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Immersive POV descents, maybe a thing to come?

SSSdave

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After at home watching my non-stop fall line first run Thursday from a GoPro Hero 8 1080p POV video, noticing how immensely valuable at least to me that visual connection unexpectedly was, I admittedly late to the POV game, wondered what else with POV recorded bumps was available to look at on youtube? Well not much obvious with (gopro bump skiing) searching but likely buried ignored somewhere somewhere in back page hits. The same I see below could be used by the person shooting their skiing for other skiing beyond bumps. Stuff like slalom gates, comp moguls, and instruction may already be?

Now with bumps, everything is in a manic high exhilaration excitement mode, difficult to understand in conceptual ways or explain with words to others, that watching such on a video is an immensely improved way of re-experiencing and further analyzing what occurred that does not have to do with body form but rather one's reaction to the visual flow of snow bump surfaces while descending. A key skill to acquire via gradual organic neural plasticity is having one's brain neuromuscular system able to momentarily quickly react through natural creaturely movement flow to the visual field of gravity fast upcoming bump shape surfaces that is not too unlike slalom gates.

My first run was from tower 13 almost down to tower 10 on Little Dipper at 9:49am PDT at 30F degrees a bit firm with an icy sound, 67 turns over 89 seconds.

Personally I always preferred static hand held capture of bump videos like this youtube upload, (3.33 minutes):


Great video for its era skiing wise, thoroughness, strong bumps skiing music. Light isn't consistently good. Note there are considerable youtube skiing uploads shot by all in mediocre light often cloudy flat light.

My not much interested POV video expectations were more on this Taos bump skiing level from 8 years ago:


Barely able to feel one is in the picture.

But even at the 1080p recorded level I used, my GoPro Hero 8 recording given excellent image clarity and detail, is greatly more immersive
(not emersive :) ) watching right in front of my 24 inch Dell UHD 4k screen such that I can muscle react to all the bump shape visuals on the screen just as though I was there skiing, making those moment to moment decisions. Just watching it will improve my own reactions and familiarity. Watched it about 8 times, while being able to look at other things on some plays than others. Like the occasional sound of two ski edges clinking together or the noticeably icy sound of my skis against the snow over the second half of the run.

One limitation in this type of POV video is one normally cannot see the skiers body just the ski shovels. But there is one sequence for a dozen turns beyond half way where given sun at the time, slope orientation, and pitch, one can look at my fine cast shadow also. And smooth he was... I'll post that short clip herein after some leisurely time of xx days reviewing [yuk] my Adobe Premier software and policies for my stale [yawn] youtube account.
 
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textrovert

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To go fully immersive... Look for 360 degree videos. They work on regular phones too - you can move the phone around and watch. Of course, best if phone is in a VRb headset like Google Daydream or with a dedicated VR device running YouTube app on it.

Example-
 

tball

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Come on, @SSSdave, let's see the video!

I very much agree about the usefulness of watching POV bump skiing to keep your mind in the game, especially through the off-season. I know watching my own POV video helps me. Not sure if anyone else cares.

67 turns over 89 seconds? Pretty quick, but let's see the video or it didn't happen. :ogbiggrin:
 
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SSSdave

SSSdave

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Yes, a fast paced POV bump descent game indeed. We now have a club haha. This is good and why I posted. Am especially looking forward to making POV fresh powder skiing videos in trees that ought be most excessively enjoyable to watch as the skier. Amazing all the subtle moment to moment things one can recall if reviewing say the next day as I am. Will also be fascinating to in like manner record then watch hiking down a variable rocky mountain trail step by step.

A more accurate review showed 76 turns in 86 seconds (got 6 and 7 backwards). But not at the quickness level of left right back and forth swiveling lower leg movement using comp mogul technique like most of those in the MaryJane video. My speed in bumps by choice for most fun, plays to going somewhat slower turn to turn, in control like it is just too easy, using single edges more than ski base level swiveling. Jumping into my ski flex more smoothly while in such a rapid visual manic state, flowing to the product of what my eyes see, brain controls , as body feels. And sometimes do step up for brief fast left right back and forth leg movement spurts.

Since I won't have the processed video soon, will offer these 6 screen captures from the journey.
Start at road 13.0 head tilted a bit to left.
LD-seq1.jpg


24 seconds along beyond low gradient top.
LD-seq2.jpg


46 seconds along thus 54% along in time.
LD-seq3.jpg


75 seconds kissing tips
LD-seq5.jpg
82 seconds done with finish just below that dark stub of a branch poking through

LD-seq6.jpg
 

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tball

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Am especially looking forward to making POV fresh powder skiing videos in trees that ought be most excessively enjoyable to watch as the skier. Amazing all the subtle moment to moment things one can recall if reviewing say the next day as I am.
You hit on what I think is great about shooting a POV video of oneself. It's great to watch after the fact and see and feel the same sensations you had skiing the run. The next day or years later.

I'm always glad when I took the time to shoot a POV video. As discussed in other threads, it's really tough to get someone else to shoot a video of your skiing. Taking POV is super easy.

Doubtful anyone else will ever give a crap about your POV video (see Candide Thovex as to why), but they are super valuable to the skier who shot and starred in it. Looking back, it's wonderful to have a historical record of my skiing over the years. I wish I had POV video from my younger years and encourage folks to shoot and archive at a bit each year.

Here's probably the best bump skiing I have on video. It was six years ago before I went through a couple of major health scares. It sucks getting old too young. I don't think I'll be skiing this aggressively in the bumps again, so I'm super happy I have it on video. Top to bottom of Mine Dump at Copper Mountain:

 
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SSSdave

SSSdave

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Thanks @tball for adding your nicely captured POV video that demonstrates what I am not yet able to provide. The detail in my 1008p video given excellent sun lighting snow surfaces is considerable sharper but your original file is likely sharper than the likely downsized low bandwidth version playing on Vimeo. In parts mid-video your cast shadow shows you like me have a rather stable upper body despite the variable bump terrain, though notice my head does tilt right and left at times by habit countering though video is little for the worse. If the pandemic wanes by the 2021/22 season, I'll be most determined to finally get out to Colorado for several days late season skiing Maryjane and someone like you would be a match to do some skiing following behind captures.

I do think there may be value in creating a more organized short length POV video skiing thread on this board than the current "Skiing camera option" thread that folks are instead showing pent up interest are just conveniently using to show their videos. Especially some fresh powder videos.. Some guidance from mods necessary so it just won't end up as an A to Z dumping ground for videos, especially long un-trimmed videos.

I have a lot of videos beyond skiing stuff like nature videos I need to be able to run from the web so this is multi year procrastinated work I've avoided but will need to get working. As expected getting Adobe Premiere Elements 12.1 launching fully this morning on my Dell Windows 0 laptop was an unsuccessful can of worms. Runs fine on an old Vista desktop so spent $80 upgrading to Premiere Elements 2021 that is now installing (I hope). All I need to do with the video is trim it to the actual skiing sequence so one way or another will happen.
 
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SSSdave

SSSdave

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Well as soon as I began using Premiere Elements 2021 after it installed, I knew it would be an unpleasant experience as the Help pdf like other Adobe help stuff was often not written then corrected by those unfamiliar with the subject. With web searching was able to move past those impediments to complete the modest 2 minute video and then publishing my first content on my old never used youtube account went smoothly. So yes one can watch the video on the below link. Note some of the fine detail is gone as youtube codec compression downsizes videos for web bandwidth reasons given their large file sizes which in this case was 261mb.

The terrain is steeper with larger bumps than it looks due to pointing my POV GoPro down towards the inclined plane of the slope and its wide angle lens that reduces apparent 3 dimensional perspectives. 420 feet of vertical elevations 9480 to 9060, tower 13 to tower 10, 76 icy sounding turns over 85 seconds. At an early 9:49am PDT surfaces at 30F were a wee icy given the 40F previous afternoon, so during rapid left rights, on downhills edges the whole way while the uphill ski is not. The top 100 feet horizontal to tower 12.2 is a gentle easy gradient that gradually increases with short drops and angled benches.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpTCAXhDXBupm2n23XDgew
 
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mdf

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I watched your vido Dave. I'm not sure I'm a convert to POV video, but it did make me want to go skiing!
 

tball

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One suggestion, @SSSdave. Since it's such a pain in the but to edit a video, you can eliminate that step entirely but turning on your camera at the top of the run, skiing non-stop, and turning it off at the bottom (or wherever).

You can then upload the file without editing it, or use a simple "trim" program to cut out any unwanted time at the beginning and end.

That what I did on the video I posted above. I'll usually just edit a video or two a year because it's so much effort.

Marcus Caston has a fantastic POV video that was posted in another thread that much more relatable to me than Candide Thovex's videos:

 

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Well as soon as I began using Premiere Elements 2021 after it installed, I knew it would be an unpleasant experience as the Help pdf like other Adobe help stuff was often not written then corrected by those unfamiliar with the subject. With web searching was able to move past those impediments to complete the modest 2 minute video and then publishing my first content on my old never used youtube account went smoothly. So yes one can watch the video on the below link. Note some of the fine detail is gone as youtube codec compression downsizes videos for web bandwidth reasons given their large file sizes which in this case was 261mb.

The terrain is steeper with larger bumps than it looks due to pointing my POV GoPro down towards the inclined plane of the slope and its wide angle lens that reduces apparent 3 dimensional perspectives. 420 feet of vertical elevations 9480 to 9060, tower 13 to tower 10, 76 icy sounding turns over 85 seconds. At an early 9:49am PDT surfaces at 30F were a wee icy given the 40F previous afternoon, so during rapid left rights, on downhills edges the whole way while the uphill ski is not. The top 100 feet horizontal to tower 12.2 is a gentle easy gradient that gradually increases with short drops and angled benches.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpTCAXhDXBupm2n23XDgew

Thanks for sharing the video @SSSdave . I love that run and specifically the section that you skied in the video. Moguls tend to get a weird just after you stopped. I've only ever skied it in late December. Nice to see it when the coverage is better!
 
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SSSdave

SSSdave

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The below video shows how POV videos given a shadow of one's form on a sunny mid day with good lighting can provide an effective ski down experience that most POV videos lack.

Uploaded and Youtube published a 5:08 minute long POV GoPro video made on Friday 12:38pm PDT March 26, 2021 at Heavenly. With 2 stops, skied the Stagecoach lift line from elevation 9000 feet down to 8300 feet then another 380 on groomed Olympic Downhill. None of that slope is steep and bumps become irregular in places with any long vertical lines. This was on my 2020 Dynastar 165cm Santa Ana 88's. My front helmet mounted GoPro Hero 8 used 1080p WA at 60 fps, pointed down enough to view just the ski shovels. Significantly had an optimal complementing shadow that POV videos normally lack. Further down the run are obvious sounds of some firm modestly icy surfaces for my relaxed single footed edging controlled rec bump style. Due to the GoPro 3-D distortions, bumps are larger than they appear with slopes steeper. The Stagecoach Express lift line is not a true fall line so during my descent are sections where I make turns to move back into center. In better packed powder conditions have run the full 700 feet.

There are different ways to focus on the video. If ignoring my skis and shadow, to follow where my line chooses, look at the center upper 1/3 of the window. To follow my form, just focus on the shadow flow. To look at my ski edging, ignore the uphill ski as am pressuring the downhill ski. Because I often turn on bump spines with angled faces on each side and not as much in the troughs, the uphill ski may appear somewhat separated from the edged ski because of the camera view tilted to the side during turns showing vertical distance that appears flat. At the moment I transition in new turns I tend to project my body fully towards next turn locations so ski edges will provide a balanced center flex at max compression which the Santa Ana 88's are a superb tool for at my 135# light weight. This is not "carving" at all as only the center of my ski length usually has time to engage within the limited space I'm turning on. My visual brain tends to focus on angled plain faces of bumps. Where the lift line crosses the Olympic Downhill run, I ski the last 260 foot segment on somewhat granular and firm groomed.

 
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tball

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Anyone else singing "Take me to church" from Marcus Caston's video while skiing over the weekend like me?

Here's my lifetime personal best pretending to be an extreme skier. This is from Crested Butte with a foot new, and the first clip was my first run day on The Headwall. In my powder daze, I made some abysmal line choices seeking fresh tracks. Dumb luck, a shark didn't take me out. Glad I got it on POV video, so can learn from my mistakes. :)



@SSSdave, there's some OK shadow skiing of me in there. It's really tough to get the great shadows as you did. Not enough north-facing terrain and sunny days in the ski world!
 
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tball

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Nice POV of a mogul course showed up in my feed.



That's some speed in the bumps there. With those soft conditions, it actually looks like a human could ski it.
 
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SSSdave

SSSdave

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Well how old Dave spent most of my Easter weekend? Processing with Adobe Premiere 2021 his nine GoPro Hero8 POV bump skiing videos I made last Wednesday 3/31/2021 on Little Dipper. Quite a bit of technical stuff to wade through and figure out. Yes all done, uploaded, and published on youtube at:


Nicely the first video in the 9 video playlist is the view of the bump fields riding up the chairlift where I added low volume instrumental jazz background music. The rest are in run sequence without music as one of the best things about POV is one gets to hear the sounds of ski edges on each turn. Since I began the day skiing on rather firm icy snow surfaces, that is especially the case with the first 2 runs where I had to use more precise turn placement as skis rattled about more on the uneven surfaces. Of course few bump skiers were there early as firm is a challenge and not always pleasant. Note I did trim out all the non-skiing sequences like when I would stop and rest. The only sequence showing some groomed skiing is at the end of RUN 1 when I declined skiing the more frozen bumps at the bottom and traversed through Aries Woods to Jacks. On RUN 4 I adjusted the camera for less shovel and more what is in front approaching that is best for an immersive experience.
 

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