Off-season ski training

[Joshua]

Well, only 6 more months till the start of the 2003-2004 ski season, and I was wondering what people do out there to train in the offeseason, and specifically, what can be done to train for moguls. I run and lift weights, but is there something more specific?

[riverc0il]

i run and hike... but not specifically to train for anything... i just enjoy doing so.

i suppose anything that keeps the legs strong would help. i can't think of anything one could do during the summer that would even remotely simulate bumps though. maybe hitting the gym for leg presses and extensions and squats might help?

my legs are usually jacked by the end of the summer from hiking and running... but interestingly enough it doesn't seem to help with the burn of that first mogul run of the year!!! FEEL THE BURN!!!!!

oh yea, by the way... probably only 4 months till the start of the season if tenney in NH has anything to say about it. their new snowmagic technology is anxiously anticipated.

[Joshua]

I once saw this pic of some kids doing dry land training for moguls....yeah, tell me about the burn...I am in great shape but those bumps wipe me out...

what's this about this new technology? how is that resort overall?

[riverc0il]

i used to do dry land training for racing. that reminds me, wall sits!!! if those don't make your legs burn, nothing will! lateral movement and jumping is good too.

any ways, tenney is not very challenging or steep. it has lots of options to get down the mountain, but it makes all the trails seem very similar. the trails don't have any unique character and you can pretty much ski the whole mountain in 4 runs despite the high number of trails. a good cheap family mountain, kids mountain, and place to learn... but nothing any expert will be impressed by. i can appreciate terrain that is well cut and interesting without being challenged, but tenney isn't quite there.

but if i can be making turns in september, i'll be there! this new technology is called "snow magic" i believe. there's a link to the tech's web site on tenney's page at http://www.tenneymtn.com/ - they plan to offer Summer Snow Tubing!!!!! then when they open before killington for skiing, they want to offer race teams training during the week and open to the public on the weekend. an ambitious project. usually ambitious upgrading of equipment in new england results in adding to the growing number of lost areas. i'm hoping tenney succeds at this. will mr. egan running the show, i'm sure the business plan is sound and will succed.

[Joshua]

yeah, wall sits rock...

I don't know about snow at 60 degrees...it must be like skiing on cotton balls...I can wait for the real stuff...but not a chance in hell this winter will be as good as last years.....

used to do a lot of dry land during swim seaon....was just hoping to pass the months with the thoughts of killing those bumps on the first day

[riverc0il]

Originally Posted by jfg15

but not a chance in heck this winter will be as good as last

i guess that all depends on how you define a good winter i think this winter was pretty good overall. it was incredible during early months, especially for ski areas in the snow belts (magic mountain, ragged, etc.). the early season snows provided a wicked base. but things really dried up during what should be the snowiest months (february and march). dry but cold that is, as we never had the mid-season melt. and when it did dump, most of the snow fell in southern NH and VT and missed most resorts. well, then we got huge dumps in april to cap it off.

it was an incredibly strange season! i remember a lot of days skiing thinking "man, we need a dump REALLY bad." and we never got that dump up in the whites. i remember two really tough days up at subarbush and MRG, just nasty conditions mid-february. i'd rather have weekly snows often than big early and late season dumps, so i'd rate this season as average overall. superior for southern NH and VT resorts. i don't think it would be hard for next winter to be better snow wise though. although, despite the snow... i made my best season to date on quality of skiing thanks to some incredible days at cannon, mittersill, magic, and black... and skiied the most days ever in a single season.

[Joshua]

yeah, how quickly I forget, but still, even when it wasn't snowing, the powder remained on the trees for a long time and the conditions, although hard packed, were quite good. I guess living in Mass with all that snow it all morphed together....Mount Snow did quite nice, and Okemo was good too. My biggest problem was the cold. I can handle it, but my skiiing buds can't....

I am definately getting an all east pass this winter, and plan on hitting up some other smaller less known resorts as well.

I posted this awhile ago on epicski, it a fit of intellectual fitness geekiness.
http://www.epicski.com/cgi-bin/ultim...;f=11;t=000304
If you don't feel like ploughing through all of it, the basic premise is that the optimal off season program integrates strength traning with balance. So you do a set of a traditional exercise, and follow it by an exercise that uses the same muscles, but imposes a balance/stability challenge.

The best toys for this are the Bosu, Stability Ball and Dyna Disc.