Ski mode - no auto pause setting

Hi,

Looks like a recent update changed the behavior of alpine ski mode: the watch auto-pauses when on the lift. I have a few questions/ notes:

1) I cannot find a setting to *disable* this functionality - Activity& Apps > Ski does not have a choice for auto pause. Shouldn't this option be there?

2) Data sync with strava is now messed up - strava seems to be confused by the elevation teleportation (since I am jumping from bottom of lift to top). Elevation numbers are entirely incorrect for descent. Can you guys check on how the data is being ported to strava? 

3) The watch does not capture ascent by boot packing (i.e. when I move uphill in my own power, not using a ski lift). I would guess this is because ski mode discards all uphill movement. Maybe this is the trade off if you want ski lift time to be discarded. But just wanted to point out that sometimes one *is* going uphill without a lift while on skis

Thanks,
Josh

  • Hi Josh, 
    I have been having the exact same issues.

    Have you received an answer on this question in the meantime? Or have you figured out a way to adjust the behavior of the ski activity?

    Kind regards,
    Dieuwer

  • Alas, they never responded :( 

  • I thought I would mention something about number 1. On the Ski activity, it does have auto pause but on the XC Classic Ski does not have auto pause. I have the FR955Solar and this is an option under "Ski" through the "Ski Settings" > scroll down to Auto Pause. But yeah if you have reached out to them (especially over the Holiday weekend in the US) it could take a couple of extra days to respond to you! Like most companies OR you can call in to the support center for a faster response. Just an idea

  • Actually, I just got a response from service and they said it has been added in a coming software update! I updated and auto pause in ski mode is in fact there, yay!

  • Today I tried the automatic ascent and descent detection in the backcountry skiing activity profile and it works great. I didn't read anywhere when they added it to the activity profile. Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised.

  • Thanks for the suggestions. I updated my watch and got some new options.

    The backcountry skiing activity profile with the automatic ascent and descent detection that Martin suggested seems the way to go if you are also walking uphill during a skiing day.

    For the downhill skiing activity (only going up with lifts) I now have three options 'Off', 'When Stopped' and 'Custom' speed.

    • 'When Stopped' was the default behavior before the update where it would auto pause when taking a break in the middle of a run and auto pause when you would have a positive vertical speed. This would then create different runs in the app so you can see your speeds per run.
    • If you select 'Custom' you can fill in a minimum speed before the watch auto pause. I can only fill in positive numbers here.
    • 'Off' then the watch will never auto pause. This would give you the best elevation data as it is continuously measuring. But I think, I haven't tested this myself, that the watch will not split the skiing day up in separate runs.

    Therefore my most preferred behavior would be to auto pause when upward vertical velocity is measured, this then allows the day to be split up in separate runs, and not auto pause when stopped in the middle of a run. 

    I do not think I can emulate that with the options I have now. So I think I am forced to choose turning off auto pause and have my whole ski day show up as one run and turn on auto pause which does give me the split up runs in the app but also the inaccuracy when the watch is still paused in the first few meters after a stop. 

    Is that also you see it?

  • It is nice that the option for Auto pause is there, but it is unusable. I can set 'When Stopped' (both if the activity is still off or is already running) and it seems to be registered. But when I exit the Ski activity and open Ski activity again, the option for  Auto pause is set back to Off!

    This is really a bad issue.

  • Half joking because I hate AI but, sounds like a great opportunity to do some AI-post processing to scrub lifts from the GPS record. Heck, you probably don't even need AI for this in most cases. If you have successive 3-4 GPX points that are increasing in elevation *and* almost perfectly linear (within some tolerance) then it's a lift. Could fail for boot packing or t-bars, though.

    Garmin/strava offer an option for "plugins" to postprocess data of a certain kind. You post-process out the ski lifts! 

    But I realize this doesn't help you :(

  • I had two climbs yesterday and my watch registered only one climb. Garmin hasn't tuned it yet.