• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

CalG

Out on the slopes
Pass Pulled
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
Posts
1,962
Location
Vt
New to me, and I like it!

The bumps on many of my favorite trails are getting a bit long of tooth.
The crests and troughs seem to be getting more extreme each day.
I've adopted a "new to me" technique for handling the speed gain associated with long deep troughs that I have not seen in "mogul skiing, How to's"

Making a pair of turns on every bump, one at first approach and a second counter turn on the tail. does a body good.
An extra bit of "stomp" on those boat tails returns a bonus response for "doing something good in the world".
The objective is to stay out of the trough altogether, and in fact, fill them with soft snow shaved from the tail of the bump.

It takes somef fast foot work, but I suggest you give it a try!
Great fun!
 

jack97

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Posts
924
The objective is to stay out of the trough altogether, and in fact, fill them with soft snow shaved from the tail of the bump.

Sometimes that's the only line.... meaning the trough becomes ice cement after traffic. Skiing on the tops is not being a heretic. Below, a way to approach them and navigate across. For me the mental block is getting the approach right.

 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
7,617
Location
Great White North (Eastern side currently)
New to me, and I like it!

The bumps on many of my favorite trails are getting a bit long of tooth.
The crests and troughs seem to be getting more extreme each day.
I've adopted a "new to me" technique for handling the speed gain associated with long deep troughs that I have not seen in "mogul skiing, How to's"

Making a pair of turns on every bump, one at first approach and a second counter turn on the tail. does a body good.
An extra bit of "stomp" on those boat tails returns a bonus response for "doing something good in the world".
The objective is to stay out of the trough altogether, and in fact, fill them with soft snow shaved from the tail of the bump.

It takes somef fast foot work, but I suggest you give it a try!
Great fun!
Thank you Sir. My favorite local hill (closed now) had a bump run that was never groomed. I enjoyed the run, but cringed at the gravel at the bottom of the troughs.
 

Guy in Shorts

Tree Psycho
Skier
Joined
Feb 27, 2016
Posts
2,169
Location
Killington
New to me, and I like it!

The bumps on many of my favorite trails are getting a bit long of tooth.
The crests and troughs seem to be getting more extreme each day.
I've adopted a "new to me" technique for handling the speed gain associated with long deep troughs that I have not seen in "mogul skiing, How to's"

Making a pair of turns on every bump, one at first approach and a second counter turn on the tail. does a body good.
An extra bit of "stomp" on those boat tails returns a bonus response for "doing something good in the world".
The objective is to stay out of the trough altogether, and in fact, fill them with soft snow shaved from the tail of the bump.

It takes somef fast foot work, but I suggest you give it a try!
Great fun!
Congrats on finding what I call the “Old Man Line” in skiing the moguls. When your knees get tired of the troughs give your body a break and make your turns up on the mogul. We sometimes call it low impact bump skiing on here with many working hard to prefect a technique that will stand the test of time. Welcome to the club.
 

Wendy

Resurrecting the Oxford comma
Admin
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Mar 13, 2016
Posts
4,905
Location
Santa Fe, New Mexico
I had to laugh at the title of this thread (and it’s a great title) because it’s got a double meaning...

Bumps that have matured over time or

Bumps for maturing skiers.
:roflmao:

I love it.

We have many bump runs with elongated bumps and or very narrow icy troughs. Without on-top bump turns, my knees get mighty unhappy.
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
that is one way and the other way is making a wider line than everyone else. Both have merits and useage though.

I was literally showing this to the New England gathering crew because we had some really misshapen bumps.
 

mdf

entering the Big Couloir
Skier
Team Gathermeister
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
7,220
Location
Boston Suburbs
I was literally showing this to the New England gathering crew because we had some really misshapen bumps.

Hah! And those were beautiful compared to the ones we skied the 2 days without you.
 

cosmoliu

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Posts
1,314
Location
Central CA Coast
I sometimes like throwing in a second turn on an elongated bump just to keep a rhythm going. And Dan DiPiro talks about turning twice on a bump in his book Everything The Instructors Never Told You About Mogul Skiing.
 

Plai

Paul Lai
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Posts
1,965
Location
Silicon Valley
Not to sound too much like @Josh Matta , but does anyone have video of the two turns on top of the mogul? Also, a video of the outside line in the trough would be nice. I just want to check if my understanding of the above words is accurate.
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
Outside line I have...


searching on youtube did not yield any source for turns on the ridge of the bumps.
 

Plai

Paul Lai
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Posts
1,965
Location
Silicon Valley
This video shows three lines through a mogul field a little more clearly.
0:50 Inside wall line
1:17 Trough line
1:36 Outside bank line [This my current understanding of "outside line".]

 

mister moose

Instigator
Skier
Joined
May 30, 2017
Posts
659
Location
Killington
This video shows three lines through a mogul field a little more clearly.
0:50 Inside wall line
1:17 Trough line
1:36 Outside bank line [This my current understanding of "outside line".]

That's all great on those bumps. What I want to see is some instructional videos after the armpit high cliffs, box canyons and rogue lines show up.
 

KevinF

Gathermeister-New England
Team Gathermeister
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
3,345
Location
New England
Hah! And those were beautiful compared to the ones we skied the 2 days without you.

Sugarbush had some nice lines... MRG was obscene.

@Josh Matta did a great job of demo'ing the line choice described by the OP... I like to ski what Robin Barnes called the "buddy bump" and what (I think...) others call the "blue line" -- i.e., use the neighboring bump to help with the turn. I find that's a fairly low-energy way to ski bumps, but when the bump sides become vertical, that line doesn't work anymore.

I remember Joshs' demo during the Gathering as he made bad bumps look good.
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
That's all great on those bumps. What I want to see is some instructional videos after the armpit high cliffs, box canyons and rogue lines show up.

you be surprised how far the wide line can take you, most people rush the turn entry too much to ever do it though and end up on off cambered part of the bump instead of the cambered parts of the bumps.

with that said I will turn down the ridges if the outside line becomes unskiable, with these two tactics you can skis 99 percent of packed bumps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TPJ

Ogg

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Posts
3,484
Location
Long Island, NY
When I ski bumps I try to put my skis where the snow is good. In many cases, especially in the East, that is not the trough. I will even ski "top to top" sometimes if the troughs are particularly scraped and icy. I'm sure it doesn't look nearly as graceful as skillfully skiing the zipper line but it can be more fun, IMO.
 

Brad J

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
871
Location
Newbury, Ma.
I was at MRG that day and I can easily say that those bumps where the most misshapen bumps i have sean in my 58 years of skiing, I tried all or the ways discussed and really never had a good line . they did have me thinking of Josh's pass statement "I can't ski and the bumps prove it "
 
Thread Starter
TS
CalG

CalG

Out on the slopes
Pass Pulled
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
Posts
1,962
Location
Vt
This showed up in my feed a few days ago. It shows turns on top of the moguls (the easy line).

Right!

One turn on the bump is the "usual way". 'works great on soft smooth round bumps and lots more.

Add a turn on the tough ones!
 

tball

Unzipped
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,362
Location
Denver, CO
Great thread!

I love a good zipper line, but the funny thing is I rarely see them. So, I have also grown to love goofy bumps!

When I changed my home Mountain from Mary Jane to Copper almost 20 years ago one of the huge negatives was the crappy bump lines at Copper compared to Mary Jane. So many of Copper's bump runs have goofy fall lines, trees, and rocks so good zipper lines don’t form. The bowls, steeps, and variety drew me to Copper, and there are a couple nice more traditional bump runs.

It took me years but I grew to really enjoy Copper's screwed up bump lines. They add a fun and interesting challenge to each run as you try to pick your way down the best line on the fly. I think this requires just about every trick in the book and to know where to use them.

I also think lots of mileage on these runs has made me a much better overall skier then if I just spent time in perfect zipper lines.

So, here's a long-ass POV video of me skiing at Copper last month. It shows three goofy bump runs and one more traditional. I'm not sure how to classify the lines and turns nor am I saying this is the best way to ski goofy bumps. It's just what I enjoy and works for me. Feel free to comment or pick apart if you like.

(0:50-4:30): The super fun goofy bump runs in Resolution. There’s an inch of new snow on top of very variable spring conditions with a winter underlying surface at the top and seriously refrozen at the bottom. I left the natural sound so you can hear the change in the surface conditions.

(6:35-7:00) iDropper for comparison is an easy more traditional bump run that has more zipper like lines.

 
Last edited:

Sponsor

Staff online

Top