Bumps vs. POW

[JD]

Which technique will make you a better skier?

My take. Skiing pow is a subtle thing. It teaches you how to carve. People who ski pow well can carve the crap outta groomed snow, using the ski properly.

Skiing bumps take alot of skill. It teaches you to stay forwad and absorb terrain. But ripping bumpers can't always carve and on open groomed snow I've seen alot of people who are good bumpers just skid around.

If you can't lay down a nice carve, you can't really ski pow well, but you may be able to bump well. If you can carve and ski pow efficiently, that doesn't mean you can bump well, but at that point, who cares...you should be skiing pow anyway.
I say learning to ski pow well will teach you more about proper ski technique and will generally teach you to be a better skier then bumps. You?

Fire away....I'm ready for it...
edit: please don't take this to mean I think I am a better skier then anyone. I consider myself a solid intermediate.

 

[SkiDork]

But ripping bumpers can't always carve and on open groomed snow I've seen alot of people who are good bumpers just skid around.

I disagree. If you're a ripping bumper, you've GOT to be able to carve because it is actually being used in the bumps, albeit subtly.

The times you've seen bumpers skidding is not because they CAN'T carve its because they don't care about carving at that particular moment - they're just relaxing on their way to the bumps. Trust me.

 

[tjf67]

I don't think it is a one or another. to be a complete skier I think you need to kno whow to do both.

For me the snowplow works in all conditions. Learn how to plow and you can motor

 

[JD]

I disagree. If you're a ripping bumper, you've GOT to be able to carve because it is actually being used in the bumps, albeit subtly.

The times you've seen bumpers skidding is not because they CAN'T carve its because they don't care about carving at that particular moment - they're just relaxing on their way to the bumps. Trust me.

Sorry, but it's just not the case. I skiied for years with a guy who killed the bumps. I used to make fun of him trying to ski high speed runs because he couldn't rail turns. He would get all pissed and say he was carving but he was doing big fast smears. He ripped the bumps though...

 

[frozencorn]

I've found that skiing pow out west actually helped my bump game back east for whatever reason. I think maybe it's the mentality of losing sight of your skis, and getting rid of the fear that they're underneath there geting caught on something that's going to result in a nifty yard sale. Get rid of that thought process and you're ahead of the game. Not sure why that translates to bumps, but somehow it has for me.

Unless the bumps are east coast rock solid, in which case nothing's gonna help.

 

[hardline]

Which technique will make you a better skier?

My take. Skiing pow is a subtle thing. It teaches you how to carve. People who ski pow well can carve the crap outta groomed snow, using the ski properly.

Skiing bumps take alot of skill. It teaches you to stay forwad and absorb terrain. But ripping bumpers can't always carve and on open groomed snow I've seen alot of people who are good bumpers just skid around.

If you can't lay down a nice carve, you can't really ski pow well, but you may be able to bump well. If you can carve and ski pow efficiently, that doesn't mean you can bump well, but at that point, who cares...you should be skiing pow anyway.
I say learning to ski pow well will teach you more about proper ski technique and will generally teach you to be a better skier then bumps. You?

Fire away....I'm ready for it...
edit: please don't take this to mean I think I am a better skier then anyone. I consider myself a solid intermediate.

i completely agree with you. i have noticed the same things about the correlation between pow and carving. thats not to say you can't be good at bumps and pow.

 

[2knees]

Learn how to plow and you can motor

:lol: so true. never underestimate the wedge.

i couldnt rail a turn if my life depended on it , i'm decent in the bumps and i'm getting better at powder with each opportunity, as few as those are.

so basically, i dont know the answer to your question from a personal standpoint but i think the bottom line is being really really good at any single discipline will make you better in others. if that makes sense.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I also think pow.

 

[bvibert]

Two different skill sets. To be a good skier all around skier I'd say you have to know both. I have the opportunity to ski bumps WAY more often than powder, so concentrating on my bump skills is what matters most to me right now.

 

[Greg]

I call bullshit to anyone that thinks a good bumper can't carve. There's a big difference between being able to carve, and wanting to carve. Most bumpers just keep the short snappy skidded turns once they hit the groomer because that's the style of skiing they enjoy. Skiing steep bumps well is one of the hardest types of skiing there is, IMO, second only to tight steep trees and hucking.

Most people can fake it in powder. Not so much in the bumps. Powder is more about letting the skis run, being light on the feet and finding that perfect fore/aft balance. My biggest problem in powder is I tend to still take short quick turns. Once I remember to just flow down the hill, it gets a lot easier.

And I've never seen a good bumper who suddenly flails on the groomers or in powder, 2knees included despite his post above. Put Pat on some fat skis and he'll ski powder with the best of them, I'm sure. Ask him to break his stance a little and lay down a carve, and I bet he could do a decent job. I'm going to ask him to next time I ski with him and film it.

 

[JD]

I also think that if you spend more time on the blues woring on carving, you will become a better pow skiier. Pow requires less edge, but the basic technique is the same. Fat skis make pow skiing alot like groomer skiing too.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think there are good bump skiers who rip at pow and suck at carving. I think there are racers who suck at bumps, but rip in pow. I think there are great pow skiers who can't ski bumps all that well. I see plenty of kids who can rip down a trail backwards and throw insane rodeomightcallits or whatever in the park, stuff I couldn't dream of doing, but they suck at bumps, pow and carving.

hence I don't think you can make a conclusive statement that one area of expertise equals success in other areas. Everyone's different. I focus on trying to be technically sound in all terrain types. I don't think about how when I'm skiing trees that it might improve my bump technique or when I'm carving a groomer how it might improve my pow technique. If I had to make any correlation at all it is that I think bump and tree skiing prowess are the most closely connected.

 

[JD]

I call bullshit to anyone that thinks a good bumper can't carve. There's a big difference between being able to carve, and wanting to carve. Most bumpers just keep the short snappy skidded turns once they hit the groomer because that's the style of skiing they enjoy. Skiing steep bumps well is one of the hardest types of skiing there is, IMO, second only to tight steep trees and hucking.

Most people can fake it in powder. Not so much in the bumps. Powder is more about letting the skis run, being light on the feet and finding that perfect fore/aft balance. My biggest problem in powder is I tend to still take short quick turns. Once I remember to just flow down the hill, it gets a lot easier.

And I've never seen a good bumper who suddenly flails on the groomers or in powder, 2knees included despite his post above. Put Pat on some fat skis and he'll ski powder with the best of them, I'm sure. Ask him to break his stance a little and lay down a carve, and I bet he could do a decent job. I'm going to ask him to next time I ski with him and film it.

So your saying if you're good in the bumps, you can rip in pow and carve ripping turns?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Which technique will make you a better skier?

My take. Skiing pow is a subtle thing. It teaches you how to carve. People who ski pow well can carve the crap outta groomed snow, using the ski properly.

Skiing bumps take alot of skill. It teaches you to stay forwad and absorb terrain. But ripping bumpers can't always carve and on open groomed snow I've seen alot of people who are good bumpers just skid around.

If you can't lay down a nice carve, you can't really ski pow well, but you may be able to bump well. If you can carve and ski pow efficiently, that doesn't mean you can bump well, but at that point, who cares...you should be skiing pow anyway.
I say learning to ski pow well will teach you more about proper ski technique and will generally teach you to be a better skier then bumps. You?

Fire away....I'm ready for it...
edit: please don't take this to mean I think I am a better skier then anyone. I consider myself a solid intermediate.

I don't know which technique makes you a better skier..I feel like skiing powder is easier than skiing bumps...or maybe because it's much more enjoyable to me. I don't feel like bumps or powder help with carving..the only way to learn to carve is on smooth packed snow..I really believe to become a good all mountain skier..you need to ski a variety of different conditions and terrain often..as for proper ski technique..I really don't care anymore I'm at the point where I just want to have fun and ski fast..whether I'm in the backseat..skidding..centered..carving..whatever..

I know with ski instructors..they have them make slow deliberate carved turns and that's a way they can spot their weaknesses..I feel like it's easier to carve turns going fast than slow..

 

[tjf67]

I call bullshit to anyone that thinks a good bumper can't carve. There's a big difference between being able to carve, and wanting to carve. Most bumpers just keep the short snappy skidded turns once they hit the groomer because that's the style of skiing they enjoy. Skiing steep bumps well is the hardest skiing there is, IMO.

Most people can fake it in powder. Not so much in the bumps. Powder is more about letting the skis run, being light on the feet and finding that perfect fore/aft balance. My biggest problem in powder is I tend to still take short quick turns. Once I remember to just flow down the hill, it gets a lot easier.

And I've never seen a good bumper who suddenly flails on the groomers or in powder, 2knees included despite his post above. Put Pat on some fat skis and he'll ski powder with the best of them, I'm sure. Ask him to break his stance a little and lay down a carve, and I bet he could do a decent job. I'm going to ask him to next time I ski with him and film it.

You cant fake it in powder any more than you can fake it in the bumps. the only way you get good in powder is to ski it. Just like the bumps. Neither is that hard as long as you do it.

A good bumper wont flail on the groomers but if they do not know how to properly set and edge they may have problems survival skiing.

 

[Greg]

So your saying if you're good in the bumps, you can rip in pow and carve ripping turns?

Not necessarily, but I would bet most could do okay. Perhaps really good if they had a few days or so to practice with the right equipment. Put the accomplished carver or powder skier in the bumps for a few days, and yeah, maybe some of it will start to click, but they're not going to be ripping. You act like rippers are born as bump skiers. Most people who ski moguls well have spent many years on the groomers first.

 

[JD]

I think trees and bumps are similar only if you ski tracked out bumped up trees. I find the hardest type of skiing to be deep, variable snow, in tight, steep woods.

 

[Trekchick]

All are different techniques, but I'd say a good bumper has a better chance of skiing well(carving) on groomers than a good powder skier does at skiing well on groomers.

Look at the East West argument. If you're from the east you have a better chance of adapting to skiing west than you do if you're a west(readowder) skier and come east to deal with the down hill skate rinks and volkswagon size ice bergs we/you call bumps.

I skied 18" powder and actually took a lesson, which was well worth while. The basics of the technique are similar to carving but a completely different take on it. Whole different animal

 

[BigJay]

I think it depends on what type of skier you are no matter what...

Racers are most of the time awful pow skiers... and awful bumpers... But i also know a guy who was on the Canadian Ski Team that rips in the tight woods... But he comes from a ski family... everyone skis... so he was able to learn everything...

Bumpers are skidders most of the time... because bumps require to skid between them and not carve... but then again, 2 of my buddies used to be bump coaches... and one can rip the woods just as fast as any pow-guys... He's also an elite DH mountain biker... So this helps too...

Carvers... most of the time stick with carving... and most of the time are either super technical about it... or intermediate that don't venture anywhere else...

It depends also how you were brought on the slopes... I grew up in the woods... but then raced SL and GS for a few years... Use to ride the woods on a race board... so i had to adapt... but i still retain the "forms" from racing... and use to ride bumps on skis... and since my buddies were coaches, i "stole" the technique and transfered it to snowboarding... and then again, i use a "slidding" technique from tele-skiers out in the pow...

So basically, you gather the info from wherever you want and what type of terrain you want to ride... I'm not going to bitch on anyone's choice of terrain or technique... don't want to raise a fire or anything...

Oh and one last thing... East Coast riders make a kill out west when they get to big mountains with open bowls... West Coast riders are scared of our terrain!

 

[Greg]

I also think pow.

This goes back a few years, but did you change your opinion here?

I was riding in the gondi at Whiteface about a month ago with 2 guys who had never been there before. They asked me what trails I would recommend they try. I asked them how well they skied and they responded that they where experts.One trail I told them to try was Empire, a steep, narrow bump run. They told me that they like steep, narrow trails, but that they don’t ski bumps.

When someone tells me they don’t ski bumps I take it to mean that they can’t ski bumps well. I think a lot of skiers who are experts often measure the abilities of others by how well they ski moguls. If a person can’t, doesn’t or won’t ski bumps can that person still be considered an expert skier if he/she does every other aspect of skiing very well. I say no, what do you think?

http://forums.alpinezone.com/8100-do-bumps-make-man.html