Amateur skiing speeds

[Rufus]

Have a friend who has recently returned from a skiing holiday who claims to have hit 68mph, said friend is quite often full of bullst so I was wondering, is this claim one of his usual stories, or could it be true?

[henrycrun]

Unlikely unless it was very smooth, but then I haven't skied for yonks. Was he using a GPS ?

[Phil Dicky]

Had the discussion a few weeks ago and it was guessed at around 40 to 50mph at the most...
68 seems a bit steep

[bint]

A couple of chaps in our group had a GPS tracker whilst boarding a couple of weeks ago and also got that sort of speed. If you've got the balls, I don't see why not. Skiing is faster than boarding too...

[samwilliams]

I saw a similar kind of speed a few years ago. Whether the GPS was accurate or not, I'm not sure, but that's certainly what it said.

[bonsai]

samwilliams said:

I saw a similar kind of speed a few years ago. Whether the GPS was accurate or not, I'm not sure, but that's certainly what it said.

So you were actually going even faster than that, since as I understand it these basic GPS speed readers base their measurements off the horizontal change in position over time, so you'd actually be doing 70+ mph considering you're on a slope?

[elster]

I take it he is a downhill skier then.

Otherwise, no he wasn't.

[ShadownINja]

I can reach terminal velocity because I can't turn.

[Raify]

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

[elster]

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. They only get to about 70-80 km/h!

I think some of you need you GPS checking.

If you were going over 30 mph on skis you are going bloody fast.

[TorqueVR]

60-70mph is do-able if you've the bottle, kit and a decent slope. I'm far too old for that but a few years ago my son called me to proudly say that he'd been clocked at over 160km/hr (>100mph) on the measured kilometre at Les Arcs.

[mrmr96]

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.

[elster]

TorqueVR said:

60-70mph is do-able if you've the bottle, kit and a decent slope. I'm far too old for that but a few years ago my son called me to proudly say that he'd been clocked at over 160km/hr (>100mph) on the measured kilometre at Les Arcs.

If that was his first time skiing I hope he is now competing. That is extremely fast, most first time speed skiers I have seen have been down 120 km/h.

Unless you are on a run set out for speed skiing an average skier on their skis wont be doing 60-70 mph on a piste.

[elster]

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.

[dangerousB]

Just got back from a fab trip to Meribel and I can confirm that 68mph is inherently do-able on skis as this is the exact same speed I hit down the Pramint run into St Martin de Belleville both this and last year (103 k's actually, which without doing the maths would in the same ball park - verified on my Garmin - video available )
That is pretty much terminal velocity on carving skis without the aid of a cat-suit I reckon.
As far as boards go, my mate (who is pretty handy on a snowboard) hit 41.5mph on his all mountain board down the same run, which he said was about as quick as it gets on that board.
Me and my bruv did also have a bit of a tear up with some guys from the French snowboard team a couple of seasons ago in Flaine and I reckon they were hitting 50ish - they were all on very skinny long boards and pulling some wicked shapes through the turns!!!

[mrmr96]

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.

Why not on a piste?

[elster]

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.

[mrmr96]

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.

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

[elster]

mrmr96 said:

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

Just the ones used for speed skiing

[Rufus]

Sounds like he did manage it then, said he did it very early in the morning when there where no 'moguls' (whatever they are!). Impressive stuff.