reinventing the bump-ski wheel

[Serafina]

NOT because I wanted to.

Today involved many extremely valuable lessons, all of which I had to derive for myself, and all of which I want to check with you Divas who have more experience. Let me know if there is anything here that seems flat-out wrong (not "can be refined" wrong but "bad habit to develop, will cause injuries" wrong).


If I'd know what the conditions were going to be, I'd have chosen today for another lesson. Like, one taught by a real instructor rather than the lesson I had, which was figured out on the fly. If conditions are suitable (i.e., NOT icy, I'm going to get a private next weekend and just ask to be taken in to learn to ski the bump fields properly).

Conclusions about conditions:
1. When there has been 20 inches of powder in the last 2 days, and 8 of those have fallen after the hill has been groomed, it is better to arrive earlier than later, BEFORE thousands of people have skied the powder into bumps.
2. If you can't arrive early under those conditions, expect to find the entire mountain covered with ad-hoc moguls.
3. These moguls, unlike the bumps that get seeded, will not be of any uniform size, density, spacing, or distribution.
4. Even if one does not intend to ski moguls recreationally, one should learn to ski them defensively for circumstances in which they are not avoidable.
5. The kind of powder that gets pushed into lots and lots of bumps is heavy and requires more than the usual amount of physical effort to ski.
6. Dress accordingly.

Conclusions about skiing bumps:
1. If you need to dump speed, DO NOT count on doing this by traversing and treating the traverse as a mid-slope runout. Use a hockey stop instead.
2. Avoid traversing, period. Best way down is down, not across.
3. This one is thanks to MaineSkiLady, who pointed out last week that pivot slips are a key skill for bump skiing: edging is not a very efficient way through the bump field. Any edge that gets set is just something that is going to have to be undone, quickly, and it's not going to provide a lot of stability meantime. Better to keep the skis relatively flat and turn by pivoting, not by carving.
4. Put the pole plant on TOP of the bump, and do it before you get to the bump, not while you are passing it.
5. Plan ahead. If you can actually see (which I couldn't for a lot of this, thx to monster flat light) go ahead and shop for your line like crazy.
6. Keep it loose, unless you want to be springing around in the air and losing control.
7. The skied-in ditches between the bumps are a Mixed Blessing. They show you a line that may or may not be do-able, because you never know if it was laid down by someone who totally yard-saled on a massive pile of snow you can't see at the end of that line...and they're also kind of slick and icy.
8. Keep weight evenly distributed across both feet instead of weighting the downhill ski, because there is no telling when you'll find that what is under that ski is mostly air, and if your weight is on air, you will fall over.

Really, I should have known when I took the lift up and saw 1) a massive number of wipe-outs in process, and 2) people catching air on what is usually a smooth section of the slope. I only fell once, which was something of a miracle. It was to the point where people making their way down the slopes were stopping to applaud the more spectacular wipe-outs. I did not have a spectacular wipe-out, but I did fall directly under the lift, and promptly had difficulty getting my ski back on.

 

[B.E.G.]

Serafina, I don't ski bumps so no advice on the actual method, but I had just exactly one of those days a few weeks ago, on Super Bowl Sunday. I was lucky enough to get there early enough to have tons of fresh powder (and you know, faceplant since that's the first time I skied in powder), and by the time I actually got comfortable skiing powder and began to think it was fun, it had all been skied out! Every run was a mini mogul field - NOT fun at all! I stuck to easy runs where the bumps were little and I just plowed over them on the Rossis I was on. I stay away from the mogul runs like the plague now (I've been down one early in my ski career, lol, and it was bad).

 

[Serafina]

I feel like I just got done skiing 4 days, not 4 hours.

Plenty of people seemed jazzed about the conditions, so I am assuming that this becomes more fun than work with experience.

 

[B.E.G.]

Give it a few more ski days - I bet you come back with a new love of bumps and skied out pow

Maybe it's also what you get used to - I was reading threads about some eastern skiers who are at their strongest (skiing-wise) on ice and not pow, whereas I fall apart on anything remotely icy and do a happy dance when I see that we're getting a powder day! Maybe you'll get so used to bumps that you'll do a happy dance when you see them too!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I feel like I just got done skiing 4 days, not 4 hours.

Ha!
Yep.
Best place to be on a bone-chilling day?
Well, hey, it sounds like you are definitely figuring this out!
Consider it, for the time being, as survival training? You will know what to do and not freak out. Because it's altogether possible to one day take a wrong turn somewhere unfamiliar, and....there they are.

Because moguls are always changing, they are always challenging, and that's what entices the skiers who enjoy them.

"Skiing is a dance, and the mountain always leads."

ETA: p.s. Glad the pivot slips tip helped. Keep at it. Invaluable skill.

 

[Serafina]

ETA: p.s. Glad the pivot slips tip helped. Keep at it. Invaluable skill.

MSL - you'd have been happy, I think...I'd done 2 warm up runs on a busy slope and headed for a part of the ski area that tends to be more empty. Got off the lift, turned, and saw that this section was even more bumped up than the rest. Battled my way down, had no fun at all, and took that darned lift right back up for another try. I stood for a minute at the top of the hill and heard your remark that your husband considered pivot slips to be "the" key skill for moguls, and tried to think what it could possibly have been about the pivot slips that would help with these bloody bumps.

I decided that it must be that edging wasn't a good way to turn in the things (I had already decided that wasn't working) and that the slipping turns might be a piece of it...and that if I wound up facing the direction of the turn with my upper body I could see where I was going - at that 10 second long moment - but that this was not really helpful given how clearly important it seemed to pick my way down the hill. That being able to turn while remaining facing forward is a survival skill for those bump fields.

It was the most helpful piece of advice that I'd received all week!

 

[Serafina]

Maybe it's also what you get used to - I was reading threads about some eastern skiers who are at their strongest (skiing-wise) on ice and not pow,

There were people in the lift line complaining about "all this snow".

 

[B.E.G.]

There were people in the lift line complaining about "all this snow".

Sacrilege!

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and I did a happy little hop on my skis - who cares if it was accompanied by 30 mph winds, no visibility and single digit temps? It was SNOW!! :p

 

[geargrrl]

Sacrilege!

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and I did a happy little hop on my skis - who cares if it was accompanied by 30 mph winds, no visibility and single digit temps? It was SNOW!! :p

haha my kind of girl!!

 

[mtngirl]

soft, fresh powder bumps are the best to learn on! I use to hate them too, but lately they have been fun.

not sure if its "correct" or not, but sometimes I feel like I am skiing not really in the ditch, but right on the edge on the bump to the outside of my turn, and it feels really smooth, where the bumps almost help with the turn...

With the dry January and Febuary we had here for a while, it was ski bumps or ski groomers... I picked bumps, because I am nutty that way...

 

[MaineSkiLady]

(I)... tried to think what it could possibly have been about the pivot slips that would help with these bloody bumps.

I need to get busier with the video camera. He took a friend through the whole progression in early January (friend was a ridiculous student and is now better than I am!), and I could have video'd some of the drills and demos. It isn't something that translates well into plain words. He does a (nearly incredible) great slow-mo of this and exactly how and why it works in moguls.

Next time....<sigh> Sorry, this would have been way easier to implement with some visuals.

But so glad you are trying this and seeing how and why it works different and more effectively.

 

[ski diva]

Serafina, that type of snow can definitely be a challenge. But it's perfect for learning how to ski bumps because it's not icy. So embrace it; it'll make you a better skier.

Me, I love it.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I have been to SOME places where the general skier sentiment seems to be, "When are they going to GROOM all this snow, and get rid of those BUMPS?"



(I try not to go to said places. )

 

[Serafina]

This morning I feel like I have been beaten all over with a big, thick, stick.

If this wretched rain doesn't really screw up the hill, I'll be back at it next weekend. I know my mtn seeds a stretch of one of the green slopes with Baby Bumps and I have the feeling that's where I'll be spending my time...with an instructor.

 

[Serafina]

I have been to SOME places where the general skier sentiment seems to be, "When are they going to GROOM all this snow, and get rid of those BUMPS?"



(I try not to go to said places. )

I definitely had that feeling yesterday! Not so much when are they going to groom, because I know that they had, and this was the effect of the nice fresh snow that was still falling (all good) but oy! I sure would like to have had the option of skiing on some nice smooth stuff after a couple of hours. At least, that is what my knees were voting for!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

not sure if its "correct" or not, but sometimes I feel like I am skiing not really in the ditch, but right on the edge on the bump to the outside of my turn, and it feels really smooth, where the bumps almost help with the turn...

Absolutely and totally correct. And not "almost" help: they completely DO help.

This morning I feel like I have been beaten all over with a big, thick, stick.

Partially because it IS hard work, for anyone, and partially because it's new and unfamiliar territory to you, so you are invariably tensed up a bit - which leads to early and sometimes PROFOUND muscle fatigue and subsequent soreness. Fear not: This too shall pass.

 

[contesstant]

Serafina, your posts always make me smile! I would dearly love to ski with you someday as it sounds as though we're about the same level and I just love your attitude and ability to put your thoughts to words so effortlessly :D

Those conditions happened at the Tahoe resorts a LOT when I skied there in the 90's and I'm assuming still do. I LOVED it and I HATE real moguls. They forced me into a rhythm and to turn where the bumps told me to turn. Based on my limited knowledge, your assessment of how to ski them is accurate. Pole on top and downhill from you, turn OVER the tops of them into the little valley below them.

One of my funnest times skiing was on a narrow black diamond run at Kirkwood with conditions like these. Little woopty doos to pop up and over along with very soft, forgiving snow on a steeper run. I felt like I was the BOMB after that day! I do much better in conditions like that than any form of ice or hard pack/sheered off junk. Maybe it's because I'm not a real speed demon.

And sorry you said the 4-letter R word for RAIN. Oh no!!!

 

[litterbug]

If you're talking about those mini-bumps you find the afternoon after a dump (or on sun-softened snow), yes, flatter = better. I used to struggle mightily in mini-bump fields, usually with a fall on each; every time I set an edge I flew faster and faster until I fell. I recently learned to play with edge angle, and with a much flatter edge I can ski right over them and play with the best spot to turn. Now they're kinda fun.

 

[Serafina]

If you're talking about those mini-bumps you find the afternoon after a dump (or on sun-softened snow), yes, flatter = better. I used to struggle mightily in mini-bump fields, usually with a fall on each; every time I set an edge I flew faster and faster until I fell. I recently learned to play with edge angle, and with a much flatter edge I can ski right over them and play with the best spot to turn. Now they're kinda fun.

They were totally random. Some of them were little mini bumps where I could zip over the top and catch some of air and land on flat snow on the other side with a smacking sound from my skis. It was probably all of 2 inches of air, but it made me feel like Eddie "The Eagle".


Then there were the big fat piles of fluffy powder, which if I skied directly at them, fell apart into crud under the onslaught of my mighty Tierras.

Then there were the big fat piles of fluffy powder that turned out to be big heavy well-constructed moguls, and when I turned the onslaught of my mighty Tierras upon those, expecting them to bust up into crud, I found myself - instead - balanced on top of them like I was skiing on the tip of an egg. And, by the way, facing an ocean of more of the same, so just skiing down the other side turned out to be a not-so-useful option.

Enough of the last type, there, and I decided it was the Better Part of Wisdom to assume that *all* of them were big heavy built-up moguls, and to treat the hill like one long, long, very long, mogul run. Did I mention "long"? Any surface that wasn't level (i.e., the boring bits of the green cruiser where one normally has to skate) was rippled like the skin of an orange. I felt bad for the real noobs, skiing a green run covered with little moguls. Something like that might have turned me off of the sport, had I encountered it my first time out.

 

[litterbug]

One thing I found useful was forgetting about skiing over the bumps and instead picking my own line. Yes, they're random, but with a flatter ski I go slower and more curvy, which means I can look for the top of the next bump. Another thing is skiing the uphill side of the bump and not the top; this also slows me down. It also lets me keep my knees loose and weight centered for the occasional icy bump or cruddy pile of rotten snow.