Alright admit it......who sucks at moguls. I'll admit it, I suck.

[JJChit]

I am a pretty decent skier when it comes to almost any other terrain. Love droppin cliffs etc. With all this crud we've been getting here recently ( Whistler) ... its all been about mogul skiing. I've been trying to ski this for the past few days, and I am getting beat. Its so bad..... I am hunched over like an old man out of control sometimes.

I am thinking of about taking a lesson... har har. I was never really taught this "technique" growing up and always really avoided it. I just thought it might as well be useful and help with my overall skiing.

Anyone else stink at this too?

[gimpy]

i admit it, i suck at moguls. but i suck even more at standing atop a mogulled slope.

arent u in whistler??? you suck at finding good snow i presume as well. fuck man you ARE IN WHISTLER and you are worried about your mogul skiing skills???? either i am too fucked to realize this is a troll or you are just retarded. or is there really no good snow in whistler??? i gotta call bullshit cuz we have some good snow in a massively drastical drought year in tahoe while u fuckers in whistler have been gettin sum. so shut the fuck up and go ski some untracked powder before its too late

[CarveMan]

As a wise man once told me:

It's not that you can't ski moguls, you can't ski, and the moguls just prove it.

[JJChit]

I feel so much better CarveMan.... haha

Gimpy, it was great until 5 days ago where its been warming up and freezing over everyday .Its pretty much chunky, hard and crusty.

[Skirotica]

I suck at bumps too. The trick as I understand it, or as someone who can ski suggested is to force your tips down after absorbing the bump.

So figure hit bump, absorb it the push tips down putting you back in the drivers seat and ready for the next bump. Works so well I only partially tore my acl.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

When I was a kid I loved mogul skiing and was pretty good at it. Now that I'm a middle-aged fart I hate the damned things. Give me powder or give me groomers. You younguns can have your damned moguls.

But disliking them is not the same as being unable to ski them. Try to plan your line as many turns ahead as you can. Always keep looking for the next 2-3 turns at minimum. Turn off the top of the mogul. Keep your weight centered or forward, keep those arms out, let your knees absorb the bumps and strive for a calm upper body with your shoulders squared with the slope and always facing down the fall line.

[CarveMan]

If you ski the right line then the need to absorb is much reduced. In every mogul is a steep icy part and a nice NASCAR style flat banked corner. Just ski around the steep parts.

Whether you have the skill to make a nice round balanced short turn in order to achieve this is another story, further proving the theory.

[neck beard]

As a wise man once told me:

It's not that you can't ski moguls, you can't ski, and the moguls just prove it.

You'd be surprised how many ski instructors who can ski moguls can't ski knee to waist deep 35 degree trees and hammer down the fall-line, fast, fluid and quiet.

No idea if this applies to you. But it is a re-occurring observation of mine.

Oh yeah, I can;t ski bumps, but I reckon I've only had 50 days in resort in my entire life.

[CarveMan]

That may be the case, but I'd put my money on the mogul skier being able to adapt to powder faster than the reverse.

And Ski Instructors that can ski moguls well (or ski anything well for that matter) are a dying breed....

[Sirshredalot]

Turn off the top of the mogul.

In every mogul is a steep icy part and a nice NASCAR style flat banked corner. Just ski around the steep parts.

There is plenty of good advice here, but I don't think tactics are the thing to focus on. Good skiers can ski the tops of the moguls or the troughs of the moguls, the sides of the moguls, or a mixture of the three. But if you have some skill deficiencies or some areas in your technique where you are cheating a little, the bumps will probably expose you. I know when I'm having a weak day on the hill because the bump field will tell me.

CarveMan is right that you need a really nice, round, dynamic short radius turn. The good news is that once you have one all of your skiing will be better. You'll be more confident linking turns in tighter couloirs and trees, etc. So the skills apply all over the hill.

Also, if you have some shorter, more hardpack-appropriate skis, use them. Punishing yourself by trying to clean up your bump-skiing technique on your 195 Motherships won't help. Not that anybody from this forum loves their somewhat too large, planky skis a little too much or anything.

And, honestly, taking the occasional lesson and getting some feedback on your skiing is probably a really good idea. Just make sure you take one from somebody who is good (at teaching, not just skiing). Having some skills to work on during hardpack days will keep you entertained and make you a better skier the next time it starts puking.

[TomCrac]

Skis make a big difference in your mogul experience. Lessons aren't just for gapers.

[Tunco]

Moguls are moments of truth.

[neck beard]

That may be the case, but I'd put my money on the mogul skier being able to adapt to powder faster than the reverse.

Of course. That was already my conclusion.

But why would anyone want to adapt the other way?

[icelanticskier]

CarveMan is right that you need a really nice, round, dynamic short radius turn.

THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

bumps tell many a tale about the traveler and his/her skiing skillz. period.

rog

[neck beard]

If ski resorts were never invented, would we all be much worse skiers for never having skied bumps?

[CarveMan]

This is getting a little abstract, but I tend to look at my Australian skiing season as a laboratory for working on the skills I take into the BC on my OS trips.

I spend quite a bit of time on SL skis doing short turns on groomers and skiing bumps, and my Northern Hemisphere skiing is better for it.

I guess the good thing about the powder skiing we all love so much is that modern equipment, fitness and some balls makes it very accessible for people these days, but at some stage technique will inevitably limit progress. Even more so when you consider the wonderful palette of non-powder conditions the BC can serve up.

Unfortunately the thing holding me back after 4 years driving a desk is fitness, but a big life change pre-Xmas should help fix that.

[neck beard]

Do bumps help with a 1 inch thick breakable sun crust over soft snow?

[CarveMan]

Looking at it from another angle, the kind of skier that can eat that for breakfast would also be very likely a decent bump skier, and good at everything else.

You could adapt the saying: It's not that you can't ski the sun crust, you can't ski, and the crust just proves it.

[neck beard]

I need to eat that for breakfast.

How to get there?

Another thread.

[CarveMan]

This is probably the best skier I've ever skied with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7W26SvVYDo

(Passed away in an avalanche just over 10 years ago, RIP)

He was an all-round skier, also an ex-Austrian team racer, could do anything anywhere anytime and that's what I aspire to.

[CarveMan]

Oh and I just remembered he was world Powder 8 champion as well

[icelanticskier]

If ski resorts were never invented, would we all be much worse skiers for never having skied bumps?

if the east were never invented, we would all be much worse skiers in general. i remember moving back east after having spent my 1st winter skiing in the wasatch. i probably skied 120 days or so mostly touring and pretty much 100% untrcked pow since i wasn't really trying to tick off all of the lines in andrews book. twas a nice way to spend a winter but holy fuck did my skiing go to shit when i tried to ski back home. big wake up call actually. had to get back in shape and sharpen my skillz. skiing here and traveling elsewhere to ski makes everywhere else, on a whole, a walk in the park in comparison.

some people just ski and that's fine, but you gotta really think about it and ski what challenges and humbles you to improve. foofy pow ain't all that challenging.

rog

[OSECS]

Attack the mountain. Bump skiing made me a better, more aggressive skier. Sharpened technique, made me quicker and more aware of the terrain and looking farther downhill for that good line. Definitely made me better in the trees. Skiing on east coast ice doesn't hurt to make you a better technical skier either.

[shera]

Of course. That was already my conclusion.

But why would anyone want to adapt the other way?

This is me.

My bump skiing is really evolving right now. It's a joy. I'll only go two or three hours at a stretch to take care of my knees. I'm on Line Prophet 90s in a 170ish length. Super small ski for what I'm used to. I did a two day camp and made a big change in my turn initiation. I can already make a round turn any size, but keeping upper body quiet mean sucking knees up for new turn rather than extending out over tips. I like both ways...having fun playing with the body mechanics.

I'm starting to wonder how skinny I can go in powder. Very curious. I spent a lot of time staring at the old pictures in the lodge at Alta last season.

[warthog]

I used to hammer bumps for 5-6 hours straight day or night back at Holiday Valley in NY.
It is what we had- in between 2-3 ft lake effect dumps.

The key to good bumps is... good skiers.
If every monkey is cutting across the fall line, the bumps will form like ridges.
You no want that.

Find a hill(usually dedicated) where people know what they are doing.
Look for the steepest bump run you can find. Anyone on that one knows how to ski.

Now look for a series of bumps strung together that look like a nice set of stairs.
Walk down those bitches, and find another set that look similar.
Get used to the feel of not being on your tails, and being able to stop on your terms.

It is real easy to get in the backseat, burn your quads out, and go shooting off the trail in a heap.
Seen it a lot.


No one will disagree that good bump skiers are usually better at all aspects of skiing.
I think the key to that is the areas that bumps work the most.
Your lower back will be thrashed, and your neck will feel like you were in a car accident. If you are doing it right, that is.
No other aspects of skiing work these areas as much. Maybe big cliff hucks, but that is about it.
So, with those areas way stronger after doing bumps, I think you are a much stronger skier, and it translates everywhere else.

I don't know, just a theory. But then, I can ski bumps.

Edit-
I ski on 185 Heads with a 92 mm waist. That is the widest ski I have ever used in the bumps. They work just fine.
I used to be on 210 Pre Slaloms. Those were the greatest bump ski of all time.
214 Extremes were pretty nice too.

The 185s feel slow compared to those old rockets.

Oh, and if your knees hurt from doing bumps, you are doing it wrong. Unless you tweaked something, bumps should have no affect on knees. You are banking off the sides of the bumps, and absorbing the hit. No different than skiing a tight tree line.