What's your mogul story?

[Greg]

Okay, so I'm officially into off-season mode when I start making threads like this. Well, what better topic to start with than moguls (I know, I know, here goes Greg again with another bump thread... )? Anyway, what's your mogul story? Perhaps yours is about how you learned to love bumps, or maybe it's a story about how you given them a try and just can't get it so you've given up. Whatever it is, tell it here. Here's my story:

I was always intrigued by bumps. I started skiing in 1994 during what many would consider Killington's apex. Tons of snowmaking, big bumps on trails like Outer Limits and Superstar. I would always gape my way down these trails. Perhaps I was attracted to the "Experts Only or You will Die" signs. It was always a thrill, but I mostly just traversed the lines. All those guys that could really rip were inspiring. "Someday," I thought to myself. I think I'm still trying to get there...

Fast forward about 10 years. I can clearly remember, sticking a line of probably 15 seeded bumps once at Loon. At that point I was hooked. The next season at Loon, I spent a lot of time on the seeded bumps on Rumrunner and Sunset. Made a lot of progress sticking my line, but certainly no form nor A&E. I think I have a video of that floating around. I should post it. Pretty funny.

The next chapter was at Hunter in December of 2004. After a day of chasing JimG. and his friend Karl around on the bump runs, I was truly humbled and made the decision to get serious about my skiing. In February of 2006, I first skied the seeded run at Sundown with 2knees. I was thilled to have a "practice" area so close to home. I then became a huge advocate and vocal supporter of the Sundown bumps.

Since I've started skiing and becoming personal friends with some of the other AZ bump nuts, I've become even more addicted. It's also really inspiring to ski with the guys that can really rip like 2knees, 180, powbmps, etc. The only problem with that is once again realizing, I have a looooooooong way to go.

So...what's your mogul story?

[andyzee]

Well, I was at Tuckerman Ravine, thought I'd be smart and ski down Sherburne Trail. Well little did I realize that it was moguls just about all the way down, not and easy task when you have 60 pounds on your back. I very quickly learned to stay out of the back seat!

[BushMogulMaster]

Once upon a time...

My first mogul experience was around age 8 or 9 at Magic Mountain. Lucifer, to be exact. Big, ugly pow bumps. I was practically in tears because I just simply couldn't ski it. We ended up there by accident, btw. Anyway, I finally made it down, and was madder than h3ll!

But, the following year we went to Killington. I was making better turns by that point. Starting to get the hang of this whole "parallel" thing. Gave Superstar a try. My dad had been skiing bumps for years (still rips, by the way), so figured he'd offer some pointers. He knew Killington's terrain well, since just a few years before the trip he had been the Bear Mt. Manager and the Upper Basin Manager. Anyway... this was my first good bump experience. I had a blast. Looked like crap, skied like crap, but it was a challenge, and I liked it!

I didn't really experience real moguls again until moving back to Vermont in January of 2006, when my dad accepted a management position at Mt. Ellen. He got back into bump skiing, and reintroduced me to the sport on such monsters as Exterminator, Hammerhead, FIS, etc. Watching him ski was more than enough motivation to make me want to be "as good as him." I was determined.

Luckily, that particular season, they elected (much at the behest of my father) to leave skiers' left on Elbow (an intermediate run) bumped up. It was a great learning ground for me. I could handle those bumps, and I could control my speed enough to work on technique. One particular spring day, I was skiing with all of the employees for the employee ski party. It was about 5:30PM, the sun just ducking behind Mt. Ellen. I found a nice line on Elbow and something clicked. It felt right. I stopped before a breakover, and one of the lift coordinators complimented me on my bump skiing. I thought, "well crap... I can do this if I try!" And from that point, I was officially hooked.

Enter 06/07 season. No more bumps on Elbow. But that's okay, because I already had the basic skills down. Cliffs became my new training area. Skiers' left, to be exact. Spent about 112 days on the snow that season, each and every one of them working on technique. Early in 07, I started researching world cup skiers and their technique. I read DiPiro's book, watched tons of WC footage, and started working on advanced skills in absorption and extension, pole plants, stance, and all of the things that make up real quality mogul skiing. I attended Babic's spring camp at Mt. Ellen, and hit another one of those breakthroughs. I started skiing more direct, and looking farther ahead, standing taller, keeping the hands forward. Things started to work.

This season, I have had less of an opportunity to ski moguls. Working at Ski Cooper, a little hill with no pitch and no bumps (but tons of fun anyway), I had no time and no place to really drill technique. But I did manage a total of about 25 bump-centric days, about 15 at Copper, and 10 at the Jane. Skiing with the crew from www.mogulskiing.net was great, and I think I've improved a little bit with every outing. I'm getting there technique-wise. But as with all dedicated mogul skiers, I'll never be 100% satisfied. I will always find something to work on, something that needs attention. But that is part of the draw---part of what keeps it fun and interesting.

And so now I look forward to an exciting 08/09 season. I'll be spending the ski season either at Mt. Ellen, or Mary Jane. It just depends on who hires me to groom! (kinda ironic, the fanatic bump skier wants to GROOM???)

It has really become a huge part of my life, part of who I am. There's a certain mentality among bump skiers. It was obvious during our big bumpapalooza outing. We're all kindred spirits, and all very passionate about our sport. I will continue to do everything in my power to expand the sport, to gain recognition and appreciation for it, and to bring it back into the mainstream skiing world. It will happen, with time. I promise!

[snoseek]

Moguls always were (and often still are) just something i would deal with to get the good snow. This all changed after going to Taos and realizing you have to ski huge bumps to get the real steep terrain that I love. After moving west this year I spent a good deal of time on Mary Jane, which again you must ski some bumps for the good stuff.

At some point I started liking bumps, especially the big soft ones that come with fresh snow. Thinking back I always have liked those kind of big natural bumps like locke line at SR or hardscrabble at cannon. I have yet to figure out those tight little symetrical moguls, I probably don't have the patience. I think I like going fast and skiing powder more than bumps

[Greg]

Originally Posted by snoseek

...you must ski some bumps for the good stuff.

See? Some of us think the bumps are the good stuff...

[wa-loaf]

Well, I started skiing early, but didn't really start hitting the bumps till a bit later. My father was a college professor and weekend ski instructor at Sugarloaf so I did a fair amount of skiing early on. When I was six he started a restaurant and the skiing really dried up since he was working weekends now (and still a full time professor). I only got out a couple times a year through high school.

My first year of college was at UMaine in 86/87 and I picked up a season pass to Sugarloaf. That year was an awesome snow year and I spent a lot of days up there that winter. Being young I'd hit the lifts from open to close with no real break all day. I still struggled with bumps, but loved them, so I just lapped Bubble Cuffer, Winters Way, and any other bumped up runs all day. By the end of the season I was pretty good.

Had enough of college at that point and joined the Army. From there I got to ski in California and then on to Germany for 3 years. Where I continued to improve, but that first year at UMaine is probably the turning point for me.

[mondeo]

One name probably says most of it, as far as how I got into bump skiing: Jonny Moseley. I had been skiing since the 1993-94 season, and did some jumps here and there, but mainly just was doing typical downhill stuff (I think, it was a while back.) Then the 1998 Olympics came around, which was my first real exposure to mogul skiing. I think my brother was more hooked by the bumps while I was more impressed by the tricks, but the combination of skiing with my brother and the hook of the bumps is what got me, and kept me, in the bumps. It also helped that Alex Wilson, who finished 10th, grew up skiing the same mountain as I was skiing so the local press covered the event fairly heavily.

For a while, my mogul skiing was pure hackery. I had a couple years of regular bump skiing before I started working on a decent number of Friday nights for my last couple years of high school, which were the days I usually went skiing, slowing my progress down more. Then college hit, no skiing at all for four years. Got back into it last year, and was probably better than before college at the end of the year, but still not very good. My knowledge of bump technique basically consisted of staying out of the back seat and keeping your feet together.

Started off this year about the same way, and then while researching new boots stumbled across BMM's site mid-January, which opened my eyes to what bump technique should be. Since then, I think I've made pretty good strides in improving my skiing, and will continue to really focus on technique next year. Goal is to be competitive for one of the 32 spots in the BMMC second day next year; it'll be a lot of work, but that's why it's the goal.

[snoseek]

Originally Posted by Greg

See? Some of us think the bumps are the good stuff...

I will never be as crazy about them as you and many others. It takes a special type of person, maybe you are a true perfection artist. I bet a good deal of hardcore bumpers are perfection artist (chime in if you are, I'm curious).

I like bumps but they are a small part of the equation for me. I think one of the things I like best about skiing is exploring different areas and types of terrain. Several times a day this will bring me to bumps but I also spend lots of times on other terrain (trees, fast groomers, halfpipe, powder ect...) I'm too ADD to be a true bump whore.

That said bumpers are probably the best skiers on the hill.

[deadheadskier]

I grew up skiing Okemo pre 'park' days. In fact, all there was was a half pipe in the late 80's on Lower Sel's Choice. At that time, if you were a skier caught in the pipe, they'd pull your pass. It was for snowboarders only.

That's another topic all together, but the point being that if I was 13 again skiing Okemo like I did, I'd probably be all about the park and catching big air, doing tricks etc like most kids do today. The only thing that excited me about Okemo was the mogul skiing. Racing just seemed boring, but give me a bump run to zip down and maybe there might be a bump somewhere in the middle of the field that I could do a twister spread off for late 80's steeze, and I was psyched.

No terrain park at Okemo, no trees to speak of though me and my buddies did try to find stashes when it snowed. Those tree lines consisted of low angle bush whacking through unpruned Southern Vermont hardwoods to a few open turns and back to bushwacking for ten minutes back to trail. But those four ankle deep powder turns through the woods for 50 verticle feet were LEGENDARY ski days.

I grew up skiing bumps becaue I grew up skiing Okemo. Back then you had two options, you were either a racer or a bump skier lookin cool in stretch pants pulling daffys off the occasional jump that formed in the middle of the mogul field. Bumps were cooler than racing to me....end of story.

[danny p]

I started skiing (riding) bumps about 6 years ago when I was new to Killington. I blindly took trails just to learn the layout of the mountain, and back then, chances were that you would find a bumped up run every couple of runs. It took me a long time to understand how to correctly hit bumps on a snowboard, but I painfully learned it. Hearing skiers say that boarders can't do moguls just motivates me to hit them harder, faster and the best I can and once in a while I'll actually get a compliment from a skier, go figure. I absolutely have not got the hang of doing bumps the size of VW's (and I don't know if I ever will), but anything smaller than that with a decent pitch and I usually can handle myself well. I would really like to meet a snowboarder that is an expert bumper to give me some tips, I'm sure there is room for improvement. Skiing (riding) bumps is attractive to me for the challenge, and reminds me of skiing trees. I think bump skiing has made me better in the trees and I think tree skiing makes me better in the bumps. The other attraction is being able to ski the whole mountain, any and all terrain. I have plenty of friends (boaders) that won't go near bumps and I think it's lame. I like being able to go down any trail on the mountain and make it down with some sort of finesse.