Amateur skiing speeds

[Iain328]

Ahonen said:

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.

Similar thing at Ischgl in Austria a few years ago & 5 of us all hit between 75 & 82 kph (47-51mph) on reasonably stiff/high spec carvers (Atomic GS9s etc). Anything above that would be getting pretty dangerous without downhill skis I would think.

Said event was closely followed by the procurement of several ski helmets!! (wouldn't ski without one now)

[sleep envy]

tuffer said:

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

was there 2 years ago - lots of fun

[mylesmcd]

Gylen said:

mylesmcd said:

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

Why not?

Sorry, I am immediately presuming were talking about a Tom Tom like device?

If we are, I really wouldnt be taking that for an acurate speed calculation.


edit; spelling

Edited by mylesmcd on Tuesday 23 February 19:24

[Amateurish]

I've got a GPS device for skiing and have hit around 95km/h which was as fast as I could go before losing my nerve. Believe me, that speed is scary.

[Mr E Driver]

Raify said:

It was on a wide red piste at Kicking Horse

What was your impression of KH? A friend of mine has a 3 bed place in Glacier lodge and he has given me an open invite. I have been to LL, Fernie and Kimberley and I really love it in Canada

[Raify]

Mr E Driver said:

Raify said:

It was on a wide red piste at Kicking Horse

What was your impression of KH? A friend of mine has a 3 bed place in Glacier lodge and he has given me an open invite. I have been to LL, Fernie and Kimberley and I really love it in Canada

It's very nice, but not exactly Canadian in its character. I went soon after it opened commercially and then again in 07.

The mountain itself has some awesome terrain, mainly Alpine in type so it's big bowls, one lazy green runs all the way from the top with reds/blacks splitting off it. There's not as much tree riding like you'd get at Fernie. It's more like Sunshine / LL in character.

The restaurant at the top is brilliant. The bubble lift has a halfway and sometimes gets stopped for high winds. There's a new chair lift or two in the top half so you can keep riding up high.

I presume the Glacier Lodge is one of the new apartments built at the bottom of the bubble lift. Nice and convenient, not sure what there is to do in the evening...

If you get big snow, it can be an incredible resort.

[Mr E Driver]

Cheers Raify, according to my friend it looks as there is a big expansion planned, lots of chalets and a few more lifts in the next few years and he reckons it will soon be a popular resort all year round.

[Raify]

Mr E Driver said:

Cheers Raify, according to my friend it looks as there is a big expansion planned, lots of chalets and a few more lifts in the next few years and he reckons it will soon be a popular resort all year round.

They've got an enormous amount of terrain that they could easily open up with new lifts, it's worth keeping an eye on it. Revelstoke too, that's just gone 'commercial'.

KH's advantage is relative ease of access and a fairly normal town of Golden (not just a resort) below it.

[alfa pint]

I went skiing with a mate with a GPS, mainly to see how many km we could clock up in a day (70km most days, we would have pushed for a 100km but the weather deteriorated too much).

Anyway, we found out that it had a highest instantaneous speed reading which then prompted us to start putting the welly down, having found a straight and quiet blue to play on.

Anything above 75km / hr made my hat blow off. We were struggling to get 80km / hr without a high entry speed into the run.

Later that week, we were trying to get down an icy red in Val Thorens - everyone was working their way down the edges, where the better snow was. The frustration was a complete bite, so one by one (6 of us) turned into the centre of the piste, pointed the skis down the fall line and just went for it. The GPS read 97 km/hr, which is exactly 60mph. At that point, we binned the GPS because we would only want to see 3 figures on it......

Having a ski pass is more worthwhile than trying to do stupid speeds on public slopes.

[over_the_hill]

Busamav said:

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 .

Do you mean the one almost at the bottom of the noddy blue run where you test your breaking distance ?
Even on that you can hit 30mph+ in less than 100metres.

Also note that most speeds are peak speeds not average.

A couple of years ago we had a GPS and got out early one morning when the slopes were clear. I hit just over 60mph - felt very fast and needed a lot of concentration. Another guy in our group - skied all life and best in our group - hit 84 mph.

[Asterix]

I used to race (amateur for the Army) and they reckoned that we'd be over 80mph on the steep stuff.

[130R]

I think 68 mph is definitely possible for an amateur on skis, but that is absolutely bloody flying. I don't think it's possible for an amateur on a snowboard.

[Iain328]

Asterix said:

I used to race (amateur for the Army) and they reckoned that we'd be over 80mph on the steep stuff.

On nice long straight downhill skis I'd bet. You'd be having brown trouser moments doing that on a regular pair of carvers I think !!

Edited by Iain328 on Sunday 28th February 18:15

[Iain328]

130R said:

I think 68 mph is definitely possible for an amateur on skis, but that is absolutely bloody flying. I don't think it's possible for an amateur on a snowboard.

See above, 68mph would be a nutter, brown trouser moment on pretty much anything but proper downhill skis.

[Gylen]

mylesmcd said:

Gylen said:

mylesmcd said:

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

Why not?

Sorry, I am immediately presuming were talking about a Tom Tom like device?

If we are, I really wouldnt be taking that for an acurate speed calculation.


edit; spelling

Edited by mylesmcd on Tuesday 23 February 19:24

It was a GPS application on a Smart phone but interested in why you wouldn't trust a TomTom or similar? My in-car TomTom is way more accurate than my speedo, for example. I'd have thought they would do the job for skiing?

[Gandalf Beckwith]

I saw 53mph as my peak speed on a red run just over a year ago in Les Contamines in France.

This was as fast as I got that week - mainly because the GPS was the first thing that I looked at after I'd stopped sliding down the rest of the piste on my arse/head/arms/back/arse after a big sky-snow-sky-snow-sky-snow moment. I spent the next 2 days in a French hospital after having a metal plate and 8 screws in my leg to put it all back together again!

Mrs GB (who's birthday it was on the very day that I decided to wipe out) has now banned me from wearing the GPS again......

[R TOY]

Mrs Toy bought me a Garmin etrex thingy for Christmas which has a recorded top speed of 49mph after 2 hols.I think that was when our ski guide said 'she' was going to blast down and see us at the bottom, (sounded a bit like a challenge) I believe that is altitude corrected ?. That feels pretty fast and i would only feel comfortable edgeing at that speed esp' as my Rossie B3's flap a bit when flat. I'm sure 68mph would be acheivable if someone has the balls but its going to hurt if it goes wrong!! 84mph ? I would have to see to believe, need to be staight lining a v smooth French black in a tuck with thighs and testicles of steel

Edited by R TOY on Sunday 28th February 23:29

[ATG]

I would be a bit suspicious about GPS ski speed readings. Firstly GPS can't triangulate altitude changes very effectively ... coz all them bleedin satellites are above you. Secondly, I wonder just how good the GPS's reception is? When you're tucked, where exactly did you have the GPS? Middle of your back, back of your head? Anywhere else and it is going to get a badly obstructed view of the sky. When the signal is obstructed, your measured position starts jumping around. This can make peak speed measurements highly innacurate. Being a thoroughbred geek and anything but a thoroubred runner, when I'm out for a jog I usually wear a GPS watch and bimble along at about 6.5 mph ... but because the reception can be a bit pants, my peak measured speeds could be up to 25mph. And sadly I have to admit that is pretty bloody unlikely.

Radar, or measured distance, or indeed average GPS over a reasonable distance ... fine. Peak measurement on a GPS in someone's pocket ... big pinch of salt. If your GPS can download a log to a computer, I'd check the scatter of the individual fixes, clean them up a bit so they follow the piste and then estimate velocity over several fixes.

Reality check is to compare the speeds people think they've achieved to the speeds downhillers hit. If you've ever seen a downhiller practising, in the flesh it looks as unreal as the accleration of a modern high performance race car. It looks wrong. It looks like the laws of Physics have temporarily been bent.

[Asterix]

Iain328 said:

Asterix said:

I used to race (amateur for the Army) and they reckoned that we'd be over 80mph on the steep stuff.

On nice long straight downhill skis I'd bet. You'd be having brown trouser moments doing that on a regular pair of carvers I think !!

Edited by Iain328 on Sunday 28th February 18:15

Yeah, it was - we used to compete on some of the full pro tour courses from time to time - brown trouser moments even with the big planks! This was back in the early 90's before carvers started making inroads.

[mylesmcd]

Gylen said:

mylesmcd said:

Gylen said:

mylesmcd said:

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

Why not?

Sorry, I am immediately presuming were talking about a Tom Tom like device?

If we are, I really wouldnt be taking that for an acurate speed calculation.


edit; spelling

Edited by mylesmcd on Tuesday 23 February 19:24

It was a GPS application on a Smart phone but interested in why you wouldn't trust a TomTom or similar? My in-car TomTom is way more accurate than my speedo, for example. I'd have thought they would do the job for skiing?

Yea, for sure. Car speedos are less accurate, but smart phone GPS, or even Tom Tom GPS less so. I would prefere to see two stopwatches and a clipboard!!

I still think its a 'I m faster than yo' story.

Could be wrong tho!!!