2nd Annual Radar Speed-Trap Day ! !

L7 · 03-31-2004, 06:37 PM

I'm real late to this party/knife fight and couldn't read everything BUT I do have a 12 channel hand held GPS and have been clocked by radar gun.

I am skeptical of the 80mph in normal clothing. In a downhill suit no question it's doable. Downhill suits meet FIS standards of air permeability to help prevent fallen racers from sliding too fast or too far. Speed suits do not have the permeability and are MUCH faster. I used to train with friends who speed skied and went to Worlds at Silverton and Les Arc. The local cops brought out the radar one day and clocked one guy at 103mph! Big pitch 240cm speed skis and rubber speed suit and aero helmet. Some of us ran in downhill suits and you hear the difference. The FIS suits made a loud hissing the speed suits were a quiet whoosh. The aero dynamics of clothing are a big factor even with different skin tight suits let alone baggy clothing.

For GPS you first need a good configuration of at least 4 satellites for accurate 3D. For accurate rapid descent you would need at least one low on the horizon close to right angles from direction of travel. That is often hard to do in the mountains. It may be there at the top but you could loose it part way down. Aviation applications will give more accurate readings as the horizon line is lower compared to the plane and that makes that critical low and right angled sat much more likely to be read consistently.

It'll be a fun day however it comes out and I'm plenty keen to be proven wrong. I'd certainly be in for it if I was in the area.

**splat** · 03-31-2004, 06:46 PM

Originally posted by bad_roo
Want to see who's king of the straightlines in January?

Ever seen that footage of phlingle outrunning an avie in Cham?
I don't know if Tom posted it, but a whole slope ripped and was lapping at Phil's ass down the slope and out onto the flat. You could see him turning back to catch a look every so often. Deadly serious insanity, but a relief as he finally pulled away from it.

**Utarded** · 03-31-2004, 07:33 PM

Couldn't get up there til around 3. Had hour and a half to practice. So late in day that hard, manky, death bumps had formed on the target runs.
Noticed 15-20 mph slower speeds than last year on transitions and cat roads. Due to bad viz and sticky death mank, only able to reach 67mph. We really could have used that extra 15-20mph. We could have broken 80. SUCK.
The ideal time Sat will of course be either before bumps form or the exact moment any overnight freeze releases.
Highly suggest preparing two pairs of skis: one heavily structured to prevent stickiness and/or suction, the other finely tuned for colder temps and snow.

**phUnk** · 03-31-2004, 10:27 PM

Originally posted by altachic
LCC----->we're meeting for first tram if it's not snowing on Saturday.

I know that Bum Z and I will be there. I've heard powho and phUnk will be there as well.

I'll be there. I really don't have anything clothes that aren't baggy. I thought about doing it w/o a shirt just for kicks, but a crash would mean a summer spent peeling scabs off my upper body.

And then I'd have to make that my avatar...

**InspectorGadget** · 03-31-2004, 10:34 PM

Originally posted by phUnk
And then I'd have to make that my avatar...

Pleeze, Lord, don-cha let phUnk ski wit-out his shirt at mawk 9. Dem toes is testin nuf of us awready.

Cun I git an AMEN bruthas n sistas!

**Endlessseason** · 03-31-2004, 11:03 PM

Originally posted by LCC
So when, where, and how we going to avoid the Patrol?

That's actually no laughing matter. Make sure you either have a cell phone, or preferably a radio, tuned to the regular maggot channel (if you don't know what that is, PM me).
We'll keep on the move, but it will be tricky with it being a Saturday and all. They tend to have more slope cops on the hill on Saturdays.

Originally posted by LCC
Endless, what is the slowest your gun registers?

The slowest is 9mph. You can prolly do that switch.

Originally posted by LCC
If I can do it, I'll be in normal ski clothes

I think we all will.

Originally posted by LCC
Who's on this list?

If the weather's good I think we'll have a good-sized group this weekend.

**Endlessseason** · 04-03-2004, 03:20 PM

Well, the GOOD news is that it didn't freeze overnight, it didn't snow, we didn't get a drop of rain, it wasn't windy, and we weren't in clouds. The BAD news is it was flat light AND it turned out we only a window of one hour for fast speeds.

"Hot Rod 'R'" hit 76MPH on pocket rockets in flat light, wearing baggy clothes, and even after scrubbing some speed as he entered the top! Mr. Altagirl hit 72. Bum Z broke 71 just as the snow was changing. By the time I was able to get radared, no one, including myself, was able to get past 68.

It was a lot of fun even though the light was flat. Can't wait to do it again.

We're doing it again two weeks from today (April 17th).

**gonzo** · 04-03-2004, 03:24 PM

76 mph is fast no matter what you are on. holy poop!

**ddsnake** · 04-03-2004, 04:50 PM

good work ,.......let's see everyone's speed please.

**Endlessseason** · 04-03-2004, 05:20 PM

1st hour-
Hot Rod 'R': 76 on PRs
Mr. Altagirl: 72 on Pistols
BumZ: 71 on some long skinny things
Altachic: 62

2nd hour-
Altachic: 68
BumZ: 68? on Spatulas!
Endlessseason: 68 on beat up XXX's
ColdSmoke: 56 from a standing start on Anderson's
RTay: 49 " " "

Obviously, we've all skied faster (and we will ski much faster) than this when the conditions are better and we can see.

**epic** · 04-03-2004, 05:53 PM

Originally posted by Endlessseason
BumZ: 68? on Spatulas!

Whoa. There's got to be some award for that.

**altachic** · 04-03-2004, 05:59 PM

No video, as a certain phUnk didn't show up

...hopefully two weeks from now will be even better.

L7 · 04-03-2004, 06:00 PM

That's faster than I thought you'd get, must have been some pitch. I'm not sure if the guys going that fast on spatulas and big blue noodles should get an award or get commited. One or the other or maybe both.

**Endlessseason** · 04-03-2004, 06:02 PM

Originally posted by altachic
No video, as a certain phUnk didn't show up ...hopefully two weeks from now will be even better.

It would have been pretty boring anyway--maggots passing in front of a camera in a tuck in flat light...

**Ski Monkey** · 04-03-2004, 06:22 PM

Nice work. I on the other hand went to the pond skiiming scontest, and was wasterd by 1. I hate skiing wihile buzzed...although i awas debating hucking myself in the fabulous spring corn. Reggae was cool too... dinner time. then party time. wohoo1!

Pics

**Endlessseason** · 04-03-2004, 06:36 PM

I just told my son about this morning's frivolities. He was wondering why we didn't go any faster. I was trying to describe to him what flat light is like since he hasn't ever skied in those conditions.
He just got his driver's license, so I told him to picture driving 70-75 mph on a steep slope on the interstate, with his headlights off an hour after sunset. Only not in a car, but traveling on ice, wearing two pieces of wood which are being thrown around by unseen bumps, dips and frozen crap while the wind is trying to suck out your eyeballs and is roaring like a freight train in your ears.
He seemed to understand it a little more.

**Mr. Altagirl** · 04-03-2004, 07:52 PM

Very fun, thanks again Endless. I was very skeptical about 80 mph before today but we almost broke it on our first try and admittedly very timid. Flat light on a run we weren’t sure was going to buck us or not was kinda scary (but really fun). Add the fact that any random gaper could have popped up at any minute really had the heart pumping. Some sunlight and we are in. Let me now when and I'm down with opening tram again. I really want my Seth Pistols to break 80 mph, in some freakish kinda way.

**phUnk** · 04-03-2004, 09:55 PM

Oh shit, that was this Saturday?!??

Just kidding. Sorry I missed you guys. Just about nothing went right today. Should have stayed in bed and given life another shot on Sunday.

**InspectorGadget** · 04-03-2004, 11:21 PM

And the winning costume was this very funny cactus

Originally posted by phUnk
Oh shit, that was this Saturday?!??

Ah, yeah, that was today . . . . these must belong to you my panty-waist friend

**FollowMe** · 04-04-2004, 12:27 PM

This sounds fun; what a rush. We need a counterpart in Tahoe...

**h20ski76** · 04-09-2006, 11:07 PM

i am going to take a wild guess at my speed

so there I am skiing in resolution bowl at copper, going down sawtooth. Demoing volkl allstars going balls out fast. I had to have hit at least 50 maybe 60 mph; I am basing this on race experience, but kinda hard to tell just going on feel. About 3/4 of the way down my glorious marker binding prereleases during the apex of a turn at the left edge of the run sending me careeming into the woods. Long story short I was rushed to St. Anthony's in Denver with a torn aorta, fractured sternum and rib, a severe concussion, contusions, internal bleeding, completely occluded left common carotid, and to top it all off a partial clot in my aortic bridge. Moral of the story, I will never ski Marker bindings again so help me god. Ironic b/c i had prereleased on markers at least 4 times before hand this season; you would think I would learn my lesson. My amazing doctors, said that my sternum pressed to my spine and to do that I had to be doing about 60 mph or so.