Theoretical maximum vertical

On Feb 28, 5:40*pm, pigo wrote:
On Tuesday, February 28, 2012 4:53:27 PM UTC-7, Dave Stallard wrote:
Not quite - skilifts.org lists it as 2,900 ft. *But there's another
more important difference. * With the Challenger, if there's no line
(and I don't recall any), you can just ski right on - there's no
waiting. * With the Snowbird tram, even if there's no line, you've got
to wait an average of half the ride time before the next tramcar
arrives. * And if there is a line, hope that you'll be able to get
that car (I was once the *last* person waiting before they declared
the car filled - *so* frustrating). *But I guess there are people who
race the tram to the bottom so that they catch the same car on the way
up again.

Well you know that I don't ski where snowboards are allowed (don't you). And haven't for 10+ years.
You also don't ski where I'm skiing when in Utah. Snowboards or not,
Spiderhole Bob.

And you are right that there are days that there's a line and it's not going to happen even if you take boring groomed to accomplish it. LOL, and we know some terminal beginners that couldn't do it even then, don't we?

So much for worrying that you had gotten sober, or gone on
psychotropic meds. You could have shown up in person while I was in
Utah and said that. Ooooops, forgot. Terminal coward.

You just broke the embargo, Tranny Boob. You'll be getting some
emails from your buddies. How is life outside the bunker now that I'm
back in Seattle?
DIAPER UP!!!!!!

Shrug. Take it up with my instructor. He's an SV local, and has
lived there for years. I'm just passing on what he said. He was
talking about what visitors do, not locals. And he has the advantage
of being a real rather than an imaginary person.

Personally, I almost never quit before the last bell. Might get a
late start, but I don't quit early. Not unless conditions are truly
appalling

I must not have seen "ideal conditions" at Whistler in my ~7 visits
there, as lower down has always been mushy. What else can you expect
when the base elevation is not much higher than Cannon, NH, but the
area has a warm, foggy, soggy, maritime climate?

As for being a "tourist", well, guilty. Someone's got to support the
local economy, because it sure isn't going to be you, Free Willy.

Dave

On Feb 28, 7:04*pm, Dave Stallard wrote:
Shrug. * Take it up with my instructor. *He's an SV local, and has
lived there for years. *I'm just passing on what he said.

Wrong again. You're just bloviating and acting like a know it all,
and I'm enjoying busting you.

*He was
talking about what visitors do, not locals. *And he has the advantage
of being a real rather than an imaginary person.

I'm talking about what locals do. We all know what tourists do.
Especially gumbys like you.
As for imaginary, you pathetic fraud, happy to introduce you to my SV
friends. Plenty of them, and I don't have to pay them to ski with me.
When you make up a whopper like that, Off Piste Dave, you just make
yourself look more ridiculous.
Indeed, I'd be delighted to introduce you to my friend who is on that
plaque, then point out his personal brass tag. You'd get a very close
view.
You pathetic pussy.

Personally, I almost never quit before the last bell. *Might get a
late start, but I don't quit early. *Not unless conditions are truly
appalling

You'd quit if I was on the hill. Indeed, if you know I'm going to be
anywhere near you, you'd leave. Pussy.

I must not have seen "ideal conditions" at Whistler in my ~7 visits
there, as lower down has always been mushy. * What else can you expect
when the base elevation is not much higher than Cannon, NH, but the
area has a warm, foggy, soggy, maritime climate?

Exactly. And you still ski all the way down. Tourist.

As for being a "tourist", well, guilty. * Someone's got to support the
local economy, because it sure isn't going to be you, Free Willy.

And we thank you for paying for my enjoyment, Gumby. Always nice to
see a sucker who is proud to be a sucker, and considering you brag
about what a sucker you are, I want you to keep up the good work.
Come to think of it, I've got to get up to Whistler. Visit friends.
Use up these free tickets. Thanks, chump.

On Feb 28, 7:04*pm, Dave Stallard wrote:
Shrug. * Take it up with my instructor. *He's an SV local, and has
lived there for years. *I'm just passing on what he said. *He was
talking about what visitors do, not locals. *And he has the advantage
of being a real rather than an imaginary person.



I love this "imaginary person" crap you and Horvie come up with. Clue
time. Decent people recognize decent people, which is why you don't
know any. Another clue. I have a ready made fellowship that treats
me like a local virtually anywhere in ski country. You know, the
organization you pathetic pussies just love to trash. AA.
Which means I ski with locals, hang with locals, go out to dinner and
get local's discount with locals, get hooked up for tickets by locals.
But speaking of my imaginary friend, touron, let me share a story with
you. Every detail is true, which will **** you freaks off even more.
I'd met Arnie (yes, that Arnie) the night before at Rico's: turned out
he'd read the book I was reading and wanted to talk about it. A
relationship book for men, of all things. Arnie said I looked
familiar, I reminded him that more years ago than either of us wanted
to remember, I rolled him a joint at Venice Beach: the weight lifters
worked out right next to a very famous basketball court. Who knew?
Hung with his posse. Ran across him in the Warm Springs chair entry
the next day, he invited me to ski a couple laps and have lunch.
Went to the can. Looked on the west wall as I came out, saw the
plaque honoring the guys who did the most vertical, saw the name of my
friend (the one with the big mansion I stay at). Damned if my phone
didn't ring at that moment, and it was him looking to hook up for the
afternoon's skiing. Odd coincidence. I had not known of his
accomplishment (which still seems rather OCD to me), all the more
impressive because he was over sixty when he did it. Three million
vertical feet or so.
That's the kind of guy who shows me around a mountain, and you have to
pay a couple hundred bucks an hour to get somebody to show you around
a mountain. After buying your lift ticket for retail.
Gumby.
Speaking of which, missed you at DV and The Canyons and SV, and last
year at Whistler, etc.
GGGGGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYY!!!! !!!!!!!!

Now wherever you go, you're a tourist. You get bent over and reamed
liked a tourist.
Whereas I have contacts and friends throughout ski country. We bonded
because we want to grow, evolve, and become better human beings.
You have no friends in ski country except for the freaks here, and you
bonded because you are cowards, pathological liars, drunken idiots,
vicious freaks, and all around assholes. Your peers.

On Feb 28, 12:51*pm, pigo wrote:
On Feb 28, 12:41*pm, Richard Henry wrote:









I have averaged about 30,000 feet vertical on the days when I kept
track this year. *I recall trying to max out at Mammoth back in the
80's (before high-speed quads) with a friend and I think we got over
40,000 feet by just skiing from open to close on a weekday and
avoiding the big lift lines. *We tried that because some friends at
work had told of doing 100,000 feet on the 4 days of Thanksgiving
weekend.

So that got me to thinking - what would be the maximum I could pull
off?

At Snow Summit, I can average 6 runs an hour on HSQ Chair 2 if I avoid
falls and lift stoppages. *The lifts run 8:30 to 4:00 weekdays, and
8:00 to 5:00 Sundays. *That multiplies out to 45 or 54 runs if I take
no breaks. * Since Chair 2 is listed by SS as 1175 feet vertical that
would be 52,875 or 63,450 feet on an ideal day.

I tried some of that the winter I lived at Vail using the Avocet. I
think that the 50K's was as high as I got. High speed chairs and not
too large a crowd. But about 12" of new snow. *It makes for a tiring
day and IMO a weekly or yearly total would be a better indication of
performance.

I wouldn't want to do it every day. I really enjoyed the little
diversions I had Sunday - looking for a lost ski, helping another
skier, shuttle rides to the other side and back - but all those cut
into my vertical total so I couldn't do them on a vertical-attempt day.

On Feb 28, 3:53*pm, Dave Stallard wrote:
On Feb 28, 5:24*pm, pigo wrote:









On Feb 28, 3:12*pm, Dave Stallard wrote:

On Feb 28, 2:41*pm, Richard Henry wrote:

I have averaged about 30,000 feet vertical on the days when I kept
track this year. *I recall trying to max out at Mammoth back in the
80's (before high-speed quads) with a friend and I think we got over
40,000 feet by just skiing from open to close on a weekday and
avoiding the big lift lines. *We tried that because some friends at
work had told of doing 100,000 feet on the 4 days of Thanksgiving
weekend.

So that got me to thinking - what would be the maximum I could pull
off?

Challenger Lift at Sun Valley Warm Springs. * 3,142 feet of vertical
rise - in 10 minutes. * You'd only need to do 10 runs in one day.

I remember that the lodge at the bottom had a testimonial plaque about
a local who had racked up some unfathomable amount of vertical in a
season. * As I read the plaque, I noticed that the year he had set
this record was the same year as his death. I wasn't surprised.

Dave

That's about what the Snowbird tram is isn't it?

Not quite - skilifts.org lists it as 2,900 ft. *But there's another
more important difference. * With the Challenger, if there's no line
(and I don't recall any), you can just ski right on - there's no
waiting. * With the Snowbird tram, even if there's no line, you've got
to wait an average of half the ride time before the next tramcar
arrives. * And if there is a line, hope that you'll be able to get
that car (I was once the *last* person waiting before they declared
the car filled - *so* frustrating). *But I guess there are people who
race the tram to the bottom so that they catch the same car on the way
up again.

I took a private lesson at SV, in the afternoon time slot, because it
was considerably cheaper than the morning slot. *My instructor told me
that the reason was that a lot of people just knock off for the day
after lunch, so there's less demand in the afternoon. *"It's the
quads," he said. *"They just tire people out".

Compare that single-lift vertical to Whistler Peak-to-Creek, which is
a full mile vertical, but takes 3 lifts: *take Creekside Gondola,
change planes at the Red Chair, then ski down to the Peak Chair. *Plus
the snow for the last 1-2 thousand feet usually sucks. *"Why did I do
that?" is what I always ask myself.

Dave

I have done a single run at Mammoth of a little over 3000 feet, but it
requires a screwball trajectory, starting steep and ending flat, and
three or more lift rides with intervening descents to get back to the
top again. I did it once as an exercise, but it is not something I
would repeat all day.

On Feb 28, 7:04*pm, Dave Stallard wrote:
Shrug. * Take it up with my instructor. *He's an SV local, and has
lived there for years. *I'm just passing on what he said. *He was
talking about what visitors do, not locals. *And he has the advantage
of being a real rather than an imaginary person.

Personally, I almost never quit before the last bell. *Might get a
late start, but I don't quit early. *Not unless conditions are truly
appalling

I must not have seen "ideal conditions" at Whistler in my ~7 visits
there, as lower down has always been mushy. * What else can you expect
when the base elevation is not much higher than Cannon, NH, but the
area has a warm, foggy, soggy, maritime climate?

As for being a "tourist", well, guilty. * Someone's got to support the
local economy, because it sure isn't going to be you, Free Willy.

Dave

I am usually the other way - early start (in line when the first chair
is loaded) and quit when my quads start cramping. I also try to take
off-peak breaks (10:30 AM and 2:00 PM) and ski while the crowd is at
lunch. I also can't recall the last time that I skied on a Saturday.

On 2/29/2012 2:36 AM, Richard Henry wrote:
On Feb 28, 3:53 pm, Dave wrote:
On Feb 28, 5:24 pm, wrote:


(mega-snip)

Compare that single-lift vertical to Whistler Peak-to-Creek, which is
a full mile vertical, but takes 3 lifts: take Creekside Gondola,
change planes at the Red Chair, then ski down to the Peak Chair. Plus
the snow for the last 1-2 thousand feet usually sucks. "Why did I do
that?" is what I always ask myself.

Dave

I have done a single run at Mammoth of a little over 3000 feet, but it
requires a screwball trajectory, starting steep and ending flat, and
three or more lift rides with intervening descents to get back to the
top again. I did it once as an exercise, but it is not something I
would repeat all day.

Harrumph...
This sort of confirms what I suspected all along about western ski areas
that tout huge verticals. Your description of a 3k vert descent at
mammoth is considerably bettered by wait for it


Killington.

You can get from a base elevation of ~1075' to the summit at 4241' with
two lift rides (both gondolas). From the mid 70's to about 1994 this
would have been a single lift but when they replaced the original
gondola with the Skye Ship, they never extended to Killington Peak.

To get down you can use just three named trails from the top. Bear Trax,
Launch Pad and Great Eastern. This is a green route that lots of people
like. This is approx. the route Downhill and I took the day he was here
last week though we detoured to Bear Mountain (no Virginia, not the one
in So. Cal.) and added a lift ride because of that.

So at Killington, in the East, you can have a satisfying, reasonably
non-scary trip down of several miles and 3,000 vertical whereas at
Mammoth you start scary and end bored and need at least 3 lift rides to
repeat.

Yes, yes, I know you /can/ ski around 5k at Whistler/Blackcomb, but from
what I hear, who would want to?

When we were out west at Christmas this year we skied a perfectly
delightful ski area called Sun Peaks near Kamloops, BC. This area has a
total lift served vertical of 2858 vert. It normally requires 3 lifts to
ski this, the third being a T-bar, It can be done using Burfield instead
of Sunburst and Crystal, but you'd need to start at Burfield base which
we didn't and Burfield is old and slow. We only did this once because
the light was often bad up high with little in the way of visual
references and the skiing more interesting lower down. As I said, a
perfectly wonderful ski are with lots to offer (real snow for instance)
but really doesn't hold a candle to Killington for vertical.

I think the answer is the compromise between skier comfort and snow
conditions is limited in most places to 3000 feet or so. Even yesterday,
which was cold in the mountains here, the snow got a little manky as you
got near Skye base down at 1075'. The compromise is almost always
exceeded in the 5k of vert at Whistler to hear skiers who prefer to
download a lift rather then ski the glop at the bottom (what we here in
the East refer to as "Tibia Powder").

On Feb 29, 12:30*am, Richard Henry wrote:
On Feb 28, 12:51*pm, pigo wrote:





On Feb 28, 12:41*pm, Richard Henry wrote:

I have averaged about 30,000 feet vertical on the days when I kept
track this year. *I recall trying to max out at Mammoth back in the
80's (before high-speed quads) with a friend and I think we got over
40,000 feet by just skiing from open to close on a weekday and
avoiding the big lift lines. *We tried that because some friends at
work had told of doing 100,000 feet on the 4 days of Thanksgiving
weekend.

So that got me to thinking - what would be the maximum I could pull
off?

At Snow Summit, I can average 6 runs an hour on HSQ Chair 2 if I avoid
falls and lift stoppages. *The lifts run 8:30 to 4:00 weekdays, and
8:00 to 5:00 Sundays. *That multiplies out to 45 or 54 runs if I take
no breaks. * Since Chair 2 is listed by SS as 1175 feet vertical that
would be 52,875 or 63,450 feet on an ideal day.

I tried some of that the winter I lived at Vail using the Avocet. I
think that the 50K's was as high as I got. High speed chairs and not
too large a crowd. But about 12" of new snow. *It makes for a tiring
day and IMO a weekly or yearly total would be a better indication of
performance.

I wouldn't want to do it every day. *I really enjoyed the little
diversions I had Sunday - looking for a lost ski, helping anot
skier, shuttle rides to the other side and back - but all those cut
into my vertical total so I couldn't do them on a vertical-attempt day.

Well that's the fun of skiing. Going where you want when you want
however you want. After the one season wearing the watch I got tired
of it and the distraction. I still have it though!

On Feb 29, 7:12*am, pigo wrote:
On Feb 29, 12:30*am, Richard Henry wrote:









On Feb 28, 12:51*pm, pigo wrote:

On Feb 28, 12:41*pm, Richard Henry wrote:

I have averaged about 30,000 feet vertical on the days when I kept
track this year. *I recall trying to max out at Mammoth back in the
80's (before high-speed quads) with a friend and I think we got over
40,000 feet by just skiing from open to close on a weekday and
avoiding the big lift lines. *We tried that because some friends at
work had told of doing 100,000 feet on the 4 days of Thanksgiving
weekend.

So that got me to thinking - what would be the maximum I could pull
off?

At Snow Summit, I can average 6 runs an hour on HSQ Chair 2 if I avoid
falls and lift stoppages. *The lifts run 8:30 to 4:00 weekdays, and
8:00 to 5:00 Sundays. *That multiplies out to 45 or 54 runs if I take
no breaks. * Since Chair 2 is listed by SS as 1175 feet vertical that
would be 52,875 or 63,450 feet on an ideal day.

I tried some of that the winter I lived at Vail using the Avocet. I
think that the 50K's was as high as I got. High speed chairs and not
too large a crowd. But about 12" of new snow. *It makes for a tiring
day and IMO a weekly or yearly total would be a better indication of
performance.

I wouldn't want to do it every day. *I really enjoyed the little
diversions I had Sunday - looking for a lost ski, helping anot
skier, shuttle rides to the other side and back - but all those cut
into my vertical total so I couldn't do them on a vertical-attempt day.

Well that's the fun of skiing. Going where you want when you want
however you want.

As you went to your spiderhole when I was in Utah and diapered up.