Elevation changes.........

[JR Stengele]

Hey folks,

I am playing in a tournament that is located on a ski resort and was wondering what you all thought in regards to the proper disc to throw both up and down hill. I figured you would want a heavier overstable disc when throwing down hill due to the wind, so uphill would be a lighter, more understable disc right? Also, what discs, wraith, surge, etc. Thanks for your time.

JR Stengele
Seattle, WA.:D

[nosajeel99]

What you said is what I'd do...

Downhill, overstable; uphill, understable.

[petecarp]

a putter or flat-top roc does me well on downhill holes

[Rbuzz9]

would it be advisable to decrease weight significantly for an uphill toss? like get a token lightweight understable driver for uphill drives? Or is everything sort of relative and nobody ever gets max D uphill so you just use your max distance understable driver?

Lets say the lightweight uphill driver idea worked -would you be able to make the leap that "it was the furthest uphill so it could be the furthest on flat land?" or are the uphill/regular throwing styles too different?

[garublador]

It sort of depends on what the hills look like, too. Sometimes I like to throw a spike hyzer with a very overstable and fast disc to get up a really steep hill if the shot isn't all that long. I find it easier to get controlable height with a steep hyzer than a shot that flips at all. You have to be carefull about getting a nose-up flight, too. A stall out can cost you a ton of distance on an uphill throw.

For long downhill shots it's nice to have something that fades predictably (who knows what sorts of wind your disc will see), but not very strong. Also something that holds a line really well without tracking too much to the right (RHBH) is nice too. Both of those are important because your disc will have lots of time to either track off into the distance or fade way, way too much. That's one of the reasons people suggest stable mids, like the Roc, for shots like that. Ultra fast discs seem to want to fade a lot once they slow down so you have to have a lot of room off to the right to account for that. Some of them don't fight too hard to fade back, so if there's any wind they'll just flip over and never come back. In other words, the steep downhill magnifies any error you make. My favorite discs for long, downhill shots are stable mids that still have a bit of fade left in them (Roc, Wasp, Element-X, etc.) and versatile fairway drivers (Cyclone, Gazelle, JLS, Eagle-X, ect).

[ZMan44]

For uphill shots I throw a Star Sidewinder and it seems stable when throwing uphill so it works for me. For downhill I throw a moderately beaten Polaris LS. You don't have to throw it hard or far, but even at low speeds mine stays straight and has an extremely minimal fade at the end.

[martinb]

It sort of depends on what the hills look like, too. Sometimes I like to throw a spike hyzer with a very overstable and fast disc to get up a really steep hill if the shot isn't all that long. I find it easier to get controlable height with a steep hyzer than a shot that flips at all. You have to be carefull about getting a nose-up flight, too. A stall out can cost you a ton of distance on an uphill throw.

For long downhill shots it's nice to have something that fades predictably (who knows what sorts of wind your disc will see), but not very strong. Also something that holds a line really well without tracking too much to the right (RHBH) is nice too. Both of those are important because your disc will have lots of time to either track off into the distance or fade way, way too much. That's one of the reasons people suggest stable mids, like the Roc, for shots like that. Ultra fast discs seem to want to fade a lot once they slow down so you have to have a lot of room off to the right to account for that. Some of them don't fight too hard to fade back, so if there's any wind they'll just flip over and never come back. In other words, the steep downhill magnifies any error you make. My favorite discs for long, downhill shots are stable mids that still have a bit of fade left in them (Roc, Wasp, Element-X, etc.) and versatile fairway drivers (Cyclone, Gazelle, JLS, Eagle-X, ect).

yes true, true and truer.
definitely what kind of elevation changes will determine what kind of discs you may want to try. so it depends on what kind of ski resort terrain the course is on.
out here the solitude ski resort has some major fall lines you get to throw down. for example, hole three is steep at the top 30 to 35 degree pitch, and levels out midway to 20 degrees midway and is about 5 degrees at the end of the hole. the length is about 350 feet with huge trees on both sides, the fairway about 50 feet across, and everybody i know throws their putter. sometimes even that is too much of a disc and will sail off into the great unknown way past the basket. A spike hyzer is a good safe way to play it too.
I guess the bottom line is that without practicing what will work for you its really hard to determine what is best. 150 dx class plastic on uphill shots work for me (wraith, destroyer). putters, rocs for the more extreme slopey type downhill shots....and light drivers for the more flat type shots at elevation. good luck.

[JR Stengele]

Thanks for all your feedback. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to practice these shots. However, I will be playing a round of doubles the day before and will have a chance to try these shots out. I will definately look at throwing the ROC, my putter, and my JLS down hill and see what works best. For uphill light weight discs or a spike hyzer. Maybe someone could explain what a spike hyzer is .....preferably as simple as possible. Thanks again, all that replied. You guys ROC!:D

[garublador]

A spike hyzer is when you throw a really steep hyzer that doesn't flatten at all. They're also sometimes called knife hyzers. They're used a lot to throw over things when you want an "up and over" type shot where you get over the object and then have the disc drop down rather than flatten out and glide. It's easy to get a lot of height in a short amount of time but you won't get a really far throw. Sometimes that's good. They're normally thrown with a really overstable disc so it's also a really predictable shot.

If I was looking at a 500' shot with a 20' rise I'd throw something understable and let it flatten to get distance. If I was looking at a 200' shot with a 30' rise I'd throw a spike hyzer with an overstable disc to get up the hill.