How much time do we spend ACTUALLY skiing?

skiNEwhere · Apr 15, 2015

I was looking at my stats from alpinereplay (now known as trace snow), and I see that I have almost 69 hours of skiing this season. This stat is determined by Alpine Replay as time spent actually SKIING (over 5mph), not time spent waiting in line, on the lift, eating lunch or waiting for your posse at the bottom of a trail. I've got 50 days this season, except for early season (which I define as Oct-Nov), I ski at least half the day.

If you think about all the time we spend on this site, shopping for skis, spending money on lift tickets, bargain hunting, driving in very poor road conditions to chase the latest storm, it seems so insignificant. Don't get me wrong, I love to ski but I looking at that stat almost makes it seems like this sport has very little rewards for the effort put into it.

ss20 · Apr 15, 2015

Ignorance is bliss- get rid of that app and forget those stats. Forget all the money you've spent on gear, gas, and tickets. Don't think about all the time driving to the hill and what that's done to your car (and your stress levels).

Edd · Apr 15, 2015

ss20 said:
Ignorance is bliss- get rid of that app and forget those stats.

+100. Just spending time in the mountains is its own reward.

BenedictGomez · Apr 16, 2015

skiNEwhere said:
I have almost 69 hours of skiing this season..... I've got 50 days this season, except for early season (which I define as Oct-Nov), I ski at least half the day. I love to ski but I looking at that stat almost makes it seems like this sport has very little rewards for the effort put into it.

Assuming you're correctly counting "at least half" as a number greater than 4 hours, something's wrong.

I do believe that the vast majority of folks would be surprised how little of the day is spent in motion, so to speak, but even with that being said, unless you're taking really long lunches or commonly stopping for long breaks on most runs, I dont see how that could be correct.

skiNEwhere · Apr 16, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
Assuming you're correctly counting "at least half" as a number greater than 4 hours, something's wrong.

I do believe that the vast majority of folks would be surprised how little of the day is spent in motion, so to speak, but even with that being said, unless you're taking really long lunches or commonly stopping for long breaks on most runs, I dont see how that could be correct.

It's not that simple.

This number can vary greatly depending on what type of terrain I ski. If I ski mostly technical terrain I'll get more actual time skiing and less vert. If it's mostly groomers, as was the case Tuesday I'll get a lot more vert but significantly less active ski time. Keep in mind that early season, especially this year where it extended to late December, groomers were the only type of terrain open for the most part

Other than slope, and to a lesser degree airtime, the stats from alpine replay are pretty accurate.

For the record, I don't take long lunches or breaks either.

Cannonball · Apr 16, 2015

skiNEwhere said:
Don't get me wrong, I love to ski but I looking at that stat almost makes it seems like this sport has very little rewards for the effort put into it.

Only if the only thing you consider as "rewards" is moving downhill at >5mph. The app doesn't include lift rides as part of ski time. I find lift rides pretty enjoyable (I.e. rewarding). Some of the funniest conversations I've had in life have been in chairlifts! It doesn't include taking in the views from a summit (pretty damn rewarding). Doesn't include having a beer in a mountain summit bar, side country traverses, slow winding through trees, trailside bullshitting, and all the other hugely rewarding parts of a ski day.

marcski · Apr 16, 2015

Hours? I like to ski at least 36 DAYS a year...so I can have in my kind that I got out at least one out of every 10 days of the year.

dlague · Apr 16, 2015

I think you have include time spent getting to trails if there is hiking involved.

IMO I like the whole experience - actual skiing, coversations, people, chairlift, views, apres ski, gear buying and yes time on this forum and other skiing related stuff. So I will stick to the number of days out. Number of hours is too micro.

Whitey · Apr 16, 2015

dlague said:
I think you have include time spent getting to trails if there is hiking involved.

IMO I like the whole experience - actual skiing, coversations, people, chairlift, views, apres ski, gear buying and yes time on this forum and other skiing related stuff. So I will stick to the number of days out. Number of hours is too micro.

Amen brother. Well stated.

Mapnut · Apr 16, 2015

A ski day consists of quiet time, contemplation, and then acceleration to brief peaks of adrenaline rush! That's why it's thrilling. You couldn't keep up the rush all day. 69 hours in 50 days sounds very good to me. SkiNEwhere, if you're skiing at a pretty fast pace of 3 minutes per 1000 vertical feet, you're averaging 27,600 vertical feet a day. I think you're getting your money's worth.

Your ski days come out slightly better than tennis according to this chart: http://i.imgur.com/y0wErLS.png

Smellytele · Apr 16, 2015

How can you compare those? They should have one constant, I could figure it out by bringing one to a constant for each - duration or actual activity time.

CoolMike · Apr 16, 2015

My breakdown this season is:

25% Active Riding Time
40% Lift Line Time
35% Rest Time

I do spend a very significant amount of time waiting on the edge of the trail for my significant other to catch up to me. I'd say it adds 2-5 minutes per run that we ride together.

Also, I averaged just under 1 hour of active sliding time per day. I did have a large number of half days (or less) due to either sleeping in or having to leave early (every Sunday). I did get in 28 days so far this year which is good for me (I averaged 15 days per year over the past four years of riding).

I'm hoping to get in two more days this year. Unfortunately it looks like I have to miss this weekend due to work travel.

I do wonder if how often you hit pause on your replay matters for your tracking times. I don't often hit pause at lunch because I tend to forget to turn it back on.

dlague · Apr 17, 2015

Mapnut said:
A ski day consists of quiet time, contemplation, and then acceleration to brief peaks of adrenaline rush! That's why it's thrilling. You couldn't keep up the rush all day. 69 hours in 50 days sounds very good to me. SkiNEwhere, if you're skiing at a pretty fast pace of 3 minutes per 1000 vertical feet, you're averaging 27,600 vertical feet a day. I think you're getting your money's worth.

Your ski days come out slightly better than tennis according to this chart: http://i.imgur.com/y0wErLS.png

Baseball seems high! So friggin' boring!

Mapnut · Apr 17, 2015

Yeah, I'm surprised that baseball is higher than football. At least in football when there's action it's all 22 guys; baseball, seldom more than 5 involved. The great thing about skiing is that you experience 100% of your action time! (Well, maybe not CoolMike.)

ScottySkis · Apr 19, 2015

Not enjoying huh.

How much time do we spend ACTUALLY skiing?

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