Skiing is now over for the month of February and it is time to give a mid-season up-date on the successes to date.
Perhaps the very first thing I should mention is that the two guys I ski with are both 82 – yes, you read that correctly. They are in their eighty-third year; in fact one of them has been skiing for 80 years (mind you he grew up in Banff). These fellows are amazing as you will soon see if you keep reading.
To assist in deciphering the data you need to know what the terms mean:
Runs = the number of times down the hill (no matter how long it takes).
Vm’s = this relates to the number of vertical metres skied from the top of each run to the ski lift (this is not to be confused with the amount of snow that is covered which will be reported as Distance) – different runs may have quite different configurations, but the Vm will be the same.
Avg-Max: each day, one’s maximum speed achieved on the fastest run is recorded – the average of these speeds is computed by totaling the speeds and dividing by the number of days.
Distance = this is the amount of ground that is covered (much like when recording bicycle travel or jogging or swimming) and each run can have varying distances depending on how a skier traverses it.
Days = the number of days an individual put on their skis and skied at least one run…
Bold italic print = winner of that category for this time-period
To protect the innocent each individual is identified by their code name:
Person Runs Vm’s Avg-Max Distance Days
HW 184 83,952 54.5 391.1 19
RAR 212 101,185 n/a n/a 21
gw 207 100,084 60.9 515.76 24
the Saint 224 98,224 45.82 473.70 26
There is a significant health benefit to living less than forty minutes from a ski-hill. There is also some value to the spirit of cooperation, but as you may guess – on this nearby hill, it gets crushed by the competitiveness of people over the age of sixty-six! And, if you want to get into this competition, you are more than welcome – we can find you a bed at night and good craft beer or Okanagan wine to accompany the meals…
Have a great month of March (it’s just around the corner)…
As always,
g.w.