Everything the Instructors Never Told You About Mogul Skiing

[JimG.]

Sort of, yes. Don't overdo it though. Ozzy's advice to pull your feet back is an excellent tip. Try to combine that move with some of the lower back arch he mentions and you will find yourself in an action ready and powerful skiing stance.

Alot of folks find themselves in the back seat when they try to extend into the next trough while skiing bumps. Making a conscious effort to arch the lower back will help your hips keep up with your feet and you will maintain that home posture more readily.

 

[Greg]

have a strong pronounced arching lower back

sort of like sticking out the gut?

Interesting tip!

 

[SkiDork]

Alot of folks find themselves in the back seat when they try to extend into the next trough while skiing bumps.

Yes exactly. THis happens to me often.

 

[JimG.]

Alot of folks find themselves in the back seat when they try to extend into the next trough while skiing bumps.

Yes exactly. THis happens to me often.

Common in the bump learning process...it means you're trying all the right moves but just need more practice.

Keep it real regarding where YOU are in the process. If you're finding that you're going mach 10 trying to ski steep bumps while other more accomplished bumpers are ripping all around you, back it down and move over to some lower angle bumps with less skiers. Practice a while and do so until you feel comfortable and confident.

Then go try those steeper lines again.

 

[Greg]

Keep it real regarding where YOU are in the process. If you're finding that you're going mach 10 trying to ski steep bumps while other more accomplished bumpers are ripping all around you, back it down and move over to some lower angle bumps with less skiers. Practice a while and do so until you feel comfortable and confident.

Great advice. I've been known to ski the same runs over and over if I find the challenge is right for my ability. Great approach if solo, but fellow skiers may get annoyed.

 

[JimG.]

Keep it real regarding where YOU are in the process. If you're finding that you're going mach 10 trying to ski steep bumps while other more accomplished bumpers are ripping all around you, back it down and move over to some lower angle bumps with less skiers. Practice a while and do so until you feel comfortable and confident.

Great advice. I've been known to ski the same runs over and over if I find the challenge is right for my ability. Great approach if solo, but fellow skiers may get annoyed.

Learning to ski bumps is a long process for most folks, me included. You can't fake it. Best to practice and make progress at a pace that makes you feel good about the process.

In these situations, going solo is often best unless you can hook up with a fellow bumper who is at the same level as you, more or less.

 

[dipiro]

I got the book.... it's VERY hard to stay in the front seat (shin pressure) at all times... Also, staying tall is a big problem for me. I find myself crouching a lot.

Thanks for giving my book a try, SkiDork. Hang in there, practice a lot on easy terrain, and the bumps will get easier for you.

There's a huge psychological component to the problems you describe. Good mogul skiing posture feels, at first, unnatural, uncomfortable, not instinctual. When we face bumps, ice and steeps, we tend to instinctually draw our hips back towards the hill, and we instinctually crouch. These places feel safe. Obeying this instinct, however, results in a lack of control, in bad skiing.

With practice, you'll train yourself to not submit to instinct, and to attack the bumps with good posture. Standing up tall and driving your hips down the hill can feel dangerous, risky, but when you do it, you suddenly gain control and start skiing well. Rest assured, though, that no one, not even world-cuppers, do it perfectly all the time. We all get caught in the back seat at least once in a while.

Good luck, and have fun.

-Dan

 

[SkiDork]

I got the book.... it's VERY hard to stay in the front seat (shin pressure) at all times... Also, staying tall is a big problem for me. I find myself crouching a lot.

Thanks for giving my book a try, SkiDork. Hang in there, practice a lot on easy terrain, and the bumps will get easier for you.

There's a huge psychological component to the problems you describe. Good mogul skiing posture feels, at first, unnatural, uncomfortable, not instinctual. When we face bumps, ice and steeps, we tend to instinctually draw our hips back towards the hill, and we instinctually crouch. These places feel safe. Obeying this instinct, however, results in a lack of control, in bad skiing.

With practice, you'll train yourself to not submit to instinct, and to attack the bumps with good posture. Standing up tall and driving your hips down the hill can feel dangerous, risky, but when you do it, you suddenly gain control and start skiing well. Rest assured, though, that no one, not even world-cuppers, do it perfectly all the time. We all get caught in the back seat at least once in a while.

Good luck, and have fun.

-Dan

Thanks. I'm going to continue practicing and hopefully some day I'll make a breakthrough.

 

[Greg]

Thanks. I'm going to continue practicing and hopefully some day I'll make a breakthrough.

Tonight, I had a break-through of sorts. The "extension" aspect finally clicked. I've always had trouble driving my skis down the back of the bumps, but tonight I practiced on some smooth crud piles (not quite moguls really) and it just clicked. These little incremental breakthroughs are what I love about skiing, and moguls in particular. It's as much mental as it is physical... :dunce:

 

[SkiDork]

Last February I had a day where I could absorb and extend. I couldn't recapture it the next weekend. How bizarre is that?

It happened initially in The Light at K. I was able to keep it up on Escapade. The thing that helped me that day was thinking of doing a "prejump" (a racers prejump) right as I got to the mogul. My legs automatically absorved and extended correctly that day and I was just hopping down the zipperline as casually as could be.

But the next weekend, all was lost. Strange stuff.

 

[Greg]

Last February I had a day where I could absorb and extend. I couldn't recapture it the next weekend. How bizarre is that?

It happened initially in The Light at K. I was able to keep it up on Escapade. The thing that helped me that day was thinking of doing a "prejump" (a racers prejump) right as I got to the mogul. My legs automatically absorved and extended correctly that day and I was just hopping down the zipperline as casually as could be.

But the next weekend, all was lost. Strange stuff.

Well, at least you know now when it feels right. That's half the battle. The rest is just logging the mileage...

 

[Marc]

Thanks. I'm going to continue practicing and hopefully some day I'll make a breakthrough.

Tonight, I had a break-through of sorts. The "extension" aspect finally clicked. I've always had trouble driving my skis down the back of the bumps, but tonight I practiced on some smooth crud piles (not quite moguls really) and it just clicked. These little incremental breakthroughs are what I love about skiing, and moguls in particular. It's as much mental as it is physical... :dunce:

I agree, I've come to realize it is the challenge of being able to ski something I once couldn't that really makes skiing enjoyable for me right now. The learning process and overcoming challenges is addicting. I still have moments where putting it all together, the angulation, cherry picking, absorbing and extending, leaning forward and staying square to the fall line, still aren't ingrained in my muscle memory and I catch myself lapsing. But as someone said, that wears down with the mileage.

Durying my last trips out to Attitash, Snow, and recently Killington I've essentially learned to be a bump skier in about 4 - 5 days worth of skiing. I was able to tackle Downdraft at Killington the begining of this week without much fear or fanfare. Looking up at it now knowing last year I would've wet myself looking up at it is a damn good feeling.


But don't worry, everyone, I still fall plenty and I am sure I have many left in my bag for whenever the first AZ gathering should occur...

:beer:

 

[JimG.]

I agree, I've come to realize it is the challenge of being able to ski something I once couldn't that really makes skiing enjoyable for me right now. The learning process and overcoming challenges is addicting. I still have moments where putting it all together, the angulation, cherry picking, absorbing and extending, leaning forward and staying square to the fall line, still aren't ingrained in my muscle memory and I catch myself lapsing. But as someone said, that wears down with the mileage.

Durying my last trips out to Attitash, Snow, and recently Killington I've essentially learned to be a bump skier in about 4 - 5 days worth of skiing. I was able to tackle Downdraft at Killington the begining of this week without much fear or fanfare. Looking up at it now knowing last year I would've wet myself looking up at it is a damn good feeling.


But don't worry, everyone, I still fall plenty and I am sure I have many left in my bag for whenever the first AZ gathering should occur...

:beer:

One of the best parts of the skiing experience is that the chance to overcome challenges never ends. There will always be a next challenge for you if you want to go after it.

This is particularly true for bump skiing...the techniques evolve constantly and there is always a new tweak to try.

 

[ski_adk]

I can't wait for my copy of this book to arrive. Twice this past week at Jiminy, I was skiing soft bumps, making several nice, ripping linked turns only to get completed launched on the 4th...and what I mean by launched is killer ski rebound after releasing the edge. Basically, just finishing the turn got me kicked up into the air.

Anyways, I'm already starting to feel the bumps, mostly as a result of just reading some of the posts in this thread. Thanks for the reference!

 

[Greg]

Twice this past week at Jiminy, I was skiing soft bumps

Where are the best bump lines at Jiminy right now?

 

[kingslug]

Just read the book. My prob is on the icy stuff, as in Hunter's west side. It's so steep and slick you can't get a good bite. yet I see people get down it no prob, well some of them. It's hard to practice on it without taking a dive. Then it's yard sale time and clean up in aisle 5. When I go out west I have no prob, except getting tired. Ice moguls, toughest condition I know.

 

[riverc0il]

maybe all this talk about bump skiing will catch the eye of more ski areas and perhaps we can see some more bump trails, specifically half groomed blue squares and the like for good training grounds. never made any sense why ski areas don't want to develop skiers that can ski the whole mountain well which increases enjoyment and thus increases skier visits. perhaps this should be another thread, heh! regardless, all this discussion about bump skiing certainly can't hurt!

:beer:

 

[kingslug]

Spring skiing. I find this the best time to realy practice. The whole mountain gets bumped up, and ice is not an issue.

 

[dipiro]

Greg, Jim, skidork, Marc, ski_adk, kingslug, rivercoil and everyone else following and participating in this thread:

I'm really psyched to see this conversation unfolding and continuing. In the fall of 2004, while I was still editing the book and just beginning photography, SKI Magazine asked its readers, in its monthly online poll: "What aspect of your technique would you most like to improve this season?" Of five possible responses, the most popular, at 34%, was "bumps."

This poll helped to confirm for me my hunch that lots of experienced, enthusiastic skiers want and need good bump instruction and good bumps on which to train. And you guys, with your willingness to read my book, and your enthusiastic participation in this thread, are confirming my hunch ever further.

I hope rivercoil's "maybe" will pan out: I hope ski areas will begin to provide more gentle mogul terrain for learning. I also hope manufacturers will make mogul skis more available, and make more all-terrain skis that are good in moguls. And I hope good, authentic, effective mogul instruction will seep from competitive freestyle programs into mainstream ski schools.

Maybe we'll see some progress along these lines in this new year. In the meantime, keep practicing and keep having fun. Happy New Year!

-Dan

 

[Marc]

And a big thanks is definitely due in your direction, Dan. Thanks for your expert participation.

I've been putting in the "mileage" this season now and wow. Bumps are fun and addicting. I avoid groomers now. I've been finding them boring, even the steeps.

I love it. There's just a steep learning curve in the very begining, but once the basic technique is just learned, not even mastered, a new whole world of skiing opens up to you.


It really is true what you say, Dan. Good bump skiers are good skiers, period.