The Crotched Mountain Rocket Challenge

[joshua segal]

Yesterday, I supervised the CM vertical challenge featuring local skiers, Joe O. and Dylan P. and the world leader on the Trace Snow app, Scott H.

The numbers speak for themselves. If you want vertical in a regularly scheduled day, CM is the place to go. Dylan and Scott went from 9AM until midnight. Joe quit when he hit 100K vertical.

 

[Vaughn]

View attachment 23241

Yesterday, I supervised the CM vertical challenge featuring local skiers, Joe O. and Dylan P. and the world leader on the Trace Snow app, Scott H.

The numbers speak for themselves. If you want vertical in a regularly scheduled day, CM is the place to go. Dylan and Scott went from 9AM until midnight. Joe quit when he hit 100K vertical.

To each their own but I really don't get the appeal of this. The idea of spending what, 8-10 hours of my day sitting on a chair lift to ski a short mountain over and over again sounds tedious to the extreme.

 

[Smellytele]

To each their own but I really don't get the appeal of this. The idea of spending what, 8-10 hours of my day sitting on a chair lift to ski a short mountain over and over again sounds tedious to the extreme.

better than sitting 8-10 hours at my desk at work.

 

[speden]

Well done. It's tough to rack up that much vertical at a small hill. Were they straightlining it down to save time?

 

[joshua segal]

To vaughn: Because I despise soccer doesn't diminish my respect for the skill of a David Beckham. The beauty of skiing is that there are many ways to enjoy it, and whether your cup of tea is racing, vertical, parks, ambiance or something else; there is really nothing to be gained by trashing someone else's achievement.

To speden: Except that the ticket checkers were told not to check the tickets of the participants, there were no special accommodations made for the participants. And no one was straightlining. Patrol found nothing being done that was unsafe. Despite the fact max speeds were in the 65 to 70 range, they slowed and checked at intersections of trails.

 

[speden]

They certainly are getting better battery life from their smartphones than me. I sometimes use the trace snow app, and it seems to kill my phone in about seven hours. Sounds like they were tracking for 15 hours. I guess it's time I upgraded my phone.

 

[joshua segal]

They certainly are getting better battery life from their smartphones than me. I sometimes use the trace snow app, and it seems to kill my phone in about seven hours. Sounds like they were tracking for 15 hours. I guess it's time I upgraded my phone.

If you're serious about using "Trace Snow", you've got to be carrying a battery pack. On a cold day, my phone will go dead in 2 hours without a battery pack backup powewr source.

 

[Hawkshot99]

If you're serious about using "Trace Snow", you've got to be carrying a battery pack. On a cold day, my phone will go dead in 2 hours without a battery pack backup powewr source.

Put a toe heater on the back of the phone, helps a ton.
I have a Mophie battery case, but I can ski all day running trace and Bluetooth music. I'll still only get down to 30-40% without using the Mophie.

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[Vaughn]

To vaughn: Because I despise soccer doesn't diminish my respect for the skill of a David Beckham. The beauty of skiing is that there are many ways to enjoy it, and whether your cup of tea is racing, vertical, parks, ambiance or something else; there is really nothing to be gained by trashing someone else's achievement.

To speden: Except that the ticket checkers were told not to check the tickets of the participants, there were no special accommodations made for the participants. And no one was straightlining. Patrol found nothing being done that was unsafe. Despite the fact max speeds were in the 65 to 70 range, they slowed and checked at intersections of trails.

This is something like redlining or gridding the Whites - I understand someone has to try hard to accomplish it and yet I can't relate to it at all as a goal that's all.

If someone thinks that's fun, good for them.

 

[VTKilarney]

If they were doing 65-70, they weren’t being safe.

 

[joshua segal]

If they were doing 65-70, they weren’t being safe.

I can assure you that there are some skiers who are out-of-control at 20MPH and that these guys were totally safe at the speeds at which they were going.

 

[VTKilarney]

I can assure you that there are some skiers who are out-of-control at 20MPH and that these guys were totally safe at the speeds at which they were going.

No, you can’t assure me of that. Consistently skiing at 65-70 mph on a trail that is open to the public as you fatigue after multiple hours of skiing is per se reckless.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

No, you can’t assure me of that. Consistently skiing at 65-70 mph on a trail that is open to the public as you fatigue after multiple hours of skiing is per se reckless.

Right, cause if you can't do it safely, nobody else can..... To heck with all of the ski patrol in attendance. What would they know about safety?

 

[joshua segal]

No, you can’t assure me of that. Consistently skiing at 65-70 mph on a trail that is open to the public as you fatigue after multiple hours of skiing is per se reckless.

You are right if they were consistently skiing at that speed and/or passing close to other skiers at that speed. The Trace Snow app records peak speed. Average speed is much lower.

 

[chuckstah]

Looks like a good mini event. I recognize at least one of the participants from my numerous visits this season. i remember him fast and in control

 

[sull1102]

If they were doing 65-70, they weren’t being safe.

Kind of silly to say, no? A publicly open trail can still be completely empty and I see plenty of ski racer kids hitting these speeds consistently. Perhaps that is a speed at which these guys feel as comfortable as you feel at whatever speed of choice it is you prefer. So long as they aren't causing issues who cares.

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[Jully]

I'm not sure if it is possible to hit 70 at Crotched, even if you straightlined which these guys supposedly didn't even do. Those apps are notoriously incorrect with speed, overestimating them.

 

[joshua segal]

I'm not sure if it is possible to hit 70 at Crotched, even if you straightlined which these guys supposedly didn't even do. Those apps are notoriously incorrect with speed, overestimating them.

Agreed. "Ski Tracks" is especially bad, clocking me at well over 100MPH once. (I assure you: The only place I'vev gone that fast is as a passenger on an airplane). Trace Snow is much better.

3 points:
1) CM's motto is "more fun per hour". Now they can add "more vertical per hour".
2) For those who are unimpressed by "marathon skiing", the point is still that at CM you will get as much vertical as you want. We have a number of people who will come out for a couple of hours and get in as much skiing as one might get in an entire day at another ski area.
3) For those who find CM's 880' vertical to be too small, I see 90% of skiers on larger mountains not doing T2B runs. From a skiing POV, if you've got to stop on the way down, the mountain is big enough from a pure skiing POV. That being said, there are other reasons to go to bigger mountains including ambiance, view, amenities and sustained steeps.

 

[Jully]

Agreed. "Ski Tracks" is especially bad, clocking me at well over 100MPH once. (I assure you: The only place I'vev gone that fast is as a passenger on an airplane). Trace Snow is much better.

3 points:
1) CM's motto is "more fun per hour". Now they can add "more vertical per hour".
2) For those who are unimpressed by "marathon skiing", the point is still that at CM you will get as much vertical as you want. We have a number of people who will come out for a couple of hours and get in as much skiing as one might get in an entire day at another ski area.
3) For those who find CM's 880' vertical to be too small, I see 90% of skiers on larger mountains not doing T2B runs. From a skiing POV, if you've got to stop on the way down, the mountain is big enough from a pure skiing POV. That being said, there are other reasons to go to bigger mountains including ambiance, view, amenities and sustained steeps.

I agree Crotched could use it as a nice marketing piece. Its well known on here that you can easily rack up vert there, but they publicized this well on social media so hopefully this works to their advantage!

 

[deadheadskier]

3) For those who find CM's 880' vertical to be too small, I see 90% of skiers on larger mountains not doing T2B runs. From a skiing POV, if you've got to stop on the way down, the mountain is big enough from a pure skiing POV. That being said, there are other reasons to go to bigger mountains including ambiance, view, amenities and sustained steeps.

Sorry, but you don't have to run the full 2000 vertical in one shot at a place like Wildcat to appreciate the length of runs. Lousy argument. Skiing 1760 vertical with a 30 second rest along the way is still a much better experience for most skiers that doing two TTB 880 vertical funs with a 4 minute chair ride in between even if there are no lift lines.

I get your point that you can get an absolute ton of skiing in at CM and spend more time on snow than many larger areas, but CM still skis pretty small and somewhat boring when the trees aren't in play or there aren't any bumps. That's a lot of the season for CM. Couple that with an undesirable commute for many, and that's two of the reasons they struggle for market share



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