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KingGrump

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But I thought: "not today". So, I pulled myself forward, and went for it. I remembered all the advice here to stay centered , relax and flex at the top. I went through! I felt soooo happy.

:thumb: :thumb:

Aggression is part psychological and part physical. It is good to be able to summon it when you need it most.
I like to call it controlled aggression. Very useful item to have. Use only as much as necessary to get the job done.
 

jack97

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Man, you guys are so violent. :D

In the context of sports or in war, an attack is a commitment to take aggressive action. The key word to me is commitment, perhaps in the words of Yoda.....


Bsa1Fe7CQAA758o.jpg
 

crgildart

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I find that being decisive and deliberate without second guessing myself once committed is the key... Either you pick the line at least 3 bumps ahead and OWN that line or the line will own you..
 

KingGrump

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The key word to me is commitment,

I can definitely do "commitment".

To me commitment is more from within. Attack is to do onto others. I'm all for peace.

I remember one of my niece when she was young asked me what do I mean by "commit down the hill?" My reply was, Committing means you are all in. The difference between commitment and involvement is like a bacon and egg breakfast. There was a chicken involved. But the pig is committed.

Most skiers drives from the back seat of the bus. They are merely involved. Be the hood ornament .Be committed.
The drive is still internal.
 

Monique

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I can definitely do "commitment".

To me commitment is more from within. Attack is to do onto others. I'm all for peace.

I remember one of my niece when she was young asked me what do I mean by "commit down the hill?" My reply was, Committing means you are all in. The difference between commitment and involvement is like a bacon and egg breakfast. There was a chicken involved. But the pig is committed.

Most skiers drives from the back seat of the bus. They are merely involved. Be the hood ornament .Be committed.
The drive is still internal.

One of my instructors says - if you're not skiing well, stop! Collect yourself and start over. For exactly what you're describing. If you're shopping for turns, or nervous, or you are getting more and more out of balance with every turn - stop! She says she'd rather have us stop and then practice good turns than keep going and practice bad ones.

(And then on the other hand there's the "don't stop no matter what" approach, which is also effective. Maybe for different days.)
 

Crank

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I have never thought of shopping for turns as a negative. Maybe that should be filed in the "dirty skiing" box.
 

Monique

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I have never thought of shopping for turns as a negative. Maybe that should be filed in the "dirty skiing" box.

Maybe it depends on what you mean by shopping. If you're traversing the whole slope hoping to find that perfect turn, you're probably shopping.
 

KingGrump

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The distinction between skiing the wide line and shopping for turns can be nebulous. Usually boils down to intent.
 

bbinder

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The worst advice that I got from instructors when learning to Ski bumps was to “Dive into Danger” when I was making a turn. And my immediate response was, you want me to do what!?
 

Crank

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When I think shopping for tuns in bumps I think turn where the snow is and not where the ice is. Usually this can be accomplished in a rhythmic manner. Just another tactic in my book. Note that we tend to get a lot more icy bumps here in the east. Not that I haven't seen or skied hard, icy bumps out west.... and when I do I think - these are conditions I stay home for at home.
 
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KingGrump

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The worst advice that I got from instructors when learning to Ski bumps was to “Dive into Danger” when I was making a turn. And my immediate response was, you want me to do what!?

You must have gotten the same instructor I had at Alta back in '81. "Throw your pole down the hill" and "Dive into danger" were his two favorite mantras.
 

Monique

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When I think shopping for tuns in bumps I think turn where the snow is and not where the ice is. Usually this can be accomplished in a rhythmic manner. Just another tactic in my book. Note that we tend to get a lot more icy bumps here in the east. Not that I haven's seen or skied hard, icy bumps out west.... and when I do I think - these are conditions I stay home for at home.

In my experience, the term "shopping" is used in a negative sense to describe hesitation and an unwillingness to choose or commit to a turn.

As @KingGrump said, it's not a bright line, but usually you can see that the person "shopping" is unwilling to pick the line.

Someone also once told me, "Level 8 skiers pick a line and then commit. Level 9 skiers commit and then ski the line." I'm not sure how relevant this is to "first bump lesson," though ... just an interesting thought.
 

bbinder

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You must have gotten the same instructor I had at Alta back in '81. "Throw your pole down the hill" and "Dive into danger" were his two favorite mantras.

I actually heard this from multiple instructors, but one of them was at Alta, but in 2005. He was too young to be your guy but he could have been trained by your guy.
 

KingGrump

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Shopping vs line.

As I said before, lots depends on intend.
If you say, "I am going to come off this bump, ski across over to that bump way over there and turn on it." That is line.
If you go up to a bump and say to yourself "Noop, not this one... Oops, not this one... Nah, this one doesn't look good." Then you may as well go get a cart.
 

Crank

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In my experience, the term "shopping" is used in a negative sense to describe hesitation and an unwillingness to choose or commit to a turn.

As @KingGrump said, it's not a bright line, but usually you can see that the person "shopping" is unwilling to pick the line.

Someone also once told me, "Level 8 skiers pick a line and then commit. Level 9 skiers commit and then ski the line." I'm not sure how relevant this is to "first bump lesson," though ... just an interesting thought.

I often switch lines... I guess you could say I am shopping for lines. Sure I could commit to a line. However, I can be skiing a line and think, oh those bumps to the left are less skied out and look nicer, rounder, have more loose snow. Or conversely I might think those bumps in the middle are bigger and more challenging and I will alter my line and head to the middle. I don't necessarily do what level 8 or 9 skiers "should" do.

Hey how much of this discussion really relates to a first bump lesson?
 

Bill Seddon

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In my one day course we were shown 5 different lines IIRC. Sometimes we were asked to ski just one line, eg, in the trough, over the tops, high line around a mogul, other times asked to mix it up as we saw fit. It was as much about tactics as it was technicalities.
 

Monique

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Hey how much of this discussion really relates to a first bump lesson?

The term "shopping" usually comes up in your first bump lesson. Because the student isn't making educated decisions; they're afraid of all the bumps. I remember witnessing a lesson where one of the students was afraid of all the options, so she would just keep traversing until she got "stuck" at the edge where she definitely wouldn't turn because there were trees in the way.

However, a great drill (which I'm sure has come up in this thread) is to purposefully traverse a bump run. But you have to do so assertively - absorb the uphill parts and push your feet down for the downhill parts. It gets you used to the motion. Even now, if I'm not feeling a bump run, doing a few of these (with a nice clean turn on either side) before trying to really go downhill is a huge help.
 

KingGrump

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I actually heard this from multiple instructors, but one of them was at Alta, but in 2005. He was too young to be your guy but he could have been trained by your guy.

That's what I like about Alta - Tradition.
 
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Mendieta

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Hey how much of this discussion really relates to a first bump lesson?

The term "shopping" usually comes up in your first bump lesson. Because the student isn't making educated decisions; they're afraid of all the bumps. I remember witnessing a lesson where one of the students was afraid of all the options, so she would just keep traversing until she got "stuck" at the edge where she definitely wouldn't turn because there were trees in the way.

Yes, I agree with Monique. @Crank , your skiing level well beyond that of a person taking a first bumps lesson. To @KingGrump 's point, the term "shopping for turns" is normally used for what Monique is describing. I believe you are describing a very different intent.

The breakthrough for the first time skier, IMHO, is understanding that you are better off climbing the bump (which will slow you down), flex so your upper body is steady, and then turn at the top, so the way down will have controlled speed. I remember @Philpug mentioned this in a simple, powerful sentence towards the end of the season, and I used it later on, This is also what they show in the bumps for bummers lessons referred earlier in this thread.

Cheers! Keep the good info coming. I will try to summarize in an edit to the OP at some point. No promises though ;)
 

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