The bump skiing bit starts at 6:59.
Oh man, that was rad; thanks a ton for that. I think I watched that video three times on repeat. Winter is a long ways away....
...but that's good, because it looks like I'm back on the hunt for a pair of skis.
Even the wrong skis is probably better than different every time.
I think buying one pair of skis should have a different hurdle than buying a second pair of mogul specific skis. I suspect many of the people advising lessons instead of skis may have misunderstood the question you are asking along that specific dimension. If you want a ski that should work well for most of your days in Southern Colorado and would work well in moguls, the list you had on the first page seemed pretty reasonable to me.
Thanks, yall. Yeah, I see now how my original post could've been read that way, and that's definitely my fault. I think you're right, for a one-ski-quiver, a subtle tip and tail rocker in combination with traditional camber underfoot, is probably the best idea. Thanks for the ski suggestions too.
I'll aim to get an all-mountain ski now and keep an eye out for dirt cheap used mogul skis in the future, since I will never ever need a brand new set.
CS2-6, four questions....
1. You do need to buy some skis if you're serious. Where do you ski bumps? What state?
Thanks for taking the time, Liquid:
I ski nearly exclusively in the San Juans of southwestern Colorado. For the purpose of picking out skis, I'm only considering the environment of those 3 or 4 resorts.
2. How did you do with your instructor's Bumps for Boomers type bump skiing? Those turns do not require upper-body-lower-body separation. The program teaches people so ski square (facing the way the skis point), and to take a slow, drifting, meandering line down the bump field. Is that what you did in your lesson? How did you like it? Are you satisfied with that type of line through the bumps?
The BumpsForBoomers techniques constituted about half the lesson, with the other half being drills that I instantly recognized from DiPiro's book. My instructor commented that I came into the lesson already sking moguls with the "black line" approach; even thought I thought the strict "black line" approach was too round and carve-heavy. I thought the "blue line" was unnatural and of little utility; and that it could only really be employed in small, wide bumps where a special approach really isn't needed anyway. The "green line" is ok, but very conservative, and I mostly use that technique when I come up on some nasty troughs or a big rock; more survival skiing or drastic speed reduction. The aspect I liked the least of the BumpsForBoomers skiing was the lack up upper and lower body separation, and how it felt like I was wondering through the mogul field rather than skiing it.
4. Dan DiPiro's approach to skiing bumps is to take the direct line straight down the fall line. How did you respond to that approach? Is this what you aspire to do?
When I read DiPiro's book a few years ago, it was the first time mogul skiing made sense to me. His preaching of a steered/pivoted/skidded/smeared turn, constant snow contact, extension and absorption, and dedication to the fall-line made me an instant convert; and is the type of mogul skiing I'd like to get closer to.
3. Are you renting boots too?
Nope, I've got my own boots (thank God), and custom footbeds for that matter (I've got high arches and need that support). The boots are a few years old, and relatively soft (90), but I like them, they fit well enough, and they're comfortable.
