Speed

This post by PeeTex got me thinking, how fast do you like to ski and why do you think that is?

PeeTex wrote

Harvey wrote

The ultimate goal is to fight old age a bit and try to keep up with you hosers a little easier.

Your a young pup, well maybe middle aged but not close to old. Matt is right, go about 85, I would go turn radius of 15 and a little on the soft side. I have watched you ski from the lift and you do not need a stiff ski.

I ski with a lot of folks who ski fast, I find the reason they ski fast is because they really don't know how to turn or use their edges. So don't get bought into that inferiority thing because you didn't get down the hill first, enjoy each turn as if each turn will be your last.

I feel very fortunate in that at Whiteface I have the opportunity to ski with a lot of excellent skiers. I ski with a lot of folks who ski fast because they really like it.

I have one friend named Phist Phil who I ski with a lot. When I ski with him it is always extremely fast. Not because he has anything to prove its just how he likes it.

I have another friend who skis slow moderate. I usually have to wait for him when we stop, yet I consider him a better skier then me. (I'd never admit that to him ). He is constantly making short swing turns on the sides of trails and is one of the best bump skiers I know. Dude is smooth.

I have another friend that skis so deliberate that we really can't ski more then a run together...it just doesn't work. Yet I'm not exaggerating when I say that this guy is literally an ADK back country skiing legend.

So anyway I don't think how fast one skis is necessarily an indication of how well one skis.

I usually will ski at the pace of the group I'm with at the time. I'm compliant like that. When on my own I'd say I ski at a moderately fast pace. I like to keep it moving along, but not break neck all the time.  

On this forum I ski with TJF the most, also SJ, Coach a few times and a few runs with Camp...all expert skiers with their own style.

Damn HPD it great to have you back in here. Hopefully your summer is going GREAT.

For me speed has everything to do with conditions, or at least it has for the last 5 years skiing on a bum wheel. If the snow is soft I'll gladly let them go and thoroughly enjoy some big wide side to side turns. If its firm and fast I'll back down a bit because I'm fearful of my knee sliding out and nothing good will come out of that. POW days all bets are off. Let em rip.

Speed also has a lot to do where I'm skiing. If I'm at WF, or $towe or anywhere for that matter with vert, I try to conserve whatever energy I have to make it until the bar opens up . I only have so many turns in these legs anymore until I get patched back up. At Greek it's another story. We have some cool headwalls but they literally can be taken at speed in about 2 turns if that is what floats your boat.

HPD in da house!!!  

Speed kills HPD, slow it down man.  

campgottagopee wrote

Damn HPD it great to have you back in here. Hopefully your summer is going GREAT.

Thanks Camp, I hope your summer is great too.

ScottyJack wrote

HPD in da house!!!  

Speed kills HPD, slow it down man.  

Never thought I'd hear you telling someone to slow down. You're like a purple blur going by.

You got me thinking...  Early season laps on excelsior...  How many turns does excelsior have?  I'm thinking 10

turn 1 - lower paron's
turn 2 - Essex bail out
turn 3 - lower NW start
turn 4 - connector
turn 5 -lower NW chute bottom
turn 6 -bubba exit
turn 7- hard left - drop off right into deep gulley
turn 8 - right bend after steep uphill sidewall
turn 9 - quick left above snow fence - deep drainage
turn 10 - hugging tree line right onto flats!

 

Highpeaksdrifter wrote

ScottyJack wrote

HPD in da house!!!  

Speed kills HPD, slow it down man.  

Never thought I'd hear you telling someone to slow down. You're like a purple blur going by.

Yeah, I think speed is in the eye of the beholder. People like Harv tell me that Ace and I ski real fast, but I don't think we're particularly fast. We take a few pauses on the way down.

Some groups are a bit too slow for me. Like a certain group at Gore that takes a lot of safety meetings. But that group is good sometimes, too, when I just feel like a relaxing afternoon or something.

tele skier do not ski fast....  

I guess it's relative MC, or if not I ski slow.

You guys are both really fun to watch, maybe if I wasn't watching I could stay closer.  Ace and you ski so differently but both awesome.  Ace, wow.

Maybe I should give up tele, but i just can't bring myself to do it.  Oddly I feel like it is actually helping me keep my knees healthy.  I don't know too many guys my age without some kind of joint issues. Knock wood.

I honestly don't know where I fall on the spectrum of slow/medium/fast. I ski faster then my kids and faster then my regular skiing buddies/relatives but slower then the teenagers in the race programs. Usually I let my group start off, bomber past them and find myself waiting at the next intersection. I think it's one of the reasons I don't mind skiing alone a lot of the time; I get a lot of runs in that way. I think Harvey and Ethan are the only guys here that have seen me skimaybe they can chime in. I know I like to ski as fast as I can but I don't like feeling out of control.

I am kind of in the Brownski grey area... I think I may be on the quicker side.  But, I do know that I am skiing at least a little slower since going to tele 100%.  

I love it. It's my happy place. My earliest memories from childhood include pushing my big wheel up the hill I lived on over and over again for one or two summers. That was 3rd Ave. in Nyack, a steep street with a sidewalk dropping down to the Hudson. I remember my Mom getting frustrated that I kept burning through sneakers (those were you breaks) every week or so. I even ended up under someones rear bumper one day as they were pulling out of their driveway.

My first time on skis I was instantly hooked. I guess it's typical for kids with A.D.D. (whatever that actually means) to love fast paced adrenalin sports. It's also total escapism, you can't really worry about the ugly in your life when everything is going by in a blur, in fact I might compare my experiences with speed and cliff hucking to how junkies describe heroin. Everything just goes silent.

I'm faster than any of you.

Only if you get past the off loading ramp.

Benny Profane wrote

I'm faster than any of you.

that's mighty big talk for a gimp legged old dude

raisingarizona wrote

Only if you get past the off loading ramp.

BOY_0_BOY do I remember a time skiing at Whiteface where Pro didn't make it past the off loading ramp    

Who's Pro?

I once got my backpack waste belt caught up in the chair and got dragged behind it around the bull wheel.....in my patrol jacket. Ouch! I bought several pitchers that night.

Buddy of mine who's on here from time to time but primarily in the winter as he's a golf pro. His handle is pro2860.

I'll wait until he sees this before telling the story -- it's a hoot.

I think anyone who has skied long enough has at least a few stories regarding getting off the lift. In terms of hitting hard, one of the worst falls I've taken was a result of getting boot buckles tangled up with a chair mate. Holy shit did I hit hard!!!

gaper ^^^^^

You should be nicer to me SJ