Uphill and descents tracking in Strava

Danny Labrana

Hi. I’m new to this forum, so I don’t know whether a “formal” presentation is needed .

In the meantime, here’s my question: not sure it relates to this post (Number of downhill runs in alpine skiing), but I’ve notived something that annoys me a bit in the S9 ski mode.

The SuuntoLink app shows descents only, whilst when the data is synchnronised with Strava, I see BOTH descents AND uphills. Strava is able to distinguish them (I mean the different laps do correspond to uphills and descents) but it sums up the total distance from both “activities”. Funny collateral: My uphill segments (on ski lifts) sometimes correspond to treck paths I walk/run during summer time. So when I use a skilift on these segments, I’m litterally blasting my PRs

If anyone knows if there’s a paramter to change somewhere (On the watch? In SuuntoLink? In Strava?) I’d be more than grateful.

Have a good day, and thanks in advance

freeheeler

@danny-labrana
personal records are activity type related and a ski (lift) ascent shouldn’t beat a running PR?!

Danny Labrana

@freeheeler, maybe you’re right and I didn’t check the activity type. Still odd Strava keeps track of ski (lifts) ascents.

That being said, any idea regarding my original query?

Thanks

Brad_Olwin

@danny-labrana if you want ascents tracked you will need to select Ski Touring as ascents are not added with Alpine Skiing.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Issue is reported

Danny Labrana

@brad_olwin said in Uphill and descents tracking in Strava:

@danny-labrana if you want ascents tracked you will need to select Ski Touring as ascents are not added with Alpine Skiing.

Thanks for your answer, @Brad_Olwin. However, the issue I’m reporting is that I do not want ascents to be added in the total distance. I’m skiing with the ski mode (and note Ski Touring, unless when I use my touring skis, of course ), and I believe ascents shouldn’t be consiered by Strava.

My Friend has a Garmin Fenix and when data is synchronised with Strava, he reports no issue.

Danny Labrana

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos said in Uphill and descents tracking in Strava:

Issue is reported

Thanks, @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos !

Brad_Olwin

@danny-labrana Got it. Did not understand that from your first post. In that case agreed that Strava is incorrect.

MdzOtt

@brad_olwin Somehow this issue is related to S9B (possibly, other Sn watches) and Strava. If you record the same activity with Ambit (2 or 3), Strava knows how to deal with it (and shows the correct number of runs).

Danny Labrana

Let’s see if the new S9 update corrects the issue I reported, @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos. But again, I’m not sure whether it comes from my S9 or from Strava.

Here are a few pictures to illustrate:
Ski session catputred in the Suunto App. 15 descents totalling 26.8Km (with uphills, that’s 46.52)

Same session in Strava. 27 descents totalling 46.52 km. Uphills are counted in the total number of descents. Back no my comment: is it an issue related to Strava or Suunto?

And finally, another picture showing my friend and I, skiing exactly the same runs a day after. He has a Garmin Fenix 5, and his data is accurate

northeast_trekker

@danny-labrana I’ve noticed as well that either one of two things is occurring between the file handoff from Suunto app to Strava:

Ski run total being incorrect for Suunto devices: Suunto is not creating the workout file to the same standard as others. The notification of the end of the run in Suunto is an auto lap whereas in Garmin it is most likely just a “lap” within the UI not also within the file writing so Strava doesn’t get all wrapped up in the laps when they go and interpret the file with their algorithm to count laps. This is just my theory.
Ski distance total being incorrect for Suunto devices: Garmin for instance it appears all their ski-compatible devices do autolaps as well when in a downhill activity but their watches actually pause the chronometer going uphill in the chair whereas I do not think Suunto is doing that. It could also just be how the file is subtly different in being written that changes how Strava is interpreting distance. Again maybe the laps are messing with the algorithm. Seems silly that they can’t deal with it but idk.

MdzOtt

@danny-labrana the new algorithms did not change anything (sorry, I can’t say that, but it did not correct the problem). I still have the same problem as described in @Danny-Labrana’s post (and before by others).

MdzOtt

@northeast_trekker I don’t think we can say that this is Suunto’s issue. When recording with Ambit 3, it comes across correctly. So I would blame S9B/Suunto App and not Suunto generally.

northeast_trekker

@mdzott understand what you are saying but this is just semantics. Suunto produced the S9B and the feature implementation within the watch so if a watch has an integration flaw, they do in fact own that. Does your Ambit 3 automatically track downhill runs and stats?

MdzOtt

@northeast_trekker Ambit 3 does it correctly. I have an extra app installed that does it right on the screen (# of runs, max speed, total descent, last run’s descent…)

freeheeler

@mdzott
strava does things differently than Suunto.
e.g. they show “elapsed time” from start to stop including pauses. Suunto shows “duration” and excludes pauses.
I’ve recently had the shortest skiday of my life when I broke my binding close to the end of the first run.
I startet the activity at the gondola station which is 8m above the chairlift. Skiing down to the chairlift seems to be the first run. Suunto shows 2 runs for that activity, strava does show 5!

Yesterday I did 4 runs with one very little transfer run of 54m descent. Suunto shows 6 runs (don’t know where the extra run comes from ) but strava shows 11.
There’s no noticeable pattern
…not even when I would creatively split slopes with multiple chairlift sections into multiple runs.
Hence Suunto does something more reasonable, at least something I can retrace. And strava does anything without sense and logic to me.

northeast_trekker

@freeheeler it would not be the first time Strava is the one to blame. i mean look at the metrics they use for nordic skiing…pace instead of speed. They should report average and max speed just like alpine skiing but I guess they don’t really understand or know the sport.

MdzOtt

@freeheeler I fully agree with you. If anything Suunto shows the correct number of runs (in the simple scenario; things get complicated when you transfer between lifts). This is why I said that this may not be the Suunto issue, at all. At the end of the day, I really don’t care that much if I did 19 or 21 runs; and as we agreed, the vertical (descent) is much more important (other than the fun of skiing there).

MdzOtt

@northeast_trekker i think some people may disagree with you. I know quite a few XC skiers who look at pace (like when running) and not at speed. But this all depends on what you get used to. Weight in pounds or kilograms? Speed in km/h, or knots? And you can easily convert.

northeast_trekker

@mdzott that’s fair. I guess I would just hope that they could make a toggle then like they did for temperature units preference (wahoo also has this) for folks like Brits who prefer Metric distance units and Fahrenheit I guess? I also prefer this so I like that customizable part of it. My argument is that when watching nordic skiing olympic events on tv and the leaders zip around a downhill, the broadcasting network reports their maximum speed in the corner of the screen, not pace…