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So..... (looking for advice on a 6 week trip)

Tony Storaro

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There's a whole bunch of vert heads here who would beg to differ. This was an off year, but there's a guy here who has averaged 4 million vertical feet for 18 years. That's not length, that's drop. He had a "low" year this year at 3.1 mill, but he's 78.

I am going to try one last time and then I give up:

Every single time trying to beat your best time.

In the example I gave above, 30 runs is close to 60 000 vertical ft as per Strava-this just for info.
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
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I've tried making that argument to the wife, but I can only go so far. She's far less adventurous than I am; and unlike me she's had to argue quite hard with her management to get the time off to mirror my sabbatical (she's having to take 2 weeks unpaid, and has needed to go 3 levels up in line management to get support for NHS HR to approve this). So to a very large extent she's calling the shots, and she has a level of comfortable with Whistler. Anyway, we're all booked now so it;s just crossing fingers that the vax rollout happens and caseloads drop - the new UK travel approval system looks pretty draconian at the moment

****Yes I am a wimp****

WB is such a big resort with so much terrain to explore. Not going to get bored in 6 weeks. Sure there's drier snow inland. Whole different experience to be had on the next trip.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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I am going to try one last time and then I give up:



In the example I gave above, 30 runs is close to 60 000 vertical ft as per Strava-this just for info.
But you're tired after 5 days. These guys are cranking their vert for 100-120 days year after year. Here's a guy who did your numbers and better all season.
Flathead Beacon: First-Time Pass Holder Surpasses 6 Million Vertical Feet And Counting.
"Jones has skied all but six days this winter and averages 30 runs per day, mostly enjoying turns on the front side groomers that stretch 2,084 feet. On good days, he has averaged 70,000 vertical feet, and on days when night skiing was offered he would hit 115,000."

Five days is nothing.
 

geepers

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But you're tired after 5 days. These guys are cranking their vert for 100-120 days year after year. Here's a guy who did your numbers and better all season.
Flathead Beacon: First-Time Pass Holder Surpasses 6 Million Vertical Feet And Counting.

This type of thing all depends on how we ski. Hooking the skis up every turn so we redirect our mass across the hill vs slippy slidy with only enough edge involved to miss things. The former requires effort. The latter is what many people are doing who ski all day racking up huge vert and say they still finish fresh.

Even then railing the groomers is much less tiring than rapid shorts on the steeps or narly bump runs or hiking ridges.

The other issue is ski fitness. There's nothing like skiing 3D snow and steeps for weeks/months, with not too many days off, for building aerobic fitness and legs/buns of steel. At which point a days skiing becomes a stroll in the park.
 

Tonyr4

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I did a 5 week trip in Colorado, a 4 week trip to Utah/Wyoming, and 2 weeks in Vermont this season. The best advice I can give is ski just a few hours each day unlike a typical full day when you'd go away for a week or a weekend ski trip. 6 weeks of skiing almost everyday is not a sprint, it's a marathon! Your going to have a great time btw. I've never been to Whistler but out of all the resorts in North America that you could be "stuck" at for 6 weeks, Whistler is probably the best one!
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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This type of thing all depends on how we ski. Hooking the skis up every turn so we redirect our mass across the hill vs slippy slidy with only enough edge involved to miss things. The former requires effort. The latter is what many people are doing who ski all day racking up huge vert and say they still finish fresh.

Even then railing the groomers is much less tiring than rapid shorts on the steeps or narly bump runs or hiking ridges.

The other issue is ski fitness. There's nothing like skiing 3D snow and steeps for weeks/months, with not too many days off, for building aerobic fitness and legs/buns of steel. At which point a days skiing becomes a stroll in the park.
I certainly agree that WHAT you ski will significantly impact your staying power. But some of these guys do go off piste, I've seen them - yes, even in the trees.. (Not Ken Jones, tho.) More like the 4 million foot guys.
 

geepers

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I certainly agree that WHAT you ski will significantly impact your staying power. But some of these guys do go off piste, I've seen them - yes, even in the trees.. (Not Ken Jones, tho.) More like the 4 million foot guys.

Trees are not of their own a fundamental challenge. (Unless one leaps into the path - once in the way they are very unyielding and don't move, especially the dead ones....) Often the snow is untracked and smoother in the woods.

Not to mention there's various styles of skiing the bumps, some more relaxing than others.

But 4 million vert feet is going some for sure. Doing an Everest each day that's 130+ days for the season.

There was a guy on Vail Epic pass back a few years who kept winning the Epic vert feet. At least twice exceeded 7 mill vert in a season. At the time he described himself as a 62 y/o retired engineer. Deliberately set out to max the vert. IIRC his key tips were:
1. Ski every day. And nights when available.
2. eat lunch on the lift so no downtime.
3. Run laps on a lift with quick lift time, good vert gain and access to a moderate blue run for quick time to the bottom.

Well, if the aim is to max vert that's one way to do it. Can't really see the appeal myself.
 

raisingarizona

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Trees are not of their own a fundamental challenge. (Unless one leaps into the path - once in the way they are very unyielding and don't move, especially the dead ones....) Often the snow is untracked and smoother in the woods.

Not to mention there's various styles of skiing the bumps, some more relaxing than others.

But 4 million vert feet is going some for sure. Doing an Everest each day that's 130+ days for the season.

There was a guy on Vail Epic pass back a few years who kept winning the Epic vert feet. At least twice exceeded 7 mill vert in a season. At the time he described himself as a 62 y/o retired engineer. Deliberately set out to max the vert. IIRC his key tips were:
1. Ski every day. And nights when available.
2. eat lunch on the lift so no downtime.
3. Run laps on a lift with quick lift time, good vert gain and access to a moderate blue run for quick time to the bottom.

Well, if the aim is to max vert that's one way to do it. Can't really see the appeal myself.

Yeah, that’s weird for me. It’s like taking your free time and turning it into a job, trading pleasure for clocking in for work. Different strokes I guess.
 

jt10000

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I did a 5 week trip in Colorado, a 4 week trip to Utah/Wyoming, and 2 weeks in Vermont this season. The best advice I can give is ski just a few hours each day unlike a typical full day when you'd go away for a week or a weekend ski trip. 6 weeks of skiing almost everyday is not a sprint, it's a marathon!
Definitely a marathon.

That said, I think skiing just a few hours a day is a waste of time in a special place. Not speaking from downhill skiing experience, but from cycling (racing and also riding across the US) and a bit of heavy XC ski training: I'd recommend a series of full days, then a day off every several days. If it was me I'd try four on, one off, then four on, one off for starters. If that seemed easy, try five-one. If you're not recovering well, try three-one.

The days off could be complete rest, or perhaps some active recovery like easy swimming or cycling. Maybe super-easy, flat XC skiing if you know how to ski easy. Or very easy ice skating. Very very easy or nothing. If it was me, I'd ride an exercise bike in a hotel or gym 20 minutes, or maybe walk on a treadmill, and that would be all. Someone with a lot of self-discipline might be able to do an hour of downhill skiing on the off days - perhaps drills on easy terrain. But make sure that day off is really easy!

You get more total time skiing and good recovery with this system. Note - at the start of skiing the day after a rest you may not feel that loose, but as you warm up it should get better.
 
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Mike King

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There's lots of variables that affect how much effort one expends in skiing. Key amongst them is your technique -- that is, how efficiently your technique allows you to ski. Other factors include the snow conditions, terrain, and the intent of the skier.

WC skiers typically only ski a few runs a day. Why? Even though they have far better technique than any of us here, they are putting everything into those few runs. So the physical toll of pulling turns with huge g forces is pretty taxing.

Everyone is at a different stage of life, with different technique, with different levels of conditioning and acclimation to the altitude, with different physical assets and deficiencies (such as chronic issues due to injury). So your mileage will vary.

The best advice I can give is to prepare through conditioning and most importantly listen to your body. You will be over loading it. A key part of conditioning is that the overload is important, but the rest is even more important. The rest is when you gain the improvement in condition that comes from loading the body. So don't forget the rest -- either in your preparation, or during the time you are at WB.

And most importantly, work on your smile -- hopefully it will be in permanent presence during your stay!

BTW, if you want to ski terrain at WB, I can't recommend Extremely Canadian enough. Those guys really rip and really improve one's technique to ski extreme terrain. They also will take you to stuff you otherwise would be unlikely to find...
 

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