Mogul skiing lost art for the youth?

[reeski]

I don't hear much chatter on here about bump skiing. I'm an old school EC skier and would say that I ski bumps 65% of the ski day when conditions provide. If i'm on the WC I will pick pow of course first, if no pow I' m looking for moguls on the side of trail and steeps. Do people out West still hit bumps anymore? And how many EC's are still bumping? Just a thought.

 

[Dddsz]

Nearly every day after school in the midwest I hot-lapped the icy mogul runs until 8-9PM. Wasn't much else to ski besides jumps. It doesn't matter where you grow up skiing, if you get mogul technique down, eventually you will be able to ski everything.

 

[theabortionator]

I don't hear a lot about it either but people who live at bigger mtns with more snow seem far more likely to be competent riding them. Def some kids that can rip them, but I don't know many people that lap the moguls all day vs. freeride or park terrain.

 

[270on420out]

I grew up mogul skiing before I skied park. Made me a way better skier overall. Went into it looking like a deer fresh out of the womb while on skis. By the time I quit and started hanging out in the park (14) I was perfectly fine on jumps, could 360 almost anything and I could ski way faster and better than ever before.

I miss the mogul days. To this day, the most intense crashes I've had were in mogul fields. I ski without poles today, but I can still navigate a mogul field at speed without eating shit. It's a great skill to have.

 

[avarda]

Personally, I never grew up skiing moguls, rather I learnt (like most others) on groomed runs. Once I was a proficient skier I just moved on to bigger mountain and park.

I guess because all of the friends I skied with didn't want anything to do with moguls, we wouldn't go anywhere near them.

Coincidentally, earlier this week I was watching a few mogul skiing video, and it got me really hyped. Can't fault the technique you see on accomplished mogul skiers.

I live in Australia and we really have no designated mogul runs, so when I was over on the WC 2 years ago I was fairly average on moguls. I'm heading out again to the WC & Banff on boxing day this year. Really want to put a bit of effort in on the moguls and have a real go.

But yeah, when you see OG's with some awesome technique, you can see that they learnt on moguls.

 

[Casey]

The moguls that form where I ski are like the size of GS turns. I wouldn't even know where to go to find an 'actual' bump line

 

[Deepskier]

Sun valley bump skier here. We are stronger in numbers than park skiers. Granted I'm one of those too so. I kind of do it all so im bias. Except racing fuck that shit. buncha pricks.

 

[brett_fisher]

respect to mogul skiers. i like rolling through the course at hood after they leave its fun but i couldn't do it all the time its something fun to rip on the way to the park.

 

[-eREKTion-]

I'm young (24) so I never skied moguls growing up. It was just ski school on the groomers then the park when I was a teenager besides, Mammoth doesn't seem to have a bump culture at all. It's a skill that I wish I had for sure, I put in about 10 strictly bump days this past season but I'm still a ways from the aesthetic zipper-line that I'm aiming for. Also, steep bumps... ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[reeski]

Yea there is a serious bump culture at killington, where I predominantly ski.

 

[bai.]

How I feel about it.

(I had like a million knee problems growing up tho so maybe I'm a little bias).

 

[TheSmokinL]

Moguls are OG.

I trained moguls when I was a kid right before I discovered park. Having the knowledge of how to rip moguls makes someone an all around better rider I think. Most of the kids I know who have been hitting park since we were young can all shred moguls and i think that skill allows a skier to virtually tackle any terrain bc of the ski control and body awareness you gain with mogul training.

 

[casual]

Honestly, skiing moguls makes you realize all the flaws in your skiing. I was a very proficient groomer skier for years growing up on the east coast skiing the poconos. Parallel, linked, carved turns all day.

I moved to Taos in 2006 and quickly discovered I was actually a terrible skier. The moguls showed me how backseat I was in steep terrain, how poor my upper and lower body separation was, how much I struggled to stay in the fall line and commit my upper body to it, etc. it even made me realize how shittily fitted my boots were because nothing makes you realize that like swimming around in boots getting tossed in the moguls.

Over ten years later, and i ski a shit ton of steep bumps (not like mogul courses, but naturally bumped up, uneven and irregular bumps on pitches around 40 degrees and a bit above) and my skiing has totally transformed.

I'm not hating, but inguarantee there's a lot of people on NS who would be very humbled trying to ski natural bumped up steep terrain.

Sometimes bump skiing can be miserable, but other times it's a fucking blast.

I prefer untracked powder tho . Being able to ski bumps competently helps a shit ton when it comes to skiing tracked powder and mashed potatoes too.

 

[mikemac]

Honestly, skiing moguls makes you realize all the flaws in your skiing. I was a very proficient groomer skier for years growing up on the east coast skiing the poconos. Parallel, linked, carved turns all day.

I moved to Taos in 2006 and quickly discovered I was actually a terrible skier. The moguls showed me how backseat I was in steep terrain, how poor my upper and lower body separation was, how much I struggled to stay in the fall line and commit my upper body to it, etc. it even made me realize how shittily fitted my boots were because nothing makes you realize that like swimming around in boots getting tossed in the moguls.

Over ten years later, and i ski a shit ton of steep bumps (not like mogul courses, but naturally bumped up, uneven and irregular bumps on pitches around 40 degrees and a bit above) and my skiing has totally transformed.

I'm not hating, but inguarantee there's a lot of people on NS who would be very humbled trying to ski natural bumped up steep terrain.

Sometimes bump skiing can be miserable, but other times it's a fucking blast.

I prefer untracked powder tho . Being able to ski bumps competently helps a shit ton when it comes to skiing tracked powder and mashed potatoes too.

THIS. Skiing moguls creates super strong overall fundamentals for any type of skiing you could think of. I skied in a freestyle program training bumps and competing from age 11-14 and it was probably THE best thing I ever did for my skiing. I loved the program, but honestly the mogul training days were my least favorite. Hiking Skidder at Sugarloaf, Maine, in January as a preteen was not the most pleasant thing I ever did, but it made me a great skier at a young age. I couldn't maintain competing through high school, it got too hard to travel every weekend and I wasn't getting near the reps that the academy kids were, and I didn't see myself doing cork tens or double back fulls into a mogul field at mach 10 any time soon so I bailed.

That being said, I freeskied all through high school and knowing mogul technique made it super fun to bomb around in some fresh snow in the woods or just open'er up on the groomers. I also had learned pencil 3s so it was a great building block for becoming a park rat as well. Having that super basic, old school freestyle skill set allowed me to progress in high school a bunch without really competing, training, or doing anything structured. Then, going to college in VT, joining the freeride club, getting time on tramps/airbags, doing rail jams, and lapping with kids who were WAY better than me just allowed me to progress even further. Then I decided skiing was my life and thats basically all I've done since.

Living in Jackson Hole I decided to be a ski instructor my first few seasons and you had to demonstrate good race technique basically to get hired (for a good position at least). I had never chased a gate in my life but I did "tryouts" and training with peers and trainers who had raced in college and I was right with them no problem. As an east coast park rat and former park crew and slope coach, I rolled my eyes at all the race technique but it was actually a major help to my all-mountain/powder skiing, and it came easy with my foundations in moguls.

Long story short, I never had the opportunity to go to an academy or race at a high level, but having a little background in moguls and traditional freestyle gave me a great foundation at a young age and gave me a lifelong love for skiing. It also enabled me to pursue a "career" and a life in the ski industry. Living out west now, we have tons of natural bumps but no official courses so I like to have the kids i coach smashing bumps as often as possible. Also, shralping shoulder high spring trenches with the homies is just a good old fashioned time, so ski bumps kids!

 

[MeenaSmalls]

respect to mogul skiers. i like rolling through the course at hood after they leave its fun but i couldn't do it all the time its something fun to rip on the way to the park.

ah, rolling through after it was slipped? I hear they love that!

 

[Deepskier]

Bumps>Bumps

 

[veng_m]

I think mogul skiing is kind of a lost art, but I love it personally. It totally transforms the kind of skier that you are

 

[avarda]

Can anyone confirm or deny if there are designated mogul runs at the following resorts which I'm hitting up this winter;

- Lake Louse

- Sunshine Village

- Breckenridge (swear there was a small run last time I was here 2 years ago)

- Keystone

- Park City/Canyons

- Whistler (cant remember from last time I was out here because it was spring)

- Heavenly (again, swear there was a small run last time)

I know I could easily search this, but would rather some 'local' insight.

Already buzzing for winter!

 

[SkiBum.]

Sun valley bump skier here. We are stronger in numbers than park skiers. Granted I'm one of those too so. I kind of do it all so im bias. Except racing fuck that shit. buncha pricks.

Fuck Sun Valley, bunch of pricks there

 

[Deepskier]

Fuck Sun Valley, bunch of pricks there

If you look at it like that then yeah

 

[reeski]

Gunbarrell at Heavenly is a legendary bump run.

Can anyone confirm or deny if there are designated mogul runs at the following resorts which I'm hitting up this winter;

- Lake Louse

- Sunshine Village

- Breckenridge (swear there was a small run last time I was here 2 years ago)

- Keystone

- Park City/Canyons

- Whistler (cant remember from last time I was out here because it was spring)

- Heavenly (again, swear there was a small run last time)

I know I could easily search this, but would rather some 'local' insight.

Already buzzing for winter!

 

[Julius_Steezer]

Can anyone confirm or deny if there are designated mogul runs at the following resorts which I'm hitting up this winter;

- Lake Louse

- Sunshine Village

- Breckenridge (swear there was a small run last time I was here 2 years ago)

- Keystone

- Park City/Canyons

- Whistler (cant remember from last time I was out here because it was spring)

- Heavenly (again, swear there was a small run last time)

I know I could easily search this, but would rather some 'local' insight.

Already buzzing for winter!

Only done lake Louise of that lot and this was a few years back...theres no training mogul runs (my norquay has one tho) but theres plenty of bumped up runs around the resort, especially if you dip into the back bowls

 

[yungcurv]

I'm a 16 y/o from Connecticut so I would consider myself still youth. My og skier friends and I used to ski moguls in Vermont before we skied strictly park. The strategy was an equal balance of trees, bumps, and park. Nowadays we pretty much just ski park because moguls get pretty tiring after a while and the east coast really hasn't had winter in the last two years so woods is out. But it definitely made managing my speed in the park so much easier, and it's real funny when we take the newer skier homies in the moguls and all of a sudden they go from being a solid skier to looking like they have four days on snow in their life. So yeah to some extent mogul skiing is lost to us newer generation kids, but it makes it a lot easier to get around the mountain and being able to ride on pow days.

**This post was edited on Sep 15th 2017 at 7:49:52am

 

[.lencon]

There's a reason people like Tanner Hall, CRJ, and others were/are so good.

Guess I should ski more moguls on the slow days..

 

[brett_fisher]

ah, rolling through after it was slipped? I hear they love that!

sorry fish don't care.

 

[Spagett+]

Did mogul team as a kid, made me a lot better skier. Still like skiing them a lot, more than park tbh. Like big mountain more now tho.

 

[_Garagely_]

Getting a nice flow going on a bump run is one of the better sensations in skiing outside of skiing pow I think. It takes a lot of motivation for me to just ski straight moguls on a firm day all day though.

 

[losh]

Growing up on the east coast, the "mountain" gets boring especially when you ski the same thing 3-4 times a week so i always looked for things to make it less boring. basically if im not skiing park, im hitting the bumps. theres not many other things that will make you a better skiier i feel like. My dad grew up in the bumps so even when i was little he was teaching me how to smash the bumps. Good moguls are honestly one of the most fun, challenging, sometimes scary things to do on the mountain especially when your mountain is barely even a hill. Plus theres not much cooler than watching someone slay some bumps when you're going up the lift.

 

[Camerontaylor158]

I only really learnt to ski bumps this year during my instructor training. I used to hate them before due to having no idea about the technique of it. I now love skiing them and luckily as I ski in France there are lots of mogul runs with different size bumps, lengths and gradients. More fun than skiing rails (my personal opinion, just not a huge fan) but no one will ski moguls with me.

 

[codizzle]

I don't hear much chatter on here about bump skiing. I'm an old school EC skier and would say that I ski bumps 65% of the ski day when conditions provide. If i'm on the WC I will pick pow of course first, if no pow I' m looking for moguls on the side of trail and steeps. Do people out West still hit bumps anymore? And how many EC's are still bumping? Just a thought.

where do you ride mostly on the EC?

 

[reeski]

where do you ride mostly on the EC?

Killington

 

[willysworld]

Honestly, skiing moguls makes you realize all the flaws in your skiing. I was a very proficient groomer skier for years growing up on the east coast skiing the poconos. Parallel, linked, carved turns all day.

I moved to Taos in 2006 and quickly discovered I was actually a terrible skier. The moguls showed me how backseat I was in steep terrain, how poor my upper and lower body separation was, how much I struggled to stay in the fall line and commit my upper body to it, etc. it even made me realize how shittily fitted my boots were because nothing makes you realize that like swimming around in boots getting tossed in the moguls.

Over ten years later, and i ski a shit ton of steep bumps (not like mogul courses, but naturally bumped up, uneven and irregular bumps on pitches around 40 degrees and a bit above) and my skiing has totally transformed.

I'm not hating, but inguarantee there's a lot of people on NS who would be very humbled trying to ski natural bumped up steep terrain.

Sometimes bump skiing can be miserable, but other times it's a fucking blast.

I prefer untracked powder tho . Being able to ski bumps competently helps a shit ton when it comes to skiing tracked powder and mashed potatoes too.

True story..

 

[mikemac]

If you need further proof of the awesomeness of mogul technique, look no further than Delorme smashing pillows @1:15 in this trailer:

https://youtu.be/FtCbBnVbj_k

 

[freeskibum82]

east coast woods become bump runs and thats all i ski so i guess youd say im a bump skier. Love being able to put together a bump run in the woods while avoiding tree. i do love me a zipper line on an open trail though.

 

[chris.goodhue]

i feel like all the glades I skied growing up in the east were moguls of some kind. Skiing straight moguls is hard and brutal on the knees, much respect to people who can slay them.

I'd rather save my knees, I don't find much enjoyment in slamming bumps honestly, no flow for me (probably because I'm not a super efficient mogul skier)

 

[dan4060]

Mammoth doesn't seem to have a bump culture at all. It's a skill that I wish I had for sure, I put in about 10 strictly bump days this past season but I'm still a ways from the aesthetic zipper-line that I'm aiming for. Also, steep bumps... ain't nobody got time for that.

It would actually make sense that Mammoth does not have a bump culture, given that the wind keeps things pretty smooth there. Mammoth gets less bumped out than many other similar mountains because the wind buffs things up. I grew up skiing bumps back east, but I prefer wind buffed steeps to bumps, so I get why people at Mammoth might not be into moguls.

I grew up skiing bumps all the time. I think bump skiing gives you a great technical foundation to move into big mountain, most of the great big mountain skiers from the movies have a background in racing, bumps, or grew up in Tahoe or Jackson or something. Most of the east coast guys who rip big mountain were bump skiers or racers at some point. It amazes me that kids on the east coast prefer park to bumps, if they in fact do. I live in the west now but if I lived back east I would be hunting bumps and glades primarily. Bump skiing will definitely help develop edge control and body control.

 

[dan4060]

There's a reason people like Tanner Hall, CRJ, and others were/are so good.

Guess I should ski more moguls on the slow days..

Amen to this.

I will add another name, Jonny Moseley. He was probably the best all-around skier in the world around 2002. He could dominate in big mountain, watch TGR's the Realm and see him hold his own in AK with Jeremy Jones and Jeremy Nobis, he won medals in park, and he not only won gold in bumps but also fundamentally changed the discipline in 2002. What guys are doing now, off axis 7's in bumps, is mind-blowing and should be credited to Moseley. He also won an xgames medal back in the day. He just might be the best skier ever to step foot on the planet.

 

[willysworld]

Amen to this.

I will add another name, Jonny Moseley. He was probably the best all-around skier in the world around 2002. He could dominate in big mountain, watch TGR's the Realm and see him hold his own in AK with Jeremy Jones and Jeremy Nobis, he won medals in park, and he not only won gold in bumps but also fundamentally changed the discipline in 2002. What guys are doing now, off axis 7's in bumps, is mind-blowing and should be credited to Moseley. He also won an xgames medal back in the day. He just might be the best skier ever to step foot on the planet.

Candide is the best.. he was French and I think junior world champion for moguls when he was like 14 .. Moseley was amazing though ... too 3 to 5 ever all round 100% mogul skiing is fucking so hard.. I did it for years and only got semi good at it.. to become an Olympic level mogul skier is almost the equivalent of becoming a world tour level surfer or top 20 PGA tour level golfer .. it's up there with skateboarding, golf and surfing as one of the top 5 most technical sports on earth.

 

[RousedWits]

In my opinion bumps are either extremely fun or really frustrating. Once I get the flow down bump line I really enjoy it... Like a lot. Other times I feel like they are in the way and don't let me ski the hill the way I want..

 

[reeski]

My favorite place to charge on most days are the sides of runs which are usually bumped up. To me the best skiers have a strong mogul background

 

[mikemac]

Candide is the best.. he was French and I think junior world champion for moguls when he was like 14 .. Moseley was amazing though ... too 3 to 5 ever all round 100% mogul skiing is fucking so hard.. I did it for years and only got semi good at it.. to become an Olympic level mogul skier is almost the equivalent of becoming a world tour level surfer or top 20 PGA tour level golfer .. it's up there with skateboarding, golf and surfing as one of the top 5 most technical sports on earth.

But, both Candide and Mosley (and tanner and Bushfield and others) are the best skiers in the world and possibly in the history of mankind BECAUSE of mogul skiing. SKI BUMPS KIDS!

 

[chicken]

Ripping a tight and soft bump line is the best. Fuck yeah.

 

[arnie_grape]

Can anyone confirm or deny if there are designated mogul runs at the following resorts which I'm hitting up this winter;

- Lake Louse

- Sunshine Village

- Breckenridge (swear there was a small run last time I was here 2 years ago)

- Keystone

- Park City/Canyons

- Whistler (cant remember from last time I was out here because it was spring)

- Heavenly (again, swear there was a small run last time)

I know I could easily search this, but would rather some 'local' insight.

Already buzzing for winter!

sunshine and lake don't usually have mogul courses open to the public, but only like 20% of the mountain gets groomed every night so you end up with some really nice fields. or you can just poach but tbh you can probably find better natural bumps.

 

[Segsxi]

I'm pretty youth, I think bumps are the sh*t! I want to learn how to master the bumps. I love the old school sty, colorful, and classic swagger.

 

[3mania]

Honestly, skiing moguls makes you realize all the flaws in your skiing. I was a very proficient groomer skier for years growing up on the east coast skiing the poconos. Parallel, linked, carved turns all day.

I moved to Taos in 2006 and quickly discovered I was actually a terrible skier. The moguls showed me how backseat I was in steep terrain, how poor my upper and lower body separation was, how much I struggled to stay in the fall line and commit my upper body to it, etc. it even made me realize how shittily fitted my boots were because nothing makes you realize that like swimming around in boots getting tossed in the moguls.

Over ten years later, and i ski a shit ton of steep bumps (not like mogul courses, but naturally bumped up, uneven and irregular bumps on pitches around 40 degrees and a bit above) and my skiing has totally transformed.

I'm not hating, but inguarantee there's a lot of people on NS who would be very humbled trying to ski natural bumped up steep terrain.

Sometimes bump skiing can be miserable, but other times it's a fucking blast.

I prefer untracked powder tho . Being able to ski bumps competently helps a shit ton when it comes to skiing tracked powder and mashed potatoes too.

First time i've seen the term "upper and lower body separation" on this site. So crucial to good skiing, not just in the bumps. Strong core and understanding of how pole plants can set you up for your line is what's a lost art.

 

[WoFIowz]

Rumor has it, you aren't a good skier unless you can ski bumps. I agree, and by that rationale, I'm not good lol. Fuck moguls, but damn they really do expose all your flaws. They are fun, but wear you out. Many east coast woods are basically moguls after they get skied out which sucks if you're not good at them. Whoever said their worst wipeouts were in mogul fields, I concur. I've had some gnarly crashes in moguls haha

 

[Deepskier]

sun valley is nothing but racing and bumps. if you can rip the deep icy bumps there you can rip anywhere.

 

[mistaNasty]

Bumps are OG my dad was a mogul competitor when that shit took off back in the day, so I was raised on the bumps on maryjane. I always remember how he says your upper body stays facing forward and never moves except for the pole plant and your lower body does the rest. lol for as much bumps as I do my legs probably won’t be in working condition by the time I hit 40

 

[Craigskis]

Aerials has even less interest from the youth.

 

[theabortionator]

New contest. You start in a gate like skier cross, go through some huge whoops, then a bump section with a freestyle moguls jump, then back into boarder x type course with some decent jumps, and occasionally some rails, then a flat area where you have to do 3 different flatland or ballet moves, then into a small pipe and out the end.

 

[SCOO-WOOP]

There's a reason people like Tanner Hall, CRJ, and others were/are so good.

Guess I should ski more moguls on the slow days..

Candide Thovex, Rory Bushfield (won junior worlds for moguls), Sarah Burke, Simon Dumont, Mike Douglass, etc. etc. were all mogul skiers. You won't find many of those guys that weren't at some point.