It is lame to ski moguls?

[Theodore Huxtable]

I think that skiing bums definately improves your skills. They surely make you more agile, not to mention that they improve your ability to turn, quickly.

When they are covered in a foot of fresh it makes them that much easier. I love ripping down a bump run right after it has snowed a foot where you can barely make out the bumps at all. Powder makes my bump skills go from good to great as I lose my fear of taking a digger.

Icey bumps are a whole another story. I think if I had to choose between skiing icey bumps all day or a day of work, I would choose the day of work...wait did I just that? I guess it would all depend what was on my plate for that day at work...

[half-fast]

skiing bumps is a good way to keep warm when its really cold

[SkiOrDie]

Bumps are evil. But, I think the question is: If there isn't anything to ski but bumps, do you ski at all? Now that I'm 53, on wider and wider skis, and getting a touch lazy.... I guess the fire in the bar at the Rustler looks awfully good when Alf's is all bumps.

But, I have yet - in many years - to find a day when the bumps on Alf's actually made me stop. The bumps at the top of Stone Crusher - that's another story.

This brings up a related question for the group: I am thinking of getting two sets of skis. Ski #1 - fat, stiff, and long for the "good snow" days. Ski #2 - short, lots of side cut, flexible for the "social Skiing" days. Looking for recomendations for both. Seldon says: "Big Daddy" or "Explosives" for Ski #1. Doesn't know or care about Ski #2.

Any suggestions??

[PacRimRider1]

I'm such a bad-ass, I just strait line those mothers!

[Pura Vida]

I'm such a bad-ass, I just strait line those mothers!

this is my chosen method too for the pseudo bumps at Mammoth. so I guess that makes me a bad-ass as well Can't remember the last time I've seen a real bump line...

[ak_powder_monkey]

What are these things called moguls?

[warthog]

Moguls still do it for me. Just can't do them as much any more. Usually as a warm-up. On the east coast, if you don't learn to ski moguls, you suffer. They are everywhere.

Somebody said it once before, but there was no better time than spring skiing at Mt. Snow on Bear Trap. One lift services one bump run. Spring conditions, sun, sunbathing chicks at the bottom, people goin off on the slope, and everybody hootin' and hollerin' from the lift. Those were the days.

At Holiday Valley, NY, if you were on the mogul team, it was just understood that you were a badass. Ladies included. In fact, the one girl I have ever met that absolutely kicked my ass skiing, was on the bump team. I worked with her at a ski shop, and we used to do some bump runs together. Best female skier I have ever seen in person. She is now on the US bump team- Jillian Vogtli.

The Chute chair at Holiday Valley was where we would mostly hang out. Solid bumps top to bottom. Huge 15 ft booters off the cat track into solid 2-3 ft bumps. I can't even imagine what my knees would think of me now.

Long story short, I love bumps. They made me into the skier I am today. If that makes me a pussy, then meow muthafucker

[Pinner]

It's lame to ski bumps lamely. It's cool to zipper em.




bumps suck.

[gravitylover]

Trees and bumps. That's all there is. Ain't gots no steeps here and pow is an illusion (or is that hallucination )


on second thought good trees are kinda nonexistant too

[Dexter Rutecki]

Heh, warthog knows something about moguls.

Somebody said it once before, but there was no better time than spring skiing at Mt. Snow on Bear Trap. One lift services one bump run. Spring conditions, sun, sunbathing chicks at the bottom, people goin off on the slope, and everybody hootin' and hollerin' from the lift. Those were the days.

I never skied at Mt. Snow until the early 90's when we raced there (Haystack, actually, but we'd sneak over to Mt. Snow whenever there was time), so I've really only heard about that scene--also, we were usually there in Jan/Feb, when it was often well below zero--but I just skied Beartrap a bunch of times on Friday. Ran into Jeff Winterton who convinced me to ski with him--ripping skier--as he lapped Beartrap about five times in 20 minutes, airing off all these big snowmaking whales on one side of it (he is not a fan of bumps, but I'm guessing he knows how to ski 'em). I couldn't figure out why he was so psyched (and he was seriously stoked) to ski Beartrap on a totally ordinary day, but he helped remind me that you can always find fun stuff to do on skis.

At Holiday Valley, NY, if you were on the mogul team, it was just understood that you were a badass. Ladies included. In fact, the one girl I have ever met that absolutely kicked my ass skiing, was on the bump team. I worked with her at a ski shop, and we used to do some bump runs together. Best female skier I have ever seen in person. She is now on the US bump team- Jillian Vogtli.

The Chute chair at Holiday Valley was where we would mostly hang out. Solid bumps top to bottom. Huge 15 ft booters off the cat track into solid 2-3 ft bumps. I can't even imagine what my knees would think of me now.

Long story short, I love bumps. They made me into the skier I am today. If that makes me a pussy, then meow muthafucker

I think I'd heard Vogtli was out of HV. Obviously a sick skier.

[cue cheesy music and blurry reel of memories]
Chute was where I learned to ski bumps for real, after getting an idea of how to do it at Boston Mills when I lived in Cleveland. My father used to take me to HV weekdays sometimes when there were parent conferences or teachers' meetings. I think he even let me skip school one day, which was remarkable. Sometimes we'd go the night before and stay in that motel right in front of HV. I can remember how cool it was to ride the 3.5 hours on I-90 through Ashtabula, Erie, and Salamanca into Elicottville. For a kid like me, who lived for skiing but was trapped in Cleveland, Holiday Valley was an oasis that I would have gladly moved to.
Runs like Chute and Expo (is that right? On that trail the bumps were literally the size of small cars in places, and I treated that run as more of a curiosity than a bump run) were real skiing to me.
That was back before my father blew his knee in 1988, an injury from which, despite a reconstruction, his skiing never fully recovered. But back then watching him ski the bumps on Chute in perfect 70's freestyle form, with his Scott boots practically glued together and K2 Cheeseburgers (later updated to Rossi STS's) knocking against one another, seemed to be the definition of what it meant to be a good skier.
The year he blew his knee was the same year I finally felt I could ski as well or better than he could, and so we really only got to ski hard together for one season (or a bit less), but it's a season that stands out in my mind for reasons that don't have much to do with the quality of the terrain, snow, or anything else strictly skiing related.
My father still skis, but only out west these days, and I haven't skied with him in years. I need to do something about that.
Thanks for putting Holiday Valley back in my mind.

[snowsprite]

My Vermont friends tell me "Bumps are your friends" and "You don't want to ski steeps un-bumped...they're too dangerous." Bizarre.

I'd rather risk a death-slide down an un-bumped steep (which I doubt is going to happen) than a slow, twisting break of a limb (which I'm sure is going to happen) on moguls I am unable to ski properly. Nobody gets that though.

Besides, I'm not good enough to ski moguls fast and skiing slow is bo-ring.

Sprite

[warthog]

Hey Dex-

Nice memories of HV. I went to college near there, and worked in various ski shops for 4 years. For what it is, you are correct. It is an oasis. The town of Ellicottville is unbelievable too. You just can't believe you are in western NY. It feels like Aspen (not that that is always a good thing).

Glad I could remind you of some good times.

BTW- Yodeler was another good run. They always made the snowmaking burms extra big on that one

[Bluebird]

I think I might have to forward this thread to my wife but then she might want to jump on here for the long haul. Anyway, she was on the Holiday valley bump team with the likes of Jill Vogtli and others, including Travis Meyer. She still rips in the bumps and I can safely say that it makes her a ripping skier. She seems to have no fear. taking a digger at speed on a hard Northeastern bump run is one of the more painful things I can think of. I would take powder over bumps any day but for us easterners that choice is not always there.

[warthog]

Knew of Travis, never met him.

Maybe Baconzo could weigh in. He lives there now. Is the bump scene still big there?

[Keoni]

I know what you're saying, and looking at Olympic courses and World Championship courses really makes the bump skier in me salivate (perfect spacing, nice LZ's), but those courses can be a complete bitch to ski. I've been on a few right before/after competition (regular WC and Nor Am) and usually the skiers have pounded the shit out of them in training. Hard ice and narrow ruts at the base of each bump. The guys who can rip those courses (especially a steep one like at Blackcomb) are monsters. Don't forget they air about 15-20 feet above the course and often come down right on top of a mogul, and make it look sort of easy.

I'd still suck...just not as bad. Of course, I could do that thing where you bungee cord your knees and feet together.

And that course at Lake Placid(?) from last week looked pretty flat compared to a lot of others

[SkiJunky05]

Before the terrain park revolution, I recognized moguls as "freestyle"
-->moguls = jumping = younger crowd = fun. So yea, I still enjoy the occasional spring slush day...on a trail like one of these:
Beartrap @ mt snow
Liftline @ Stowe
Bubblecuffer or Skidder @ the loaf
Upper Chief @ Okemo
Laaate season on Superstar

Lame, no. Less fun than everything else on the mountains, yes.

[Dexter Rutecki]

I'd still suck...just not as bad. Of course, I could do that thing where you bungee cord your knees and feet together.

And that course at Lake Placid(?) from last week looked pretty flat compared to a lot of others

You are correct, sir. I believe it's the flattest one that was regularly on the WC (might be at the FIS minimum--22 degrees?). When the men really boost on the jumps they're coming down even harder than usual.

[ole2planker]

My father still skis, but only out west these days, and I haven't skied with him in years. I need to do something about that.

Do it. Now. While you still can. While your father still can.

[cue Warren Miller] If you don't do it this year, your father will be one year older when you do [end Warren Miller]

[Theodore Huxtable]

I don't think I have heard Outer Limits at Killington mentioned - that is the mother of all bumps runs, on the east coast at least.

I love chilling on the deck of the lodge at the bottom of Bear Mountain on a warm spring day with a cocktail in hand, taking in the sounds of a reggae band, watching some of the sick mofo's go from top to bottom on Outer Limits without stopping, pulling a variety of jibs throughout their descent. Equally as amusing was watching the fools who thought they had game yard sale ten times on their way down, getting hazed by everyone on the chair lift that runs on the right side of the trail. Outer Limits is one mean trail, absolutely relentless.

[jonski]

Would have to agree with the 'less fun than other stuff' comment SkiJunky made....not the first choice for any day on the hill, but can be fun none the less.

Some of you Summit County Mangs gotta admit that a few laps of Echo chair at Gaperidge, or hitting International or Palli bumps at the Basin, and similar stuff around the county can be good fun every now and again.

Especially over the Holiday periods when they are about the only trails on the hill not full of gapers....

[Pedro]

In my Book there are two types of Skiing.... Pow and Moguls...hucking and trees fit into those two cateories.. If there is no Pow I am in the bumps, there is no way i could tolerate cruising all day long, and since I am an east coaster chances are there is no pow.

[Squirrel99]

More classic 'bump lines:

Telluride- Spiral Stairs, Kant-Ma-kem (sp?)
WP/MJ- Phantom Bridge, Drunken Frenchman, Needle's Eye, Railbender/Derailer
'Boat- Rolex & Concentration (before they groomed daily), Twister, Whiteout
Deer Valley- Champion
Park City- Thaynes
Alpental- International
Vail- Prima-Pronto-Log Chute, Highline
ABasin- Slalom Slope
Blackcomb- Catskinner/Organ Grinder (before terrain parks & grooming- 3,000 vert of bumps )
Aspen- Ridge of Bell
Taos- Al's Run

[warthog]

Forgot:

Stowe- National, and Goat(sometimes)

[Pedro]

More classic 'bump lines:

Telluride- Spiral Stairs, Kant-Ma-kem (sp?)
WP/MJ- Phantom Bridge, Drunken Frenchman, Needle's Eye, Railbender/Derailer
'Boat- Rolex & Concentration (before they groomed daily), Twister, Whiteout
Deer Valley- Champion
Park City- Thaynes
Alpental- International
Vail- Prima-Pronto-Log Chute, Highline
ABasin- Slalom Slope
Blackcomb- Catskinner/Organ Grinder (before terrain parks & grooming- 3,000 vert of bumps )
Aspen- Ridge of Bell
Taos- Al's Run

Gunbarrel at Heavenly

[Tap]

when i first moved out West, i landed in Telluride. Land of huge steep bumps. Kant-Make-Um, Spiral Stairs, Mine Shaft. It was considered a badge of honor to rip those frozen volkswagons. People would ski "the circuit" all day long....it was seriously humbling. Some of the strongest, most amazing alpine/tele skiers I've ever seen were in Telluride. Cutting my "big mountain" teeth there made me a better rider, even if it meant that a 18" pow day still meant having my knees rammed into my chest every turn.

when i moved to SLC, it was a whole new ball game. Where are the moguls? Shit, people hucking huge off anything into smoooooth pow, snowing all the time....it was a whole new experience. Lovely. I didn't miss the moguls AT ALL.

Squaw on a deep pow day is awesome. Trying to ride West Face of KT on a hard mogul day sucks. Tough to find a rhythm, off camber, and big moguls. I still didn't miss the bumps.

I consider it an badge of honor to be able to rip a bump line, maybe not in the icy dead of winter but in the spring when they are soft it can be a fun diversion. It's a good workout on a snowboard and teaches you about quick weight transfer. You don't get the long smooth flow feeling of the pow turn, but it's an aspect of the mountain and i still respect it.