(Almost) covering the same ground

Comparing travails when skiing versus hiking using GPS

I’ve been running the MotionX-GPS software on my iPhone for a while now, tracking me when I’m out and about (I figure that an identity crisis is one thing, but at least I should know where I am. LOL).

Recently I decided to overlay the maps from a summer hike to Cecret Lake with various ski runs I’ve done up at Alta:

Full size image

Guide to what you are seeing:

• The highway (marked with 210 near the top) is the ski base (8,530 feet)
• The large loop of lines starting near the base shows the various ski trails.
• The extremely straight dark-blue line is the “Sunnyside” ski lift used to get to each of the trailheads. It is dark blue because I used the lift multiple times the day I had GPS turned on.
• The other straight line (but lighter in color) is the “Cecret” ski lift. It is a lighter blue because I only used it once or twice that day.
• The very small line going from center-bottom up to the right and a third of the way up is the hike.
• The lake itself (which I get to on the hike) is at 9,875 feet

Turns out that there is probably a reason why the lift is called “Cecret”.