First Ski Day Winter 2013-2014.

[CATEGORIES: Skiing, Travel.]

Wed. 5 Nov. 2013 was my first day skiing this season.  Ski area of choice, and season pass: Copper Mountain, Colorado.  It is very early in the ski season but the snow was decent.  Copper is very good at making and grooming man-made snow but that kind of snow can be very hard-packed.  Six inches of natural in the last 48 hours softened it nicely.

It wasn’t much of a photo-op day.  It was moderately overcast in the mid-20sF and I wanted to concentrate on making turns in the snow.  Of course with modern technology and smartphones one is never without a camera.  I snapped a few and that task was done.

[For group photos click on any photo to enlarge and view group in a slide show.  Photo info is in lower right corner, as is ‘View full size’.  View full and zoom again for extra detail.  Click X in upper left to return.]

The Excelerator chairlift.

I like to be warm.

Ptarmigan run beckons.

I skied 3 runs (4 the way I count, i.e. any full length of chairlift passed equals one run) and took a snack/warmup break.  After that I skied 5 (6) more runs and called it a day.  After all, it’s first day and I just want to ease into it.

I did have my trusty Ski Tracks app turned on for all those vital skiing statistics that a modern-day tech person can’t do without.  The stats this app tracks never cease to amaze me.

Paused mode.

Saved.

The screenshot at left is at the end of the day.  It says Day 2 because I used it for bicycling in October so it thinks it’s my 2nd day skiing.  No prob.

It is in Pause, such as I do to stop recording during lunch.  You can hit Resume if you continue skiing or Save to save the day’s data to the app.  Note the Altitude shows current altitude and the Min and Max altitudes during the day.

The shot below reflects the Save one second later.  The altitude now shows Max altitude achieved, Min, and Delta, the difference between the two.

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My max speed was 26.1 mph, avg. 6.0 mph.  I’m really trying to take it slow.  (It’s early season and my legs tell me the next day slow was a good idea.  My quads are sorer than ever at the start of a season.)

Vertical feet skied 10,117.  Runs 8 (10 the way I count).  Note the altitudes to the left of the Profile chart which profiles the runs.  Skiing duration not counting lunch is 2:00:53

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Quite a bit of data is available by pressing the clock and bar graph buttons:

Click a picture to open full size.

Data by mile (up chairlift and down hill).

Data available by hour. Even more data can be seen by clicking an item.

Pressing the globe button reveals numerous screens of GPS data:

Satellite

Track

Standard

What is REALLY cool is opening the data in Google Earth and viewing a tracking video of your ski day.  Following is a video recording of the video.  Apologies for lack of sharp focus.  Photography 101 includes movie making.

I leave you with the following:

Coincidental with my ski day I received this list of skiing tips in an email from Allison Simpson’s Summit Real Estate.  The tips seem appropriate:

Here are some Pre-Ski Season Ski exercises just for you…..

1)    Visit your local butcher and pay $30 to sit in the walk-in freeze for a half an hour. Afterwards, burn two $50 dollar bills to warm up.
2)    Soak your gloves and store them in the freezer after every use.
3)    Fasten a small, wide rubber band around the top half of your head before you go to bed each night.
4)    If you wear glasses, begin wearing them with glue smeared on the lenses.
5)    Throw away a hundred-dollar bill now.
6)    Find the nearest ice rink and walk across the ice 20 times in your ski boots carrying two pairs of skis, accessory bag and poles. Pretend you are looking for your car. Sporadically drop things.
7)    Place a small but angular pebble in your shoes, line them with crushed ice, and then tighten a C-clamp around your toes.
8)    Buy a new pair of gloves and immediately throw one away.
9)    Secure one of your ankles to a bedpost and ask a friend to run into you at high speed.
10)    Go to McDonald’s and insist on paying $13.50 for a hamburger. Be sure you are in the longest line.
11)    Clip a lift ticket to the zipper of your jacket and ride a motorcycle fast enough to make the ticket lacerate your face.
12)    Drive slowly for five hours- anywhere- as long as it’s in a snowstorm and you’re following an 18-wheeler.
13)    Fill a blender with ice, hit the pulse button and let the spray blast your face. Leave the ice on your face until it melts. Let it drip into your clothes.
14)    Dress up in as many clothes as you can and then proceed to take them off because you have to go to the bathroom.
15)    Slam your thumb in a car door. Don’t go see a doctor.
16)    Repeat all of the above every Saturday and Sunday until it’s time for the real thing!

[UPDATE 10 NOV 2013]
Someone I know in Texas sent me the following:

We do exercises for winter too.

1. Stick head in freezer for 5 seconds to remind us why we are HERE IN TEXAS.

2. Mow yard since we do not shovel snow. (What’s a snow shovel.)

3. Put our BBQ cover on ebay since we grill all winter.

4. Watch reruns of winter Olympics since we rarely see snow.

5. Turn our a/c down to 50 for a couple days(since that’s as cold as it might get)

6. Wear a jacket a couple days and wipe it off in case we need it and get used to the extra weight.