Arapahoe Basin Steep Skiing
Posted Apr 9, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC
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There wouldnt happen to be an equivalent for canadian spots you would know of?
You always think slopes are steeper than they look, but with all the time i spend in the Louise gullies i swear they are at least a sustained 45 degree pitch in between the rocks and i would love to have that confirmed.
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I know this particular high-resolution data is not available for Canada. I'm sure there is something lower resolution that I could use to produce similar maps, but I haven't looked into it. There are plenty of web sites and apps that have slope maps, but nothing I've found with this level of detail.
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Caltopo, but the resolution isn't as good as the USGS 1m
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=51.46691,-116.13052&z=15&b=t&o=f%2Cr&n=1,0.25&a=sf
Here's KH for reference too: https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=51.27917,-117.0673&z=15&b=mbt I didnt think Rear Entry or Glory were as steep as this said. Coffin Trees and Slapshot/Hockeystick are definitely 50+ though, which the map agrees with.
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Well yeah. And i cant help but feel that the lack of resolution results in an underestimation of the true steepness of the lines. Like, the steepest parts of ptarmigan's exhibition are definitely steeper than 30 degrees, but that is what caltopo places them at, in fact shallower. It doesn't even register the north cornice at all.
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So I poked around a bit and it looks like the best data available for Canada is at 30m resolution. If I get around to it I'll make more of these maps, but 30m will be far less satisfying.
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Try cal topo maps, I believe they have some sections of Canada mapped as have awesome overlay gradients
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Every smartphone is a clinometer...
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Yo this is badass
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Seriously, thanks for making this
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Hey fellow GIS nerd! Can you clip the the raster layer to the trail lines to create a “heat line” of the slopes’ steepness??? I’m really excited this DEM is out!
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That's a great idea. I was going to calculate average slopes for the various lines, but your idea is better.
Super stoked on this data. Wish there was more available, but I'm looking forward to spending more time with what was released. We need to crowd source funding to fly LiDAR over all the major NA resorts! Only need a few hundred K to get started...
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I going to calculate average slopes for the various lines
I thought about doing that, but the trick is the lines have such inconsistent starting and stopping points. Also, I’m sure you’re already using it, but there exist crowd-sources kmz’s of ski resorts’ trail maps on skimap.org
Which other CO resorts now have 1m coverage?
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Nice tip on the kmz's! That will make my current plans much easier. Vail, Keystone, Breck, and Copper are all also covered by this data. Looks like they prioritized the headwaters of the Colorado River.
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This is amazing, I'd love to see one of these for Taos.
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caltopo.com
Turn the “slope angle shading” on.
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hillmap.com is another good one to use.
It has satellite image next to a map overlay so you can see both at the same time. Also, shading.
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I was just here on my first mountain ski trip!
I'm not a great skier, so it was a yard sale all day long but I was in awe of the folks skiing these! The crazy part to me was the 1000' hike to the top of the east wall. I was out of breath just scooting over to go down the east wall trail!
Maybe someday I'll be a ski bum, but watching some of you pros carve up those steep slopes was just as fun for me!
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If you can ski regularly you'll improve faster than you can imagine! Last season I moved to Breck to be an instructor, and I was a solid skier beforehand. Skiing everyday for 3 months made me confident on legit every inbounds run I can find, it's so empowering! Keep at it homie, and A Basin is the tittiez
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This is cool. Thanks for sharing.
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I loved that ski area. It never failed to give the pucker effect.
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Thought this was a pic of pine pollen, there’s so much where I am
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How hard would it be to turn this into a vectorized topo map?
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Not difficult in any way. Why?
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I'd love to have some topo vectors of abasin for a big art piece that I've been thinking about for my living room. I have access to a large form inkjet printer at work and I want to print a big map of Abasin on a sheet of glass. I could send you a smaller version of the finished product if you can help me out.
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Very cool, anyone interested in these types of maps should also check out this website: http://www.backcountrymap.com
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If you get a chance, you should look at lake chutes and peak 6 at Breck.
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With the exception of janitors only and snorkel nose you guys need better names.
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After a conversation here a few days ago I was curious about how the slopes compared between the Steep Gullies and main East Wall routes. I didn’t love any of the maps I was able to find, but I discovered that the USGS has recently released new digital elevation models with 1m accuracy and decided to make the maps myself. This is way better than the 10m and 30m stuff that used to be available. I cut the scale off at 35 because anything less than that is basically a green.
From these maps I see a lot more areas of in the range of 40 to 50 degrees on the Gullies routes, but for much of it does fall in the 35-40 range. The main East Wall routes have less stuff that is 40+, but there certainly are some spots that are up in that range. Pali ranges from 30 to 40 with some short sections 40- 45. In the top right corner of the image you can see the steep, lower parts of the allies which are a sustained 40-45 degrees.
I thought these maps came out pretty well, so I figured I would share.
I lol'd.
For anyone unaware -- most 35 degree slopes at your local ski area are black to double black.
Also worth noting -- very little terrain over about 45 to 50 degrees is skiable in Colorado due to our cold, dry climate. Snow simply doesn't stick to steeper features that often unless you get a heavy wet storm, or an area that gets consistently wind loaded. Its why people look to the coasts for truly steep skiing.
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Once you've been on a 45+ slope, you feel like you're falling with every turn. It's so crazy steep. I've never been on anything 50+ for more than just a turn or two. That kind of sustain steep slope is really rare.
Crested Butte has an insanely steep run called Rambo, ~55 deg sustained but not frequently open. It scares the shit out of me every time I start in, falling would not be good.
Yeah hit my first a couple weekends ago was scary for sure. One heel side turn took me about 1/4 down the chute
You gotta get in the back of Gold Hill and Mountain Quail man. Or just goes balls out and send Heaven's Eleven.
A Basin it still one of my favorite inbounds mountains in CO due to the steeps.
any idea how steep some of the double blacks at Vail are? i can't seem to find any info on the actual degree of the slope of some trails like Lovers Leap or The Narrows.
Vail doesnt really have steeps
according to the caltopo resource in another comment, prima cornice is over 55 degrees for a chunk of the top of the run. the narrows is also between 40-50 degrees for almost the duration, with a tiny patch of 55+. much of vail is not very steep, even lovers leap is only the cornice into a 35-40 degree slope, but there are a couple places that its formidable.
Caltopo is your friend
how would i look for specific trails? this awesome, thanks for pointing me to it!
Caltopo overestimates slope, which is actually safer in a way but some of its slope shading is wildly inaccurate.
Fatmap
Holy crap, 1 meter elevation maps are insanely precise! So there's no graphical products out there yet? You had to process the raw data yourself?
Yeah, it's awesome data. LiDAR derived but only limited coverage at the moment. It's raster elevation data so it's pretty easy to work with if you have any GIS skills. I used ArcGIS and some free graphic design software to make these.
I don't have the time at the moment, but I'm thinking about putting some work into making detailed, labeled maps for a bunch of major resorts. Not sure how to go about making it worth my while though.
Make the graphics a bit more abstract and artsy, see if you can add abstract lines representing runs, then sell it as posters and other stuff online.
Are you able to grab the 3D data with this type of detail? I have been trying but I have no GIS skills. I have a a ton of 3D modeling experience and have access to 3D printers, laser cutters, and 3 axis mills. I've been wanting to fabricate some scale models of ski resorts.
For sure. This raster data is inherently 3-D, as each grid cell has an x,y location and an elevation. I haven't done any 3-D printing, but I imagine it would be trivial to get this into CAD or similar. The raw data is just a matrix of elevation.
Edit: What software do you use to make the digital models? I think scale models of resorts would be sick and would be happy to try and get this data into a format that works for you.
Totally doable. Both my sisters got married in the Ouray Amphitheater. I grabbed an extremely detailed STL of the topo (very GPU intensive to render) and CNCd a copy out of layered wood with the routers at work on the weekend. Ill try to find the STL resource again, it's been a couple years.
Edit: I saw your comment on SolidWorks. I was using SW 2018 Beta and Mastercam X on a workstation CAD/CAM tower built in 2016ish. I forget what cards it had but it handled the model OK. I had to leave for about 8 hrs while SW converted the STL to a surface, but it worked out in the end.
This is awesome! Thanks for posting this.
This is cool stuff, thanks for sharing OP
I have been looking around the USGS site and can't seem to find this 1m data. Can you share a link?
Here is the info about the Dataset
The data can be downloaded through the National Map
Here is the interactive viewer
Thank you!
Way better than CalTopo. Thanks for sharing.