How To Ski Heavy Chopped Up Bumpy Snow

[Tony Storaro]

Ski as fast as you are willing to fall...

Words to live by. And the reason it takes me 3 times longer to do the same runs in the spring. Accurate skiing, slow...careful around the bumps, we are not in a hurry...

 

[David Chaus]

I haven’t read through the entire thread, so this may have already been posted. I recall @Bob Barnes writing:

“Point them where you want to go, and if that doesn’t work, go where they’re pointed.”

 

[Ogg]

I agree and it is that speed thing that makes skiing in real slop dangerous.
When I start seeing carve marks that are 6" deep, I quit.
More than power or finesse slop skiing at speed requires total concentration.
Ruts and what not are constantly trying to kick your skis out of line and when you are on plane they don't have a lot of directional stability.
One lapse in concentration, let that inside ski wander a bit and things go bad in a hurry.
Fun to watch from the bar though when the macho men get sucked in.

I take perverse pleasure in skiing the worst chopped up gloppy and/or refrozen crud I can find just because I can. I figure that’s the ultimate “good for you” conditions that will prepare me for just about anything and I’ve had some of my biggest breakthroughs in those circumstances.

 

[dbostedo]

I haven’t read through the entire thread, so this may have already been posted. I recall @Bob Barnes writing:

“Point them where you want to go, and if that doesn’t work, go where they’re pointed.”

It's part of the advice in the Crudology video!

 

[mdf]

I take perverse pleasure in skiing the worst chopped up gloppy and/or refrozen crud I can find just because I can.

I forgot to swear you in a a deputy in the Ministry of Bad Ideas when we skied together. Consider yourself inducted.

 

[Marker]

I take perverse pleasure in skiing the worst chopped up gloppy and/or refrozen crud I can find just because I can. I figure that’s the ultimate “good for you” conditions that will prepare me for just about anything and I’ve had some of my biggest breakthroughs in those circumstances.

The glop we found in spots today at Killington reminded me of some breakthroughs I've had in the past and forgot. The skiing got better through the day as I got better through the day. Then my legs got thirsty...

 

[tromano]

Perhaps their skiing just makes it look lighter than it really is.... I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

This.

 

[dbostedo]

I forgot to swear you in a a deputy in the Ministry of Bad Ideas when we skied together. Consider yourself inducted.

Did he ski the Hobacks with you? If so, he's already been deputized by trauma.

 

[mdf]

Did he ski the Hobacks with you? If so, he's already been deputized by trauma.

We said to each other, repeatedly, during chairlift rides that we weren't going to ski them.
I new I had a good crew when I came around the corner on Rendezvous Trail and saw them all standing at the entrance to the Hobacks.
They just looked at me wordlessly. My reply? "Sure, I'm always up for a bad idea."

 

[falcon_o]

We said to each other, repeatedly, during chairlift rides that we weren't going to ski them.
I new I had a good crew when I came around the corner on Rendezvous Trail and saw them all standing at the entrance to the Hobacks.
They just looked at me wordlessly. My reply? "Sure, I'm always up for a bad idea."

First you need to have the proper perspective:

Never let lack of ability or poor judgement get in the way of making a bad decision because WHAT can possibly go wrong.??? Made skiing the Hobacks a piece of cake a few years back although helped by epic deep, soft snow.

As to skiing spring crud, skis do make a significant difference with wider, stiffer boards being better suited. Also at 240 lbs my mass helps blast through using a previous post's recommendation of pointing my skis where I want to go but following them where they take me.

Hard to believe, I actually enjoy soft spring snow even if a chopped up mess.

 

[Johnny V.]

Never let lack of ability or poor judgement get in the way of making a bad decision

Just remember "Bad decisions make good stories"...........................

 

[François Pugh]

First you need to have the proper perspective:

Never let lack of ability or poor judgement get in the way of making a bad decision because WHAT can possibly go wrong.??? Made skiing the Hobacks a piece of cake a few years back although helped by epic deep, soft snow.

As to skiing spring crud, skis do make a significant difference with wider, stiffer boards being better suited. Also at 240 lbs my mass helps blast through using a previous post's recommendation of pointing my skis where I want to go but following them where they take me.

Hard to believe, I actually enjoy soft spring snow even if a chopped up mess.

View attachment 96525 View attachment 96526 View attachment 96527

Skis do make a big difference. Tonight, I brought the wrong skis. We had rain. It stopped raining in the afternoon, so some skiers pushed the slush into piles and others left deep trenches in it. Of course they did not groom at 4 pm when the hill closed. Then it froze. Conditions when the hill opened for night skiing were set up crusty rutted frozen slush. My usual carving aproach would have been fine with my more massive 190 cm Volants with a longish turn radius, but carving the 13 m radius Fisher SCs through that stuff would have had me going too fast for their turn radius in short order. Time for plan B, forceful deliberate short radius turns until near the bottom.
Back in the day, these same conditions were no problem for my massive three-layers-of-steel 208 cm Super G skis.
Mass and long radius do make it easier.

 

[KingGrump]

Just remember "Bad decisions make good stories"...........................

Only if you live long enough to tell about it.

 

[mdf]

Only if you live long enough to tell about it.

Oh, I don't know.... it could be someone else telling the stories.

 

[KingGrump]

Oh, I don't know.... it could be someone else telling the stories.

Then it musta been a real bad decision.

So to look at it the another way. Your so call bad decisions couldn't had been so bad. There aren't any fables about your endeavors... yet.

 

[Tricia]

I haven’t read through the entire thread, so this may have already been posted. I recall @Bob Barnes writing:

“Point them where you want to go, and if that doesn’t work, go where they’re pointed.”

Hmmm, check out my signature.
Those words are something to live by in life as well.

 

[BClipped]

I have a general approach that I apply to getting through any sort of ‘messy‘ conditions like the heavy, irregular bumps you describe, or low light, or wind-blown slopes etc, which is to try to keep my legs very relaxed and accept that I’m not going to be able to make perfect turns. Others have mentioned about ‘suspension’ and that’s the same sort of idea I have - keeping legs soft so that any sudden/unexpected terrain changes can be absorbed without knocking me (too far) off balance that I can’t recover. I still do try and make good line selection, but I accept that sometimes I’ll get it wrong or be surprised by something I didn’t see, and keep myself ready to absorb those... Fight the instinct to tighten up your muscles and ‘power’ through/around the obstacles - just take what comes. Ironically, by relaxing and accepting that the turns won’t be perfect you end up looking and feeling more confident.

 

[slowrider]

I forgot to swear you in a a deputy in the Ministry of Bad Ideas when we skied together. Consider yourself inducted.

I think we all have that 1 friend....

 

[falcon_o]

Only if you live long enough to tell about it.

What Ledge ?????????????????
Why I'm not often followed & what can possibly go wrong ???

Blackcomb, BC

 

[KingGrump]

What Ledge ?????????????????
Why I'm not often followed & what can possibly go wrong ???

Blackcomb, BC

View attachment 96602

Perhaps you and @mdf can have a contest to see who is more deserving of this.