Mogul Report??? Anything decent around yet?

[powhunter]

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[Nick]

Who is usually the early season leader in mogul production?

 

[Savemeasammy]

I am hoping to read something good about Killington here

 

[Zand]

If Killington is your object, then check lower Bunny Buster at around 2 pm tomorrow afternoon

 

[deadheadskier]

Who is usually the early season leader in mogul production?

Probably Killington due to having the most skier traffic, which is needed for bumps to develop. But, even there, it changes day by day like everywhere else. Open terrain is at such a premium this time of year at any open mountain and the weather is so fickle that the resorts pretty much groom everything out nightly to preserve base depths.

 

[steamboat1]

Centerline, Stowe.

 

[deadheadskier]

Centerline, Stowe.

Good call. I've skied some great early season bumps on that trail. Skiers left upper hayride can be good too.

 

[steamboat1]

Centerline

It's even reported as bumped in their trail report.

I'll let you know as I will probably be skiing Stowe next Fri. $46 lift ticket because of ski club/council appreciation days next weekend (Fri-Sun). Even cheaper if you buy a 2 or 3 day ticket. I'll probably ski K on Thurs because my skis are in the shop there, Stowe Fri (see above). Back to K on Sat because I have friends coming up Fri night & I know they won't drive all the way to Stowe.

 

[steamboat1]

Now if K gets Cascade blown this week (likely) it will probably have good bumps on it for several days. They usually let the snow settle for several days after it opens before grooming it. Usually those are the best bumps you'll see on Cascade all season because once they start grooming it they tend to groom it regularly.

 

[jack97]

Who is usually the early season leader in mogul production?

if its' seeded, then okemo or sundown.

 

[freeski919]

if its' seeded, then okemo or sundown.

Real bumps are made by skiers, not groomers.

 

[jack97]

Real bumps are made by skiers, not groomers.

back in the days i would say so.

 

[steamboat1]

back in the days i would say so.

Are you inferring that real skiers can't make real bumps anymore?

They're only a memory from back in the day.

You really need to get out more.

 

[deadheadskier]

Are you inferring that real skiers can't make real bumps anymore?

They're only a memory from back in the day.

You really need to get out more.

not really

Jack knows what's up.

First off, back in the days (as Jack said), ski areas had far inferior grooming equipment and the black diamond trails were groomed less often. There also wasn't a huge percentages of snowboarders back then (Qeue the drama, yes I said it), so natural bumps formed better and quicker.

Secondly, any bump skier will agree that great natural bumps trump all, but they also recognize that seeded bumps have their place too at the vast majority of New England Ski areas today. 20 years ago, decent bumps were pretty much non-existent at Southern New England mountains; and except for during the spring slush bump skiing season, good bumps were often hard to find at Northern New England ski areas that don't average a lot of natural snow. If it weren't for seeding, basically 80% of the ski areas in New England today wouldn't have good moguls most of the season.

I say this as someone who grew up skiing small Southern NH ski areas and Okemo during the 80's and early 90's. During the early and late season my family skied Killington and I was blown away by all of the good bumps on multiple trails. I lived at Bear mountain 10-15 days a season skiing Fiddle, OL and Wildfire all day long. I rarely skied anywhere else on the hill because the bumps on Bear in the 80s were so good.

Those Killington bump experiences were far from reality most elsewhere though.

At Okemo, the Sel's Choice trail was pretty much it for bumps. After storms or during the spring, you'd get good bumps on Upper Chief, Defiance, Ledges, Black Out and Screaming Demon, but 90% of the season those runs were groomed flat because Okemo lacks the climate to have consistently good natural bumps. The only reason Sel's was often good was because though the bumps weren't seeded, they were still "manufactured". They rarely groomed Sel's back then, and they made snow on the trail constantly, such that the bump skiers could ski the lines in and at least have one trail to enjoy. The reason why Okemo made that effort is because their top expert instructor at the time, Tim Carbone, was a bump fanatic and recognized that Okemo offered zero challenge for most skiers unless they consistently offered at least one trail of bumps. Tim basically only taught private lessons and there was cash incentives when he was personally requested. So he pushed for the mountain to bump up Sel's because he would financially benefit from it.

Tim, taught me to ski bumps. I did a few USSA mogul competitions a year throughout high school and during those events I got to ski elsewhere around New England and it wasn't uncommon to have absolute crap mogul courses to ski at low snow or small New England ski areas.

Fast forward to today, and you've got tiny mountains like Ski Sundown, OPENING their season with moguls on multiple trails. You've got droves of Killington bumpers traveling too Connecticut to ski in that mole hills bump competition. Okemo often has a half a dozen good bump runs during most of the season. Killington even seeds bumps for the KMS freestyle team.

That's what Jack was talking about. Times are different; and for the bump skier, moguls are more accessible all over New England today than they ever were before because of seeding.

 

[Savemeasammy]

I wouldn't care if there were guys out on a trail making moguls with shovels...! I would just like to see some bumps somewhere. I don't need to travel far to ski trails that have been groomed into submission - I can go to my local hill for that (which I will do).

FWIW, I enjoy both natural and seeded bumps. Seeded bumps are great for getting into a rhythm. Natural bumps are more of a challenge by virtue of their more arrhythmic lines. I will take either!


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[4aprice]

Killington did a really good job of pocketing small bump sections around the mountain last year. Even a small pocket on a green run under the Snowdon Cripple. Didn't appear to me to take up much room. Always been a fan of the 1/2 groomed 1/2 bump trails.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[powhunter]

Thanks for the reports..Probably gonna hit K on Tuesday....

 

[skiadikt]

Thanks for the reports..Probably gonna hit K on Tuesday....

superstar had pretty decent soft snow bumps under the guns today. headwall down to high road. no sure whether they'll last til tuesday. if they don't groom, think they'll firm up since they were pretty wet.

 

[goldsbar]

Times are different; and for the bump skier, moguls are more accessible all over New England today than they ever were before because of seeding.

100% agree with this. Many areas in the past basically didn't "allow" bumps. Now they seed them. Way better.

For those in the Catskills, a couple of trails at Belleayre had the makings for bump runs on Saturday. I wouldn't call them bump runs yet but soon.

 

[ss20]

Always been a fan of the 1/2 groomed 1/2 bump trails.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Me too. I wish more of the smaller ski areas did this, especially the ones that groom everything.