"Moguls are opportunities. Not obstacles." --Weems Westfeldt
(Spring 2017) Bumps are scary, huh? If you are like me, ever since you started skiing, you have been trying to stay away from bad snow. Carefully choosing smooth, groomed runs, the closer to manicured, the better. Frankly, that's a safe way to start your skiing journey. Staying away from ice and chopped up, irregular snow will allow you to learn the basics in a favorable environment.
Bumps are also known as moguls. According to Wikipedia, the term "mogul" is derived from the Bavarian word "mugel," which means mound. Moguls can happen naturally or be produced artificially. They also provide different levels of difficulty: the steeper the run and the larger the bumps, the harder it is to ski them. Bumps in soft snow are typically less intimidating because they slow the skier naturally.
I started to ski as an adult. At the beginning of my third season, while I was taking a private lesson on carving, instructor @Mark Downing suggested that my next lesson focus on bumps. I had probably skied 45 days in my life by then, and I was comfortable on well-groomed intermediate runs, but I was terrified by bumps. Knowing that I am a bit of a ski theory geek, Mark quickly explained that bumps demand short turns, and short turns lead to better separation.
See? Separation is major for an intermediate skier. Keeping the upper body steady, downhill, while the legs rotate in the hip sockets is key to everything expert skiers do. Separation enables turning while staying balanced, in the most efficient way. The converse is also true. As noted by @Josh Matta, another instructor here on Pugski, difficulty when skiing bumps is normally a sign that we need to further develop several aspects of our skiing technique.
But there are other reasons to learn bumps. Sooner or later, you will encounter them. Bumps happen naturally. As skiers go on and on over the same run, they start to follow each other's tracks, making the line they ski deeper, and pushing snow into piles. Depending on the weather and snow conditions, a groomed run can develop deep bumps over the course of a few hours. Learning bumps will allow you to take that unexpectedly bumpy run gracefully and safely.
Fast forward toward the end of ski season, when I decided to take a bumps lesson. The instructor, yet another Pugski member (@lswedish), first had me practice short turns and then took me to a bump run for intermediates (we started at the easiest spot, toward the end of the run):
From there, he took me to a place with completely natural snow, and big, soft bumps. I was in heaven. I knew right then and there that more of the mountain was opening up to me.
Why? One of the biggest impediments to skiing bumps is psychological. Bumps are initially scary because they present physical constraints. But they can be a lot of fun: once you make friends with the terrain and realize that proper tactics and technique turn a bump run into your own little amusement park, you will have flipped the tables.
Fast forward even further, to late spring. I am now choosing, sometimes, natural terrain and ungroomed runs. Not all the time, but it is one more fun thing to do. A steep, advanced run that I had never taken, at a new mountain for me, was frozen in the morning. When I came back three hours later, it had developed soft bumps, typical in late spring. Before my bump lesson, this would have completely terrified me. Instead, I took the run, taking my time on the way down, and had a ton of fun. Sure enough, I feel much more confident as groomed runs soften up and start developing bumps.
Advanced run at Sugar Bowl.
So, am I a bump skier? No. I don't even think I am a skier. But ... was the lesson worth it?
Credits: many thanks go to the Pugski team for quite a bit of help with the article. Notably, @SBrown . The work she does behind the scenes is inconmensurable.
(Spring 2017) Bumps are scary, huh? If you are like me, ever since you started skiing, you have been trying to stay away from bad snow. Carefully choosing smooth, groomed runs, the closer to manicured, the better. Frankly, that's a safe way to start your skiing journey. Staying away from ice and chopped up, irregular snow will allow you to learn the basics in a favorable environment.
Bumps are also known as moguls. According to Wikipedia, the term "mogul" is derived from the Bavarian word "mugel," which means mound. Moguls can happen naturally or be produced artificially. They also provide different levels of difficulty: the steeper the run and the larger the bumps, the harder it is to ski them. Bumps in soft snow are typically less intimidating because they slow the skier naturally.
I started to ski as an adult. At the beginning of my third season, while I was taking a private lesson on carving, instructor @Mark Downing suggested that my next lesson focus on bumps. I had probably skied 45 days in my life by then, and I was comfortable on well-groomed intermediate runs, but I was terrified by bumps. Knowing that I am a bit of a ski theory geek, Mark quickly explained that bumps demand short turns, and short turns lead to better separation.
See? Separation is major for an intermediate skier. Keeping the upper body steady, downhill, while the legs rotate in the hip sockets is key to everything expert skiers do. Separation enables turning while staying balanced, in the most efficient way. The converse is also true. As noted by @Josh Matta, another instructor here on Pugski, difficulty when skiing bumps is normally a sign that we need to further develop several aspects of our skiing technique.
But there are other reasons to learn bumps. Sooner or later, you will encounter them. Bumps happen naturally. As skiers go on and on over the same run, they start to follow each other's tracks, making the line they ski deeper, and pushing snow into piles. Depending on the weather and snow conditions, a groomed run can develop deep bumps over the course of a few hours. Learning bumps will allow you to take that unexpectedly bumpy run gracefully and safely.
Fast forward toward the end of ski season, when I decided to take a bumps lesson. The instructor, yet another Pugski member (@lswedish), first had me practice short turns and then took me to a bump run for intermediates (we started at the easiest spot, toward the end of the run):
From there, he took me to a place with completely natural snow, and big, soft bumps. I was in heaven. I knew right then and there that more of the mountain was opening up to me.
Why? One of the biggest impediments to skiing bumps is psychological. Bumps are initially scary because they present physical constraints. But they can be a lot of fun: once you make friends with the terrain and realize that proper tactics and technique turn a bump run into your own little amusement park, you will have flipped the tables.
Fast forward even further, to late spring. I am now choosing, sometimes, natural terrain and ungroomed runs. Not all the time, but it is one more fun thing to do. A steep, advanced run that I had never taken, at a new mountain for me, was frozen in the morning. When I came back three hours later, it had developed soft bumps, typical in late spring. Before my bump lesson, this would have completely terrified me. Instead, I took the run, taking my time on the way down, and had a ton of fun. Sure enough, I feel much more confident as groomed runs soften up and start developing bumps.
Advanced run at Sugar Bowl.
So, am I a bump skier? No. I don't even think I am a skier. But ... was the lesson worth it?
Credits: many thanks go to the Pugski team for quite a bit of help with the article. Notably, @SBrown . The work she does behind the scenes is inconmensurable.
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