to be an epic 3 day ski weekend was reduced to about 4 hours of riding on Monday due to poor conditions and my kids refusing to ski in the wind and cold that returned on Saturday & Sunday.

The core of my point was to look beyond the stats and enjoy your time on the hill. We ride a lot with other families and friends and I generally have the most fun with those people that are less worried about getting maximum runs, vertical, time, etc.. My favorite moments on the hill come from slowing down, meeting people, and enjoying the journey as much as the destination.

....That dude's badass. My dad sold his downhill mountain bike and stopped hucking 30 ft gaps when he turned 60, this guy's upping the ante....

I guess you have to be a badass to rock a Blue Rainbow Striped Onsie but as a fundraiser this is pretty cool. My legs hurt just thinking about doing 60K Vertical in a single day.

[Steeps]

The core of my point was to look beyond the stats and enjoy your time on the hill. We ride a lot with other families and friends and I generally have the most fun with those people that are less worried about getting maximum runs, vertical, time, etc.. My favorite moments on the hill come from slowing down, meeting people, and enjoying the journey as much as the destination.

You're absolutely right. I grew up skiing with the family, and friends of the family, and friends... always a good pack of us ripping it up. It was a lot of fun for sure! Great way to spend the weekends. I'd trade the powder (well, some of it...) for those days.

Unfortunately, this year I'm a new town for school with no friends (yet) and end up riding alone pretty much all the time. I'll take the odd lap with someone I meet on the chair, but so far haven't met any regular riding buddies. It's still great getting out on the snow, but it's certainly less motivating. Working at upping my skills and stamina helps keep me engaged with the sport and moving forward, instead of getting lazy and going home early.

Last year I was at a new hill, but moved in with a bunch of international ski bums, and had a whole circle of riders of every level to shred with. Even when I went up solo, it usually only took a couple of runs to meet someone I knew. And big vertical last year was inevitably a sign of a great powder day. Keeping an eye on the weekend's vertical is also a really good reason to not be hung over.

[Bad Wolf]

Racking up vert on your own is cool too. One of my best days on the slopes was when I dropped off the family at the airport to visit Grandma, drove three hours to Sunrise, then lapped the mountain from first to last chair without taking a break. Not that I don't enjoy friends and family, but sometimes it's OK to be selfish and go it alone. No waiting, or being waited on, just go at your own pace.

[Fedfan]

This may be a local obsession.... just saw this on Red's website:



That dude's badass. My dad sold his downhill mountain bike and stopped hucking 30 ft gaps when he turned 60, this guy's upping the ante.

JJue, looks like the fella's rockin' a Tipsy Elves suit!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Scribbler]

Just did my first road trip to hit the BC interior ski hills - did Whitewater, Red, Baldy and Apex in 5 days.

Didn't hit anything close to this vertical, but the snow was unlike anything I'd ever skied. At Mt. baldy, there were probably less than 70 people on the entire hill, and 50 of those were a school group that left after lunch - at 3pm there was still untracked powder in the glades.

Much as I love whistler, the interior was something else. Highly recommend it.

[Steeps]

Still haven't made it to Whistler, I'm an Interior boy born and raised.

I wish I was at Whitewater today... Red was freezing rain/ice fog. Everyone's clothing and gear was encased in a shell of ice. The snow was actually decent though; I got to explore the Chute Show area a bit.

Whitewater tomorrow though... it's dumping hard so I won't bother driving out to Red when Whitewater's 20 minutes away. Conditions were good on Friday and should be epic tomorrow. I'm going to have to get up early and up the hill; the locals are pretty nutty about powder days, and you need to be there at least a 1/2 hour before opening to get a good parking spot and position in line. Looking forward to the drops down Terra Ratta and powder off the Trash Traverse.

[Steeps]

Just heard about this (and am not riding today; got smacked with the flu), but here's another good vertical event for a good cause:




29,029 vertical feet, if you're curious, according to the post.

[Steeps]

Well, I crushed Everest today I suppose.... did 13 gondy laps on the Horse for ~49,500 ft of vertical (official gondy elevations pending). Should have got my butt up there a little earlier to catch a full 50K, but I have a buddy who wants to drop 50 too. I had to save it for him.

Conditions were sub-optimal, as we haven't had any fresh snow lately (4 cm in 7 days, sun the last few days). Crusty on the south slopes, a little bit of blow-in on the chutes, pretty hard on the groomers. The legs took a bit of a pounding but were still feeling solid on my last run.

I got off work early yesterday and did a few speed runs, which probably inspired this. Best time so far was 3 gondy laps (11,400+ ft) in 1h07m. Gondy ride at full speed takes 12 minutes (had one short lift stop in that time). Apparently the best time to drop the gondy is in the 5 min and change range, so that's a goal for the season. Haven't used a stopwatch yet, but I can do ~7 min from step-off to unstrap, so it's doable on a perfect day, I think.

All for the cause, of course...

EDIT: Got some firmer numbers on gondy elevations and need to correct my boast down to 45,890 ft in a day. That's still the standing record for the year.