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Ok, now for something different......who does NOT like to ski fast and why?

post #1 of 76
10/24/09 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
I am guilty as anyone of always talking about haulin ass, and trying to find speed, and skiing faster and faster.....but just by what I personally see on the mountain there are many folk who are simply happy to get down the mountain at an easy pace gracefully.....and thats fine I wish sometimes I could just take pleasure in doing that.....when I ski slow its simply because I am exhausted or the terrain is more than I can handle at speed.  

So you "slow-pokes" here is your podium have at it, what's your story:
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post #2 of 76
10/24/09 at 10:49am
I don't at all consider myself a slow-poke but I do not try to ski as fast as I can.  I try to make every turn feel as cool as it can and that doesn't always mean fast.  I also try to find interesting terrain. Not necessarily classic zipper lines through bumps, more textures, little drop-offs, harbor chop, grooming ridges, and, of course, trees.  All that's more fun to me, and easier to find, when you aren't cruising at top speed.
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post #3 of 76
10/24/09 at 10:55am
What's the hurry?
I am one of the slowest of the few people that I ski with.
See ya at the bottom, you can't rush my fun
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post #4 of 76
10/24/09 at 11:33am

It's all relative. I pretty much slow down as the day goes on. I do my fastest skiing in the morning  and relax after that. It's easy and relatively safe to bomb  silky-smooth groomers without a crowd. As the day goes by, I get more conservative. I never clocked myself but I would say I rarely ski above 30 mph(accept maybe in the AM on good conditions) and that's on steeper runs without moguls. If I were to guess, I would say most of the time I am in the 15-30 mph range. Who knows. I really don't think about it and am not out to go 'fast' or 'slow' but just to do whatever it is I feel like I want to do at the time, safely.



 

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post #5 of 76
10/24/09 at 11:36am
 It's easier to ski fast then to ski slow.   Not skid, but ski.

Try skiing down a very steep groomed face making short round turns to control your speed.

There is a lot to be said for skiing slow, if it's with the desire to perfect your form.

Anyone can straight line it if they have the guts!
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post #6 of 76
10/24/09 at 11:56am
See a lot of people fly by on the groomed flats and that's okey dokie.  On smooth blacks everyone smokes me, but there will be bumps someplace.  Get to the bottom of a bumpy pitch and a lot of those people are uphill from me again (how can this be?), I did not ski any faster.  Just don't slow down much in the bumps, the turn gets a little rounder and shorter;  forward mo feels to be near the same, but try to donate my COM to gravity and let core muscles and legs keep it all shiny side up.  Love to feel energy loading and releasing from the skis. 

Same story in the loose snow, like the feel of skiing in the snow not so much on it.  I'm one of those people who can screw up the chutes, I turn a lot.  Will even go back occasionally and 8 my own tracks. 

180 and under skis just don't feel comfortablly stable at speed.  That said, if there are longer skis with a longer turning radius tied on fewer people seem pass me on the flats, a lot fewer. 
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post #7 of 76
10/24/09 at 12:29pm
OK, like this has never been said here before... I like to ski the slow line - fast.  For me that means wide, sweeping turns at a good rate of speed, but I don't get down as fast as the good, straight-down-the-fall-line, testosterone fueled crowd I mostly ski with.  I also like to play with terrain features.  And, I ski side country in the east a lot, which mostly involves tight trees so taking my time there helps to preserve my body and ski clothing. I do like to open it up sometimes but it's not my regular pace.
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post #8 of 76
10/24/09 at 12:54pm
 When I was about eight years old, my buddy and me were complaining to our older sisters, "why do you take so long?". His sister replied "We like to enjoy our skiing!"

Hmm, I guess that was about the last time I wasn't the slowest in the group. When I switched to telemark, nobody would wait for me, I've been alone and off the back ever since.

I could go a bit faster but I would probably fall more often and the falls would hurt worse. I can barely get down the hill going slow. If I break my leg, I'm out of a job!
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post #9 of 76
10/24/09 at 1:22pm
 Have you tried ski biking telerod?
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post #10 of 76
10/24/09 at 1:37pm
It depends on my skis. I love my SL skis if I'm on the groomed and to *most* people skiing there I guess I ski 'fast' but I'm only going SL speed which in context is not fast, they are skiing very slow! GS is 40-50mph.
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post #11 of 76
10/24/09 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz View Post

 Have you tried ski biking telerod?


I want my 2 dollars!
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post #12 of 76
10/24/09 at 2:07pm
When I'm in powder or anywhere besides groomed trials I try to go as fast as I can wile still having good form.  When I hit the groomers I usually stay switch and butter around for the majority of the run to keep it fun.
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post #13 of 76
10/24/09 at 2:49pm
I ski at whatever speed I'm skiing at and I've nver really paid any attention to whether that's fast or slow....I just ski and have fin.
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post #14 of 76
10/24/09 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz View Post

 Have you tried ski biking telerod?

Never really seen ski biking. Where can I try it? I'll probably be in Mass some time this winter.
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post #15 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:03pm
I like to get out of my comfort zone once and a while....and that means crazy fast.  Fast enough to know if i mess up, i'm gonna be hurting and done for the season.  Guess when you ski down some really steep run you get used to going fast.
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post #16 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:03pm
I'm kind of slow and turny myself and I don't mind following slowly behind telerod15 on something nice and boney like this: http://icechewing.huddler.com/imgrepo/thumbs/9/92/DSCF3334.JPG/600x800px-LL-DSCF3334.JPG
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post #17 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:07pm

Ok, now for something different......who does NOT like to ski fast and why?

I don't like to ski fast when I'm with my 7year old.  He's a novice and he's 40 pounds so he doesn't carry much speed.  I expect spend a lot of time skiing switch watching him and barking out instruction.
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post #18 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:10pm
Sometimes its nice to just cruise...
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post #19 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:29pm

My helmet is only rated for 14 MPH 

Seriously for safety considerations I would think skiing at 20 MPH without a helmet is a lot safer than skiing with helmet at 30 MPH.  If you want a thrill take your helmet off and ski slower.

 

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post #20 of 76
10/24/09 at 4:42pm
Aren't there places in Europe where they pull your lift ticket for exceeding 18 mph or 30 kph?
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post #21 of 76
10/24/09 at 5:07pm
If you are going flat out all the time, you can miss a lot of the natural terrain hits and fun bits.
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post #22 of 76
10/24/09 at 6:06pm
I used to like to go fast.  Then on a great day one spring a ski got caught on something under the snow and I couldn't recover before a turn in the trail and I slammed into a tree.  Hard.  Very hard.  Broke both wrists trying to save myself before my head hit, cracked my helmet, went tumbling over a pile of logs next after ricocheting off the tree....woke up as they started sliding the backboard under me....

Long recovery.

Now the name of the game is control and making pretty turns.  I've actually found I'm able to go down stuff I couldn't handle as well before as a result.  And the stuff I could "get down", I'm actually getting down faster, oddly enough.  Now that I'm worrying about precision with each turn my skiing has improved.

Oh yeah, for anyone new here, I'd been skiing over 30 years before I hit that tree and it was my 73rd day of the season.  I only had what I considered 1/2 a day of vert in at that point, too.  So, no, I wasn't out of shape and tired.
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post #23 of 76
10/24/09 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz View Post

 It's easier to ski fast then to ski slow.  
 


It sure is a lot less tiring. Honestly, speed is fun and all but the main reason I ski fast is because it's way too tiring to make five billion little turns. Ritchie's comment about skiing slow only when he's exhausted makes zero sense.
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post #24 of 76
10/24/09 at 7:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by telerod15 View Post




Never really seen ski biking. Where can I try it? I'll probably be in Mass some time this winter.
Here's some Looks fun enough,eh ?
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post #25 of 76
10/24/09 at 7:51pm
Back in 2002 I found myself just skiing faster and faster down runs.  The steeper the better.  To be honest, I found it exhilarating yet ultimately very boring.   I tried banking off terrain yet it was still boring.

I put away the skis one day at Snowmass and took another snowboard lesson.  I had stopped snowboarding 5 years earlier due to a massive knee injury and surgery.  I had lots of fear associated with snowboarding.  The passion for snowboarding quickly came back during the lesson.  I could play with the terrain all over the mountain.  Every little bump, mogul, jump, and feature, is a chance to dance on a snowboard.  Just stuff not possible on skis.  I stopped being bored and got re-engaged with snow.   I interviewed for a snowboard instructor position the following weekend at Loveland.

I took up two types of ski biking last winter - traditional and peg ski biking.   Traditional's are fun to fly and go fast on but the 'peg' ski bikes are much more technical and their potential is only now starting to be tapped.  I'm afraid I'm hooked.   They are downhill mountain bikes with skis attached to them.   I plan on kidnapping one and ride it around Snowmass this season.   There's some great ski bike terrain out there. 
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post #26 of 76
10/24/09 at 7:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GarryZ View Post

Here's some Looks fun enough,eh ?
 
That picture is actually of a snowscoot not a ski bike.


You should come out to WP.  We have ski bobs (the traditional foot ski things) and peg ski bikes.    Check out the links in my signature too.   Lenz Sport makes mountain bikes and peg ski bikes.   Devin's shop is only about 30 minutes from my house too. 
Lenz Sport Alpine Brawler Pro ski bike
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post #27 of 76
10/24/09 at 8:57pm
 Only place I've seen ski biking is Adventure Ridge at night - Vail.
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post #28 of 76
10/25/09 at 3:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by skier_j View Post





I want my 2 dollars!


 I don't get it!
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post #29 of 76
10/25/09 at 5:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz View Post





 I don't get it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUU9UmT134M
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post #30 of 76
10/25/09 at 5:14am
I think Wa allows ski bikes, only on weekdays, only on Manadnock (lift serving to easy Green trails).

-l2t
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