Tom Gellies' Bump Lesson Speed Control and Line Control video is Outstanding!

[Bendu]

Ok so since no one answer what tactics he uses......

What technique does he use or espouse to use?

 

[Tim Hodgson]

^^^ Because I am not as smart as you. I am not as teachable as you. (And I likely don't ski as well as you and you are probably better looking than me too.)

Please don't pick on the weak minded like me...

 

[Bendu]

what misconceptions has he blown apart about bumps?

@Tim Hodgson literally just want to know. If its novel I would love to hear about it.

 

[James]

what misconceptions has he blown apart about bumps?

@Tim Hodgson literally just want to know. If its novel I would love to hear about it.

Perhaps people are reluctant to describe because of the paid nature of the material? No idea. @Mike King tried in his earlier post.
I’m still not getting the tips and tails fulcrum issue.

 

[Daniel]

Years ago Tom was employed at Deer Valley as a tele instructor (probably taught Alpine too) for several seasons. During our off season he would return to the southern hemisphere to instruct in his home country. He possesses mad tele skills!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Ehh, it was just a snarky comment, no offense intended.

so, it brings up another issue: does advanced bump skiing technique change depending on terrain and snow conditions, or are those handled simply through tactics? IMHO, it is the latter, not the former.

Mike

You ever ski with Weems? Maybe it requires other parts of the Diamond. Or as I call it when I'm not skiing great, the triangle.

 

[Tim Hodgson]

Here is the deal. Just because I am having mental breakthrough Ah Hah! moments connecting previously disconnected PSIA clinic suggestions which never made sense to me before, does not mean that you guys and gals will have the same reaction watching his videos.

So I don't want to overstate something and have you trash me, the video or Tom Gellie.

I will tell you that I honestly am having mental breakthrough Ah Hah! moments watching his videos.

I have paid for other expensive video series before and have never written a review to praise them. So, for me at least, these videos are different.

But you guys and gals may be way better skiers than me and my personal breakthoughs may be something that you learned decades ago.

So, your Results May Vary.

 

[James]

Ok^, but doesn’t answer the specific question he’s posed like three times. We’re not questioning you liked them or got something out of them.

Those triangle moguls at Madriver Glen last year during the gathering were bizarre. @mdf and I were told by a patroller, “it’s the teley skiers” who make those.

I don’t remember exactly what the change required was. Cursing more didn’t help, you still often ran into a wall. One issue was the backside was often near vertical. They were some of the worst moguls I’ve seen.

Changing line usually requires some change in technique. Fast zipperline mogul skiing is just different. I don’t do it. Most who claim it’s not different can’t ski a direct line for long.

 

[Tim Hodgson]

James, I am not being coy here.
The first Bump Lesson may be under your ability, but it is spot on for improving my Level II skiing ability and my teaching.
But the tip pivot/fulcrum bump entry tail pivot/fulcrum bump exit technique is golden and I have never heard of it before Bendu at PSIA clinics (maybe the clinician justifiably judged that it was beyond my ability) but it is within reach at my current ability level, and I can't wait to try it.
I will let someone who has watched Bump Lesson II to comment.
After I watch Bump Lesson II, I will respond to your question if I can.

 

[geepers]

Tom's Bump Lesson II is a re-reinforcement and continuation on the content in Bump Lesson I. A quick summary would be bump skiing meets The Infinity Turn. Plus there's even some bits on instructing your significant other - in this case Tom's wife. (He's not only an excellent ski instructor but has some serious communications skills.)

Same style - it's a filmed lesson with a couple of students interspersed with footage of movements demo-ed dryland and coach's eye analysis of the skiing. Again there is visible improvement in the students' bump skiing within that single lesson.

Tom presents techniques that are over and above what I've learnt elsewhere - on snow or off it. It's not rocket science and it's not magic. It's just high quality ski instruction.

No, I'm not going to provide a poor person's entry point to the content. Gees folks - it's $50 for a month and if you found no value in any of the dozen vids (covering bumps, shorts, carving and dryland body preps) then unsubscribe. Would be very surprised if there's not something new or insightful for any skier / ski instructor. (JFB has stated he learns stuff from Tom and I'm sure it's vice versa. But maybe some people already know it all.)

Hopefully Tom will earn enough to make it worth his while to keep adding to this vid collection.

Note: Tom has a separate FB site reserved for people who have bought his stuff. The posts include clarifications on the vid content and a chance to ask him questions.

 

[mikes781]

@geepers do you happen to know the name of that Facebook group? I know I’ve come across it before but of course now that I signed up for the videos I can’t find it lol.

BTW if you use the coupon code listed earlier it’s $33.

 

[SSSdave]

Now that some of you non bump skiers are apparently going to spend some time using whatever he is teaching for skiing moguls, I'm going to be amused in the future of hearing how that went. Best of luck. I'd like to see more skiers in moguls as in this era I feel lonely at most bumped slopes in Tahoe outside of LD. As we need skiers mining up those slopes as we prefer loosened up softer snow on the most skied lines. So yeah make them like em.

 

[Mike King]

You ever ski with Weems? Maybe it requires other parts of the Diamond. Or as I call it when I'm not skiing great, the triangle.

Yep. And yes, I've skied with Weems, both in Aspen and Big Sky. I had an amazing experience with Weems skiing Big Rock Tongue -- we started at the top. 20 seconds later, we were getting to the good stuff, but Weems was 1,000 vertical feet below us...

Mike

 

[geepers]

@geepers do you happen to know the name of that Facebook group? I know I’ve come across it before but of course now that I signed up for the videos I can’t find it lol.

BTW if you use the coupon code listed earlier it’s $33.

FB Group: Ski Mentor

With coupon US$33 === A$50.

Now that some of you non bump skiers are apparently going to spend some time using whatever he is teaching for skiing moguls, I'm going to be amused in the future of hearing how that went.

It may be some time - looks like our Southern season is going to be covid-ed out.

 

[Tim Hodgson]

Ok for you single subject tactic guys, I shined the bat symbol in the air last night (i.e., used the bigpictureskiing.com contact form) and got this answer:

"Me: What tactic should we use on vertical wall backside bumps? Would you recommend turning on the fronts of such bumps and forgoing the vertical walls altogether?"

"Tom Gellie: First suggestion would be to look for the luge track line or mtn bike berm line that goes around the vertical backside. Can also be termed the round line.

For more athletic types. It’s actually a matter of getting snow contact early. Edging and tips down the backside of the bump ASAP. This requires deep absorption skills and fast extension skills. For sure if they are asking about this type of bump their ability to use absorption and extension would be lacking. So it would be a whole lesson on absorption and extension so that’s another topic I want to do when we are allowed to all go skiing again. I would ask them if they would be ok to jump down a flight of stairs quickly 3-4 steps at a time ? If that doesn’t sound daunting then let’s learn how to absorb and extend skiing bumps . If that sounds scary and like it would hurt your body then I’d probably teach them how to do that on dry land first without having skis and turning added to the task.

Tom Gellie
Functional Body
www.functionalbody.com.au
body alignment and movement analysis "

And I finished watching Bump Lesson II last night. It definitely adds information and even fills in some stuff in Bump Lesson I. Both are outstanding for skier/instructors at my level. But there are no runs with hard, icy, cut off vertical wall back-side bumps in there whatsoever. Rather, it is beautiful Western USA type snow. There you go.

 

[Bendu]

I heard those exact words from a PSIA examiner and a Dev Team member(both members here I think) at an off piste clinic 2 seasons ago. I mean it pretty easy to find those words on pugski if you search back far enough.

round bump line pugski - Google Search

 

[LiquidFeet]

Thanks for that post, @Tim Hodgson.

I'd really like one of these excellent ski instructors/national team members/celebrity skiers to put up a how-to video that addresses skiing the not-soft-kinds of hard-snow-bumps we get here on New England's ungroomed trails.

Many skiers only ski out west, where the mountains are huge and wide trails are left ungroomed and the snow falls regularly and one doesn't get 45 degree days followed by 22 degree days even in February.

Our New England bumps are different. Our mountains are not as large as the western ones, and we don't have as many trails. Our mountain ops choose to groom most of our trails to keep the non-bump-skiing guests happy.

The trails that are left ungroomed and which get bumped up are often the trails that inaccessible to groomers because of huge boulders (lift lines and such), or they are too narrow or twisty or eccentric in shape for the groomer to fit. Or the bumps are on the sides of groomed trails where the groomers leave the snow alone, but there's a double fall line there. I'm sure someone will point out that their favorite mountain has some good bump trails (looking at you Killington), but those mountains are the exception.

For this reason many (no, not all, but many) New England weekend skiers are unfamiliar with bump skiing. When they venture onto bump runs, their technique is sometimes not the kind that builds good lines, even if the terrain would allow it.

 

[Bendu]

The good eastern coaches do not get enough credit, and I feel never look as good as western presenters due to the snow inconsistency. People like Terry Barbour, Nate Gardner, Mac Jackson, Matt Tinkey all make really hard eastern conditions look really easy. The other problem with posting video of eastern skiing is lack of context, observers will always think that the conditions are easier than it looks, mostly because the presenters/skiers are that good. @LiquidFeet surely you have ran in to someone who can teach and coach eastern off piste skiing? If not it is a sad state of affairs.

ice bump skiing - Google Search

talk about context one man's ice, is anothers packed powder.

 

[LiquidFeet]

OK, here's a super short video of a bump run at Wildcat. It doesn't feature a skier; it just shows a view of the run. Hairball is part of a long former lift line. It's narrow and has some notable boulders in it. Whoever skis this without stopping to think is a skier of very high skill.

I'd like to hear an analysis of how such a skier does something like this, non-stop, bump by bump. A video with comments done in the way Tom Gellie does his would be most excellent. By the way, this video was taken on a good snow day. Most of our New England days are not like that. A few days after this video was taken, the boulders would be visible with hard-snow bumps in between and around them.

Yes, this section of this old lift line is extreme if you care about your skis. Many of those bumps below the videographer are covering boulders.

 

[Mike King]

Tom Gellie is a two-time APSI demo team member -- once tele, and now alpine. He not only teaches in Japan, but also in Australia and New Zealand. From what I understand, if you want real hard snow, go to Australia or New Zealand -- it makes NE look like it is out west.