Uphill skiing is hard work (unless you ask my Garmin)

NorthCascades
NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Garmin has been in the estimated running power market for a couple years now, and they've started to do cross country ski power too. It uses a bunch of sensors (accelerometers and compass at the chest and wrist, gyro on the chest, baro, and gps) and an algorithm. There's basically no documentation. Naturally I'm curious about this. Spoiler: it doesn't work that well yet.

The other day I skied to the top of Amabilis Mountain; the name is Latin for beautiful and I've never understood why until Friday. I've been up there before but not in good weather. I thought it would be interesting to see the data, it's 2,800 feet of upwards over the course of 5 miles. But most of the time I looked at it my 30 second power was 0. I'm not a scientist but that doesn't seem right to me. 🙂

But I wasn't really there for the data, it was to see the peak on a clearish day and spend a socially distended day with a friend I haven't seen since the pandemic began. So I got some pics. 🙂 It was patchy down below but then we got to a winter wonderland.

63 watts average, 73w for the uphill section.

It's getting snowy. ❄️ 🌨️ 🏔️

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View below the summit.

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Lunch at the false summit.

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Time to head back down.

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Replies

  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    Your pics get more and more beautiful with every post!
  • AndreaTamira
    AndreaTamira Posts: 272 Member
    Oh god, I envy you for the views you had and the snow. So pretty!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    Beautiful!
  • healthierorbust
    healthierorbust Posts: 24 Member
    This is my kind of workout!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    Beautiful!

    61 degrees and raining here in Massachusetts. I only got to use my snow shoes once or twice last winter :(
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    You got me curious trying to think back to when I'd use my mom's Nordic track when I'd visit, just to see if I was coordinated enough to do it - always wanted to XC ski.
    I don't recall watts being a measurement on that old thing, is it on newer machines?

    Seems like the math in theory isn't too awful - except efficiency of the slide seems like it could be very variable and unknown for wax and snow type and ski size.
    But I'd also think like elliptical machines - the form used could vary greatly and therefore human efficiency could also.

    I recall that bike power meter that used accelerometer and wind and speed measurements was reviewed pretty well on DC Rainmaker, but when road surface and rolling resistance changed massively it had no clue for awhile, or rider position.
    But there was a website where you could enter basically your own stats and compare how math result was to another power meter result - was surprised comparing to my Powertap G3 results, pretty good math only results.

    Are there any public sites or studies on skiing power?

    Oh, great pics as always. I'm picturing the backpacking through there, never done deep snow.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    @heybales

    I'm not aware of anyone measuring skiing power out in the wild, I'm not sure if it's even possible in the sense that it happens on bikes. I saw a video on double poling technique that had force over time graphs to show that beginners are using their arms and advanced skiers are using their backs and posterior chains. Based on matching up when the most force goes through the poles.

    I've only been able to try this twice and there seems to be a bug causing dropouts. After I've had more time to play with it I'll start a thread and share some data. I've got a direct force power meter on my bike to compare against and add context. (I like "geeking out" on the numbers because sometimes there's good stuff to be learned.)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    I went back today with a friend who saw last weekend's pictures and wanted to go. He got a picture of me near the top.

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  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,398 Member
    Awesome views.

    As for the Garmin and calorie burns, well it should be zero since you just glide up right?


    It's been many years since I've been on cross country ski's and as discussed it seems that it would be hard to nail down for energy. At times it seems very efficient, and at other times not even close.

    We skied with some fairly heavy loads in the military, and even with the extra weight at times it seemed fairly efficient. At other times we ended up gassed fairly quickly. And even better, take new skiers with gear and the wipe outs were epic. The energy from collision recovery added up as well.


    The one up side of that is the views, but your photos point that out much better than words can.

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