Having written, yesterday, that skiing is not really exercise, I tested the notion yesterday and have to modify what I said.

I wore a heart rate monitor, where I could see it, and took some runs. On a steep, bump run, my heart rate went from 105 to 146 (85%) in about ten seconds. Wow. And going down an easy but mogul-y run it stayed in the 75% range. Going down almost any steep bump run put it in the 80’s (percent) and a blend – in one run – of steep and not so steep kept it over 70% all the time.

So if I ski moderately hard, I am getting serious aerobic exercise most of the time. Except of course on the lifts. Or at Bonnie’s restaurant. So a couple of hours – to see nothing of four or five – you get a hell of a lot of aerobic exercise after all. And a bit of strength too, from the constant pressure on your legs. There you go.