Amateur skiing speeds

[mrmr96]

elster said:

mrmr96 said:

I guess you know all the pistes on the planet then?

Just the ones used for speed skiing

Yeh, ok

[dangerousB]

elster said:

mrmr96 said:

Why not on a piste?

I can't think of many very long 1-2km straight pistes that are bashed that have a steep enough angle to get anywhere near close.

There are plenty. I can think of heaps in the 3 valleys alone and you don't need anywhere near 2 or even 1k to set your ski's on fire . . . probably only 400m or so.
The Flying K at Les Arcs is about as steep as I've seen (54 degrees)and 250k's has been achieved
. . . in a lot, lot less than 2 kilometres!!!

[alfa phil]

and no other skiers, boarders to take out.

[MiniMan64]

Easily do-able on the right run, I think the fastest I've ever clocked myself at is around 50-55mph and I'm rubbish!

[sunnybono]

easy.

[DJC]

dangerousB said:

elster said:

mrmr96 said:

Why not on a piste?

I can't think of many very long 1-2km straight pistes that are bashed that have a steep enough angle to get anywhere near close.

There are plenty. I can think of heaps in the 3 valleys alone and you don't need anywhere near 2 or even 1k to set your ski's on fire . . . probably only 400m or so.
The Flying K at Les Arcs is about as steep as I've seen (54 degrees)and 250k's has been achieved
. . . in a lot, lot less than 2 kilometres!!!

Yep.

See my other post on the Olympics thread about wiping out at the bottom of a run. Strangely enough that was at Le Arcs, I was young, fear free, monster run, monster speed.

The right side of my face still bears a couple of marks around the bottom of my right eye due to the accident and the aftermath.

[mylesmcd]

I think we have a case of someone bringing a garmin up the slopes and getting a reading of 68 mph. Its not really possible unless you are wearing the full lycra suit or have an exceptional bit of hill infront of you. Even at that, I still think you would need both.

40 mph on skis is exceptionally fast.

[Busamav]

I took a gps out for the day that recorded the complete journey, total decent average speed etc.

I knew exactly where we had stuck our heads down and had a go at the top speed, Fastest speed was 99.6 km/h , on short slalom skis that was enough for me .

So I do believe that anyone really trying could get 70mph

[Busamav]

There is also a speed trap set up on a piste over in Courcheval 1650 where you can have a go.

Not operational very often though .

[Gylen]

We had a GPS thingy in Val d'Isere the other week and 55-65mph was seen relatively frequently. On piste as well (which, to be fair, is much more likely than doing it off-piste!)...Don't see why he couldn't have achieved those speeds...

[Ahonen]

There was a speed test section in Livigno last year, which was a fenced off area with a proper start gate and a two infra red beams to calculate the speed. We were hitting a good 75-80km/h through there and it certainly wasn't the steepest section in the resort.

I'm not a massively experienced skier though and I wouldn't feel comfortable at that speed on anything less than a perfectly groomed section. Definitely not with anyone else around.

[Raify]

elster said:

mrmr96 said:

elster said:

Raify said:

I've seen a GPS verified 90kph on a board, so I don't think that's impossible on skis

In that case you were going faster than Super G snowboarders.

But they have to do corners. The chaps setting these super speeds quoted in the thread will have been bombing directly down a smooth wide run and not putting ANY turns in.

Not on a piste they wont be reaching those speeds.

You feel as though you are going a lot faster than you really are.

It was on a wide red piste at Kicking Horse, 4 different people tried out a v-max run with the gps and 90khp was the max achieved. I don't see why it's so hard to grasp. I've seen boarders hitting massive kickers on videos at 140kph, Graham Bell commentates whilst filming the downhill runs at the same speed so I don't see why 68mph being impossible. What's that? About 110kph?

[Dominic H]

A mate and I using a Garmin GPS clocked 61-62mph down Belvedere on the run back to Canazei in the Val d'Fassa, it was plenty quick enough believe me...

[Mr E]

My utterly insane buddy this year clocked 78kph this year. On a snowboard. Having watched it, one mistake was broken something and holiday over.

Yikes

[Hobzy]

On a side note, having not been for donkeys years, are modern carvers slower on a straight run than old long planks? My (very dusty) skis are 195s and my brother (complete nutter at 16) bought our instructors old 211s (he's over 6 ft). They were mentally fast, but bloody deadly over anything bumpy.

Nearly ended up on the speed run at Les Arc by accident once after missing a turn on the lane on the way down from the needle. Scared the st out of me looking down it Bloody instructor nearly wet himself and just skied off while I clambered back up...

[Raify]

Eek! I just looked back at the emails and it was only 80kph! Still, 50mph on a board to 68 on skis is not beyond the realms of possibility.

[Gylen]

Hobzy said:

On a side note, having not been for donkeys years, are modern carvers slower on a straight run than old long planks? My (very dusty) skis are 195s and my brother (complete nutter at 16) bought our instructors old 211s (he's over 6 ft). They were mentally fast, but bloody deadly over anything bumpy.

In general, yes. They go a bit clattery and floaty at really high speeds if you aren't on an edge - I miss my old planks for that!

[mylesmcd]

I dont see why people are completely trusting their GPS for speed calculations?

68mph, for an 'amateur' skier, is very unlikely.

[tuffer]

I once went down the flying K at Les Arc 2000, by accident.....On my snowboard. felt like at least 68mph and the skid marks in my pants could have verified that

[Gylen]

mylesmcd said:

I dont see why people are completely trusting their GPS for speed calculations?

Why not?