80,000 Vertical Feet

[cantunamunch]

No, it's a nightmare. It's one thing to do it for a day or a weekend. But 122 days, 7-8 hrs everyday?? Awful.

I don't see that as being substantially different from just plain skiing every one of those 122 days.

At some point it's just psychotic or an addiction.

Exactly.

 

[Started at 53]

At some point it's just psychotic or an addiction.

A good solid case of OCD and a healthy body is all that is needed.

 

[Sibhusky]

I don't see that as being substantially different from just plain skiing every one of those 122 days.



Exactly.

Fred Frost, a Super Senior, is in the "just ski everyday" category. Excluding Saturdays. He's the guy who has been in the top five I think every single year. He doesn't yo-yo. He skis trees. He knows everyone. He talks at the summit, but not much on the way down. He doesn't stop for lunch, tho. And he leaves between 2 and 3. If you're skiing with a pass here, you get an icon called the Fred Frost Award at 4 million feet. He never looks like he's pushing it, but he racks it up.

Retired math teacher.

 

[Nathanvg]

In terms of places for racking up huge vertical...

Stowe's Graham (former owner of Edgewise for those of you who remember that shop) pulled off 51 laps on the quad:
http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_rep...cle_dceab14e-8cc2-11e2-b451-001a4bcf887a.html

51 laps * 2050 vertical = 104,550 vertical feet.

I've had a handful of low 30k days over the years... I'm generally regretting it in the morning.

Just thinking about the math. He was out for eight hours. The ride up takes eight minutes, so 408 minutes of his 480 minutes were spent on the chair. So that leaves 72 minutes to bang out 51 laps, or 84 seconds per lap.

Based on the math above, you'd have to average nearly 100 MPH and never encounter a line or lift stoppage. That's impossible.

However, after doing some research, the claim is believable if you got lucky. Details:

• Ride time is 6:30 seconds if no stops (per numerous you tube videos)
  
• Run distance is 2.25 miles (including slope of run, not just horizontal distance)
  
• Lifts are open 8 hours but the last lift and run can happen after 4pm. (just need to be on lift at 4) (50 laps in 8 hours, 51st after 4)

Therefore, he was on the lift 325 minutes with 155 minutes to ski. If he had zero lines and zero lift stoppages, he would have had to average about 45 MPH. You lose a lot of time getting up to speed and slowing down to board the lift so he likely would have to been going over 60 MPH for most of the run to average 45 MPH.

So my conclusion is it's possible but you'd have to get real lucky with

• Almost zero lines/stoppages
• Unusual perks would likely be needed too: lifty letting you on early, run closed just for you, bypass the lift line, etc.

Once you get above 65k of vert, it's things outside your control that define vert records (lift stoppages, lines, skier traffic, etc.) And attempting such records typically would put other skiers at risk due to high speeds through crowds. So, I'm not really a fan of such records.

 

[Beartown]

i read an article a few years ago about a guy who hit 100k just lapping Challenger at Sun Valley. I hit 45,000 before noon doing that one day, though my legs were pretty shot after just that and I ended the day just shy of 60,000. It's got a fast steep groomer top to bottom, ~3100 feet/lap, high speed quad with minimal lines.

 

[New2]

Once you get above 65k of vert, it's things outside your control that define vert records (lift stoppages, lines, skier traffic, etc.) And attempting such records typically would put other skiers at risk due to high speeds through crowds. So, I'm not really a fan of such records.

Using the Stowe stats you put together (and assuming no lift stoppages/slowdowns), getting 65k in a day would require an average skiing speed of something like 17 mph. Lapping Gunbarrel at Heavenly, you'd need to average 5.2 miles per hour skiing (assuming no lift stoppages/slowdowns) to make that 65k. Neither of these speeds looks to me like a threshold for putting others at risk. I agree that speed for speed's sake is dangerous... but I think your 65k figure is arbitrary and inaccurate many places.

 

[Nathanvg]

Using the Stowe stats you put together (and assuming no lift stoppages/slowdowns), getting 65k in a day would require an average skiing speed of something like 17 mph. Lapping Gunbarrel at Heavenly, you'd need to average 5.2 miles per hour skiing (assuming no lift stoppages/slowdowns) to make that 65k. Neither of these speeds looks to me like a threshold for putting others at risk. I agree that speed for speed's sake is dangerous... but I think your 65k figure is arbitrary and inaccurate many places.

I am saying that no lines, no lift stoppges and no run congestion is not realistic the vast majority of the time. As the stowe example showed, even a 90 second delay per lift ride required an impossible 100 mph average. A 90 second delay is a stoppage, skier congestion or a small line once an hour. That or worse is very common.

In addition, the last and first 20 seconds of a run typically average under 20 mph meaning top speed typically must be 1.5 to 2x average. 65k is a estimate.

Gunbbarel is a steep fast lift that is better than most for big vert numbers. Since loading, unloading and getting up to speed are so time consuming, you get really want longer lifts like challenger at SV if you want to maximize vert.

 

[newboots]

I think I'll just go skiing.

 

[Tony]

Not sure if @New2PDX is aware of Gunbarrel 25 event at Heavenly every Spring. Some years it is held on The Face/East Bowl (under the Tram) as Gunbarrel does not always have good coverage. Event is 25 laps/40K vertical of moguls and the record is around 2 hrs 45 minutes. Even more interesting are the Ironman Results. This year a 12 and 13 year-old and a 30 year-old did 47 laps/75K in about 6 hours.

Article at Powder Magazine has some good background but some inaccuracies as first and last photo are East Bowl.

I only have a couple of days over 40K. One was 45K at Bachelor and included 3 hikes above the top of Summit lift. The other was last April at Heavenly when I took advantage of 8:30 start for passholders and had 24K well before noon, but took 7 laps on slow Mott Canyon chair and 2 on long and slow North Bowl as I get bored fast-lapping groomers. I think I could get over 50K at Heavenly or on Northstar's Backside, but it would be easier with support or a backpack to have enough food and drink to avoid stopping.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Most impressive day that I have watched was a 14 yo friend that logged 49 runs on Superstar on a Saturday last May were the lifts ran from 8 thru 5. All runs on a mature ungroomed Superstar. Folks begged the lift operator to let him get one more run to no avail. That is a ton of vertical on world class moguls. Told him to leave a little in the tank for when he gets a little older.

 

[James]

No, it's a nightmare. It's one thing to do it for a day or a weekend. But 122 days, 7-8 hrs everyday?? Awful.

I don't see that as being substantially different from just plain skiing every one of those 122 days

You can get help...

 

[cantunamunch]

You can get help...

Sure - I vote for more aversion therapy but the fundraising is killer.

 

[New2]

Not sure if @New2PDX is aware of Gunbarrel 25 event at Heavenly every Spring. Some years it is held on The Face/East Bowl (under the Tram) as Gunbarrel does not always have good coverage. Event is 25 laps/40K vertical of moguls and the record is around 2 hrs 45 minutes. Even more interesting are the Ironman Results. This year a 12 and 13 year-old and a 30 year-old did 47 laps/75K in about 6 hours.

Article at Powder Magazine has some good background but some inaccuracies as first and last photo are East Bowl.

I only have a couple of days over 40K. One was 45K at Bachelor and included 3 hikes above the top of Summit lift. The other was last April at Heavenly when I took advantage of 8:30 start for passholders and had 24K well before noon, but took 7 laps on slow Mott Canyon chair and 2 on long and slow North Bowl as I get bored fast-lapping groomers. I think I could get over 50K at Heavenly or on Northstar's Backside, but it would be easier with support or a backpack to have enough food and drink to avoid stopping.

I vaguely remembered coverage of the Gunbarrel 25, which is why it popped into my head for racking up the laps (that, and I remember it being a quick, steep ride), but didn't remember details... thanks for the links!

I might've done some days over 40k in years past, but I need to get into better shape. A 20k day leaves me sore anymore!