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Travel and rest

4aprice

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Just got back from the annual spring trip to the Rockies. Great snow, great weather and most of all great times with the family, but a lesson learned. That lesson was, that at plus double nickles, 7 straight days on snow took away some of the enjoyment that I had last season when other obligations had me take a couple of days off to do some other things. What is the the fine line between getting as much time (limited time for me since I'm still on the east coast) and not burning yourself out? Be interested to hear from such people as JimK and ABC who do a lot of traveling what they find that limit to be. I know from now on I will be planning to take a day or two off and enjoying it more. 3 to 4 straight seems to be max for me.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

dlague

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Just got back from the annual spring trip to the Rockies. Great snow, great weather and most of all great times with the family, but a lesson learned. That lesson was, that at plus double nickles, 7 straight days on snow took away some of the enjoyment that I had last season when other obligations had me take a couple of days off to do some other things. What is the the fine line between getting as much time (limited time for me since I'm still on the east coast) and not burning yourself out? Be interested to hear from such people as JimK and ABC who do a lot of traveling what they find that limit to be. I know from now on I will be planning to take a day or two off and enjoying it more. 3 to 4 straight seems to be max for me.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
I get that being the same age.

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snoseek

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If you're not used to skiing everyday its gonna hurt after a few days. Tons of food and water plus rest every night. If you need to slam some zzzzquil or something similar to really get extra rest than that helps.

Right now for me after a few days I get a little sore and take a easy cruisy day or a day off but I'm in crap shape Atm. My first years in Tahoe I was skiing all day and only taking a couple travel days off a month. Body adapts pretty quick. This is why we ski all conditions back east....its training/conditioning.

Colorado coming from sea level takes an extra toll too I'm sure. I think its a good idea to take a day or better yet a light day if you're out for a week.
 

kingslug

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My record is 11 days straight at Alta. 3 of them for the Avi course which had limited skiing but a skin up Alta, which wiped me out. Just got back from 6 days skiing at Jackson which was the limit for that place. 6 days seems like a perfect stretch. Unless there is something really interesting to see or do, then 5 days would work. I take 3 to 4 trips out west, Europe or S. America a year so I have it down pretty well.
 

Duncanator24

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Highly depends on snow conditions and how much time I spend in the woods. 2 days open to close with powder and spending 90% of the time in the woods and that is plenty. Adding on another day or two with late starts/early finish, or easily extending that out to 5-6 days if I stop for lunch, get proper sleep, and hit some groomers along the way. That's assuming adding like 5+ hours of travel on both ends of that which really saps the energy and throws off the sleep cycles too.
 

Smellytele

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If it was up to me I would ski everyday but with the family when traveling west I take break days. travel day in get acclimated by walking around the ski towns and drink fluids (yes a few beers also). Then ski 3 days take a break, then ski 3 days then travel home. I have done 4 days with the travel in acclimation day then ski 4 days and travel home on the last day of skiing as well. flexibility can be key when traveling.
 

ironhippy

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Then ski 3 days take a break, then ski 3 days then travel home. I have done 4 days with the travel in acclimation day then ski 4 days and travel home on the last day of skiing as well. flexibility can be key when traveling.

This sounds like a great plan, the key is flexibility. If you get a rain/crap weather day, that would be the ideal day to rest and do something different.

Getting yourself in better shape would also help, but that may not be the direction people want to go.
 

jaytrem

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I find it's helps to alternate skiing and snowboarding. Seems to use different muscles. Tele skis tire me out the quickest, but seems like I could snowboard for ever and it doesn't take much of a toll on me. I often joke with my snowboarding friends that I'm going to take the day off and just snowboard. No way I'm taking a day off on a western trip though. My trips are typically "safari" type though, makes it tougher to take a day off when you'll only be at a place for 1 or 2 days max.
 

jimk

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It's all about managing yourself as a weekend warrior or occasional ski vacation warrior. None of us recreational skiers/boarders over the age of 35 can go from being mostly sedentary during our working lives to a week straight of blitzing double black diamonds for eight hours a day. The best scenario is to take a full week ski trip, ski three days, rest one day, then ski three days. Whenever I've done that the last few ski days of the trip often feel really great. I know a lot of people take shorter ski trips built around 2-4 straight ski days to minimize the use of vacation time over a long weekend. That’s fine to low elevation places like New England. Ski three hard days, then return to the office cube and rest :) for a few days. But I don't like that plan for western trips because as a sea-level person I feel like I spend the first couple of ski days adjusting to altitude and can't really ski the mountains with 100% vigor. In early March I skied with a grandmother at Whistler who was skiing her 80-something straight day and 100+ day for the season! She is a high level ski instructor at Whistler and one day led me and about ten friends for several hours on some burly chutes and glades in the Symphony and Harmony bowl areas at Whistler. She was doing this kind of guiding with portions of a large group visiting Whistler that week. She is an example of an older person who can ski many, many days in a row. It can be done, but she built up to it. Also, I don't believe as an instructor she skis double black diamonds all day for 80 straight days. I'm sure there are mellow days when she's working with beginners and intermediates. When I took my nine week western ski trip in 2015 I got into a mode about halfway through it where I felt strong. I got past the aches and pains and adjusted to altitude. I believe there was a stretch where I skied about eight or nine days straight without feeling labored, but some of those were partial days. It was the best I felt on skis in 30 years. The moral of the story is that you just have to pace yourself. If you want to be doing this for a life time you have to remember it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Lady S at Whistler:
LL


LL


One of the other guys in the group, shows the terrain we were lapping with her:
LL


I can think of so many stories of skiing with inspiring older folks. The good ones know how to manage themselves on a ski hill so they can keep coming back. This guy is 71 and hikes Highland Bowl:
LL


In a recent past winter I started leading him down a steep run in the Deep Temerity section of Aspen Highlands, about halfway down he took the lead because I had tired out. Amazing thing about this guy is I asked him what he does to stay in shape and he said "nothing"!?! Except he logs a lot of ski days during the season!!
LL
 
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crank

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I just turned 60 this winter. Usually I go west for a week at a time. I never take a day off.

Last season I skied Aspen, etc. for 10 days in a row and was fine for that as well. (Skied some with Jim K and son there) However, and this becomes more important as you age, I try to keep my legs in good shape by walking, hiking, lots of cycling and mountain biking and even some elliptical in the gym.

All that and vitamin i.

And having said, that I skied 4 days at Jackson Hole this winter and my knees were killing me afterwards. I think the difference is I was with a group of guys who did all out of bounds and back country so there was a lot of hiking involved in almost every run. Plus I was at least 10 pounds lighter and in better shape the previous season.
 

drjeff

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Depends on a few things in my book

#1 - your pre trip "fitness" level, and not just cardio wise, but also ski muscle wise, as we all know that nothing substitutes for time in the boots, and using those ski muscles in ski specific motions. Too many people go from just having a few days on snow ahead of time, and often very little other cardio and/or general fitness work before their trip and then think they can go 4,5,6,7... days straight?? Not going to work out very well the majority of time

#2 - both pre trip and immediately upon arrival rest and hydration - if you haven't rested up and pushed the hydration ahead of time and in the 24-48hrs upon arrival at altitude, most of us physiologically are going to have some ill effects when we then try and go out on the hill, and probably feel like we either can or should be tearing it up from run #1, and then since we're spending the $$ to be on that ski vacation, take more runs than we typically would

#3 - Don't try and do it all on the 1st day!! So many people fall into that trap, and post travel day and post getting used to the altitude, they go way too hard the 1st day, and then spend the next few days trying to recover from the day #1 exertion as well as recover from the travel and adjust to the altitude

My personal West trips are usually 6 days in a row, but the prep for that doesn't start days in advance, but is more of a year round lifestyle thing
 

dlague

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Most I have done in a row back east was 5 and was OK but was not killing it every day. Intake terrain breaks during the day by skiing stuff that is not so taxing for me. Out west I have only skied 4 days in a row in Colorado and 5 in a row at Banff resorts plus Kicking Horse and that was on vacation. Banff I was not breath taken like I was in Colorado. Then again the top elevations at Banff resorts are the base elevations of many in Colorado.

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BenedictGomez

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Highly depends on snow conditions and how much time I spend in the woods. 2 days open to close with powder and spending 90% of the time in the woods and that is plenty.

I agree with this.

I think I could ski 7 days in a row no problem on groomers and the occasional on-map mogul runs, but if I'm at a Smuggs or a Jay Peak and I'm in the woods all day long, 2 days of that and I'm toast. Wouldn't be able to ski a 3rd day in a row.
 

BenedictGomez

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Just got back from the annual spring trip to the Rockies........ I know from now on I will be planning to take a day or two off and enjoying it more. 3 to 4 straight seems to be max for me.

This is what I did last year in Utah, and it seemed to work well, although my last ski day at Deer Valley I was tired for sure.

Here's my tentative plan for Colorado, though obviously subject to change due to weather or a host of other things.

Day 1) Arapahoe Basin
Day 2) Loveland
Day 3) REST
Day 4) Vail
Day 5) REST
Day 6) Breckenridge
Day 7) REST
Day 8 ) Vail
Day 9) Vail

So 6 days of skiing out of 9 days. Is this overkill on the rest? Maybe it is, but personally I'd rather ski at or near 100% for fewer days than ski at 75% and cram a few more days skiing in.
 

deadheadskier

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Entirely up to the individual, but if I'm going out West, I might take the first day to get acclimated to altitude. I'm skiing the rest of the time. Even if it means I'm taking it easy a couple of days. I'd be too eager to rather be skiing to go every other day like you plan on doing on your trip. Even if I'm just cruising groomers and checking out a couple of on mountain bars, I'd rather do that than sit around my condo or sight see.
 

Smellytele

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This is what I did last year in Utah, and it seemed to work well, although my last ski day at Deer Valley I was tired for sure.

Here's my tentative plan for Colorado, though obviously subject to change due to weather or a host of other things.

Day 1) Arapahoe Basin
Day 2) Loveland
Day 3) REST
Day 4) Vail
Day 5) REST
Day 6) Breckenridge
Day 7) REST
Day 8 ) Vail
Day 9) Vail

So 6 days of skiing out of 9 days. Is this overkill on the rest? Maybe it is, but personally I'd rather ski at or near 100% for fewer days than ski at 75% and cram a few more days skiing in.

not bad but I would take out 1 rest day. ski 2, rest, ski 3, rest ski 2. assuming the day you fly in is not day 1 on your schedule.
 

jimk

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A-Basin is a bad mofo to start trip on:) Maybe switch with Loveland day? I'd probably do only two rest days too, but it depends on how you're feeling and gets kind of tricky if you start locking-in on days with something like liftopia.
 
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