How long do you ski on average per day/average vertical?

[GregK]

In the “How many days this season?” Threads I sometimes see people list total vertical amounts of the year so far with their day total that make me curious how long most people ski on average per day?

I averaged just under 6 hours/34k vertical per day this year and curious what a “typical day” was like for others here.

 

[tch]

I'll say I average abt. 5+ hours of time and 24K vert.
But I think it makes a GREAT difference where you ski. At my 1,000' eastern bump, I can easily ski 27-30K a day until I get bored. Mostly groomed out runs with a high-speed six lift. In the west this year, I was skiing more like 18-22K vert. But I was looking for off-piste terrain, doing some traversing, etc.

And...while it may be an interesting quick check, I'd argue to watch out for falling into the "more is better" mindset. My goal is to enjoy every minute of skiing, not judge my enjoyment based on how much skiing I did.

 

[Bill Miles]

I am slowing down with older age. This year probably averaged 4-1/2 to five hours per day and about 38K vertical.

 

[Brad J]

I think I average 28000, per day and ski from 9-4 with one coffee break and one hour lunch so 51/2 hrs skiing, i stay off groomer as much as possible. I did 38K this March in mixed Groomer and ungroomed and i was spent

 

[Rod9301]

Average 18k

 

[Ken_R]

To me its more about quality that quantity...

 

[musicmatters]

With these tracking apps it’s fun to watch your stats. As a goal I try to shoot for 30 runs/30k vertical ft, 30 miles. I don’t always get there but I kind of use that as my measuring stick as to how much I covered that day. The hardest one to get is the 30 runs.

I usually go from 9-3pm or 4pm.

 

[mdf]

I try for first chair, but I am not a natural morning person so I often miss the first half hour or so. Take a short lunch if I'm by myself, or a long social one if I'm with a group. On the other hand, if I'm with a group then I am more apt to be on time in the morning. Then almost always ski till the lifts close. So ranges between 5..5 and 6.5 hours, usually.

 

[François Pugh]

I'm usually patrolling. On the weekend shifts it's 8 hours. On a good day 7 of those are on skis.
On a weekday shift it's 4 hours. On a good night, all on skis.
No idea of what vertical is.

 

[geepers]

Generally start early and finish around 3 to 3:30. Stops for morning coffee and lunch so 5 to 6 hours out on snow.

Averaging just over 21k vertical feet and 36km. Quite a number of days on courses this season (11 out of 56) where the vertical and distance are always substantially lower than usual.

The vertical and distance are for the descent only. Some apps include the ascent in those stats.

Try to take one day off per week - not always successfully (there's snow waiting to be skied and it's dull sitting in a condo.)

Biggest day this season was 35k vertical on a sweet little pow day. One of those days that was so good it was hard to stop. Was exhausted for the next few days and don't intend to over-indulge like that again. Can no longer bounce back.

I read about this guy a few years back...extracts:

• 7.5 million vert in a ski season (2012).
• Averaged 60 hours per week on skis.
• He calculated that the best place to get vertical on any Vail Resorts mountain is Keystone’s North Peak. The Santiago lift carries you up 1,600 vertical feet in 4.7 minutes and he can ski down Starfire in about 80 seconds, so he can do a lap in about seven minutes.
• His EpicMix account shows 121,072 vertical feet on March 8, then 120,664 on March 9.

 

[Fuller]

About 20k per day x 50 days. A lot of time on fixed triples...

 

[tch]

I read about this guy a few years back...extracts:

• 7.5 million vert in a ski season (2012).
• Averaged 60 hours per week on skis.
• He calculated that the best place to get vertical on any Vail Resorts mountain is Keystone’s North Peak. The Santiago lift carries you up 1,600 vertical feet in 4.7 minutes and he can ski down Starfire in about 80 seconds, so he can do a lap in about seven minutes.
• His EpicMix account shows 121,072 vertical feet on March 8, then 120,664 on March 9.

And this is fun....?​

 

[GregK]

I find ski apps make skiing more interesting especially at smaller resorts which can get boring so then you can start playing games like “guess your speed on the last run” and I’m pretty good at that now! Lol

Nice to easily keep track of days/vert/speed and set goals for any or all of them for the ski year.

 

[geepers]

And this is fun....?

 

[firebanex]

I usually have about a 6 hour ski day, the vertical varies as I patrol and somedays I get to work a lot more than I get to ski. I typically just want to track number of days and aim for 40 days in a season.

As far as tracking apps, I mostly like to track the total number of days in a season and put heart rate data to it. I use my fitbit and it is terrible for tracking stats that are useful for skiing beyond heart rate and gps.

 

[CalG]

I spend about 40 minutes of every hour skiing...riding the lifts.

That is. unless I'm earning the turns, then is 1000" for each two hours , The first 1K might take less time, at best. ;-)

 

[Jacob]

For me, the length of the day depends on whether or not I'm alone. If I'm alone, then I tend to get a lot more skiing in per hour, which wears me out faster and makes me end the day sooner. If I'm with others, then I tend to stay on the mountain longer but still do roughly the same amount of skiing or maybe even less.

Alone, I'm usually skiing 9:00 to 3:00 or 3:30. With others, I'm usually out there until 4:00 or 4:30.

I have no idea how much vertical I do. I've never bothered to measure.

 

[sbooker]

I am slowing down with older age. This year probably averaged 4-1/2 to five hours per day and about 38K vertical.

Sun Valley vertical muncher. Is there an easier mountain to smash out vertical?

 

[ADKmel]

Sun Valley vertical muncher. Is there an easier mountain to smash out vertical?

Okemo. Really easy to bang out vert. Fast lifts, perfect corduroy -I skied over 50K one day (no breaks, was the only powder day that year, seems it rained every time w/got decent snow)

I like first tracks, rarely take a morning break, lunch is after the crowds have left, early season I'll ski straight thru til 2ish since gets dark so early in Dec. Late season
if my knees are Ok, I'll often ski to the last chair. Been getting 24K up to Mid 30's have over a million vert this season (and I'm not done yet)

 

[Tricia]

Because of life and schedules and such, we tend to ski from first chair-ish to noon or so, depending on what's going on and how good conditions are, then we go home or go for lunch on the way home, and then get a bunch of work done so that you have a better experience on Pugski.