Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:39:56 +0000 (UTC), "Equatorial fetch"
Equatorial wrote:

Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.


I may be wrong here but do skis rely on a layer of water, like ice
skates? If they do there is a fair chance that at such low
temperatures there may be no liquid water, making the snow "sticky"
rather than slick.

Martin

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:39:56 +0000 (UTC), "Equatorial fetch"
Equatorial wrote:

Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible
temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed
skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.


The lowest temperature I have skied in was at an altitude of about 3,400m
where the temperature was MS25degC with a keen 15-20KT wind, zero visibility
and snowfall .Whether the snow was precipitating from clouds or being blown
about I wasn't too sure, maybe a bit of both. These conditions were
horrendously cold.

On another occasion I was skiing at a similar height with blazing blue skies
and not a breath of wind. The temperature was MS20degC and I still managed
to get a sweat on getting up from my deck chair after lunch.

Wind is the biggest enemy (!), although skiing in anything less than
MS30degC I think would require all over face protection just in case.

Joe

'I may be wrong here but do skis rely on a layer of water, like ice
skates? If they do there is a fair chance that at such low
temperatures there may be no liquid water, making the snow "sticky"
rather than slick.'

Yes it can be too cold for skiing. The other weekend I went skiing and I
thought there was something wrong with my skis. They seemed to be sticking
to the snow. I ask a local and he said it was too cold about - 13oC . .

Nigel

--
Vacancies in Jan, Half-term and Easter - excellent conditions

Winter and Summer holidays in the alps!!!
www.austrianfamilyholidays.co.uk

Equatorial fetch wrote:
Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.

I skiied in minus16c with a 20kt wind last January. Needless to say it
wasn't very pleasant and many of my group - along with a lot of others
on the mountain - saw fit to stop and thaw out at a mountain hut cafe
every couple of runs.
I think I have probably skiied in colder - in the 1980s (think 1985 to
be precise) - but in those days it wasn't so much knowing it was cold
by being able to look at a thermometer - you just knew it was much much
colder than normal!

Unless you have ultra cold weather wax on your skis they can become
very sticky...

Scott W wrote:

Equatorial fetch wrote:
Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.

I skiied in minus16c with a 20kt wind last January. Needless to say it
wasn't very pleasant and many of my group - along with a lot of others
on the mountain - saw fit to stop and thaw out at a mountain hut cafe
every couple of runs.
I think I have probably skiied in colder - in the 1980s (think 1985 to
be precise) - but in those days it wasn't so much knowing it was cold
by being able to look at a thermometer - you just knew it was much much
colder than normal!

Unless you have ultra cold weather wax on your skis they can become
very sticky...

Yes. In my youth I had the pleasure of cross-country skiing at -35C in
Canada; we had to buy the lowest-temp wax available. It was lovely, not
cold until we stopped for a picnic, but then there wasn't much wind.

regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.

Down hill and cross country differ. I cannot speak for downhill, but XC
needs both grip and slip. This is usually done with wax on the central
"grip" area of the ski. The skis are convex downwards (a bit) - cambered -
so if you weight one ski the grip area is on the snow and if you divide your
weight between the two it is off the snow.

With waxed XC skis, the colder the better. You get different grades of wax
for the temperature and nature of the snow, but they work best with cold
snow. I've skied at minus 28 (the snow was probably minus 35, it had been a
cold night) and it was superb (arctic finland). www.edierduck.co.uk has
some links I use, there is Kittila weather and a link to the Finnish road
cams. Look in lapland, which is where we are going this year. You might
get some snaps at
http://www.doctors.net.uk/DocStore/D...errer=docstore
but I've not sent this to non-members. The photos are at about -15 to 20

http://www.swixsport.com/ie5D1226.htm is the advice of Swix, the Norwegian
company. Toko and Rex are the other big sellers.

When the snow is wet you cannot get good grip. You use a range of waxes
called Clisters, with are deeply horrid and sticky and difficult to get off
pertex and goretex.

Andrew


"Equatorial fetch" Equatorial wrote in message
...
Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible
temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed
skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:39:56 +0000, Equatorial fetch scrawled:

Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.
Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.

Two years ago on the Glacier at Saas-Fee the tiny thermometer I have which
has a bottom value of -35 it was hovering round the very bottom of the
scale (I am not sure the exact temp as I expect it to be inaccurate at the
extremes), eyebrows beard etc froze, but I didn't have an issue with
feeling cold (although my contact lens solution froze solid inside my
jacket). There was an unpleasant wind but I am not sure of the details. We
were snowboarding and it really didn't feel like it should, the cold
definitely inhibited the movement.

Mike

In article , "Equatorial fetch" Equatorial writes:

Any keen skiers lurking?The lowest temp. I've seen over the years on
Ceefax's ski info pages(421 etc.) is -33C at a Norwegian and a Canadian
reort.

Is it possible to ski in these extreme conditions without looking like the
Michelin man or suffering terminal frostbite?It seems possible temperatures
will approach -33C in the Alps in a few days.I don't know what speed skiers
reach but I assume the windchill factor also enters the equation.


The coldest skiing I have had was in St Anton where the maximum temp in the
resort reached -17 C. Up the mountains there was a strong wind and local guides
claimed the windchill at the top was around -40 C.

You dress accordingly, and ski-wear is thermally efficient these days. However,
exposed skin is at risk and skiers have to look after each other: white spots
on nose and/cheeks were early signs of frostbite, and if you saw this on any
other person you would attempt to warn them, despite language difficulties.

I did once come across a middle-aged lady who had lost her hood in the strong
wind, and was begining to become distressed (ears): she could not untie and
untangle the cords, around the back of her head, to get the hood back on. I
had to remove my gloves for just the time it took to sort her out, and the cold
damaged the backs of my hands. The strange thing was, for many years after
that, I would get a red-raw patch on the backs of my hands whenever we had
very cold winter weather. The effect slowly faded after five years...



Cheers,

keith


---
Iraq: 6.5 thousand million pounds, 90 UK lives, and counting...
100,000+ civilian casualties, largely of coalition bombing...
London?...

"JPG" wrote in message
...
snip

I may be wrong here but do skis rely on a layer of water, like ice
skates? If they do there is a fair chance that at such low
temperatures there may be no liquid water, making the snow "sticky"
rather than slick.

Indeed this is exactly what happens, and the snow can behave more like sand,
especially when the skis / sledge are heavily laden.

This was a significant factor in the difficulties encountered by Scott in
his fatal south-polar expedition, among others. I don't suppose they knew
about wax (and as well reported by Susan Solomon, the temperatures were
exceptionally low).

SteveP