What's your strategy for skiing bumps/moguls?

Lot's of people look down that steep pitch, peppered with moguls in fear and run away: https://youtu.be/YBtN4gRtXOU

What is your strategy for skiing bumps? Do you take it slow and make your turn on the peak of the mogul, or try to stay in the trough, or just wing it and and pray you don't crash? I'm not a seasoned bump skier, my legs are always sore after making it down a steep mogul pitch (back-seat?), and I'm trying to get better. I was hoping to join a ski camp this year to work on this, but with coronavirus that's a no go, so I am going to have to teach myself lol! All hail the bump gods!

Avoid.

Pm Rontele for expert bump skiing advice.

Seems like the bumps under the chairlift are always nicer. Sack up! :D

Series of linked recoveries at high speed.


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Look around.
Make sure nobody is watching.
Commence doomed attack while sitting in the backseat.
Lose courage.
Shoot out of the field sideways on one ski.
Look at my skis like there is something wrong with them.

Stay out of the troughs and off the tops... keep your tips pointed downhill and carve the shoulders of the bumps. Think where would water flow if it was running down the hill and follow that line. Find a ramp and air into the next good line. Cat tracks for bigger air and tricks. Thanks Mary Jane.

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Originally Posted by Abol98

Look around.
Make sure nobody is watching.
Commence doomed attack while sitting in the backseat.
Lose courage.
Shoot out of the field sideways on one ski.
Look at my skis like there is something wrong with them.

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It's like you've known me all my life.

Pick a line for the first few bumps till you develop a rhythm. Stay in the front. Practice different turn shapes in the bumps (GS, SL, zipperline etc.). Ski different parts of the bumps. Follow the sunshine over the bumps for soft snow, ski them when they are covered in pow, slap your skis through ice bumps. Jump from one to another. Find a tele setup and make tele turns in the bumps. Ski them slow with your boots loose (but be careful). Follow someone better than you through them... It'll click.

just go out and ski them

Wait for them to be covered with 2 feet of pow

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

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Originally Posted by shera

Sack up! :D

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pretty much this

Shera's back. WOOT! WOOT!

When folks would ask me in the line or on the chair what was in my backpack the answer was always 'It's my mogul avoidance kit'.

Bumps are God's way of telling you there's too many skiers on the mountain.

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Originally Posted by ntblanks

It's like you've known me all my life.

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Ditto, you stalking me??

Mogul runs are where I go to rest when my legs are cramping from hot laps. You get a little break each time you de-weight and the turns are too quick to get tired - unlike holding a long series of g-force turns on edge.

Your mileage may vary.

There’s a 6 page bump skiing thread just an inch lower down. Any particular reason OP is avoiding it?

Keep your eyes focused 2 turns ahead of where your skis are (don't watch your skis as you navigate the bumps because that technique leads to instant face plant). Stay centered on your skis with a solid stance. Try to identify and follow the Fall Line as you pick your route down the hill. Learn to ski all 3 places on a bump (top, bottom and sides of the bumps). Work to use the shape of the bumps to carve your turn (on the Top, bottom, and sides of the bumps). Focus on keeping your upper body quiet. Reach down the fall line aggressively with your pole plants to start your turns. Keep your upper body square to the Fall Line as your skis cut back and forth beneath you. Use your legs to absorb the up and downs of the undulating ground under your skis (or the bumps will use your head as a hammer ...leading to loss of balance, disorientation, and face plant).

CONTROL YOUR SPEED!!! CONTROL YOUR SPEED, CONTROL YOUR SPEED! As you learn to navigate bumps, speed control is critical. Go slow to begin with,until you can feel rhythm in your turns. Only when you have control of your rhythm, should you start working on increasing speed. There are people who just bash on the tops of bumps and fly over the other bumps. Most of them are in their 20s and won't be doing that in their 30s because their knees will refuse. Focus on being smooth through your turns. I am in my 60's and I still enjoy bumps despite my battered knees. Smooth is the long term goal.

As for motivation.... bumps will teach you how to cut quick, short radius turns on all aspects of terrain. Powder days are a thing of the past (think fat skis and high speed lifts). Once you get through your 2 or 3 Powder runs after the lift opens and the slopes are shredded... you can still find lots of good snow hiding in the bumps. Powder Snow frequently will drift and fill the troughs between the bumps. This can be demanding to play with. But once you get competent, bumps are frequently some of the best skiing on the hill.

People mostly avoid bumps. As a result, you get to have bump runs all to your self, while all the other people on the mountain are struggling in the chaos of crowd skiing mank. Bumps can be very rewarding on those CROWDED, CHAOTIC MANK DAYS.

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Originally Posted by frorider

There’s a 6 page bump skiing thread just an inch lower down. Any particular reason OP is avoiding it?

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I did not see it... can you link? An inch lower down (when I just checked) is "Hellllloooooooo" and the Tahoe thread.

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Originally Posted by snojones

..don't watch your skis as you navigate the bumps because that technique leads to instant face plant.

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My face makes an excellent brake in the bumps.

I’m no expert and only recently learned to enjoy bump even as a jong.

Two drills helped: pivot slips and hockey stops. Go down first bump and make a hokey stop. Pivot slip to/around another bump, go down, hokey stop. Repeat and try to find a rhythm by looking for your next turn.

Also, buy red skis.


Edit: stupid hokey vs hockey. I blame autocorrect

As much as I welcome the return of the Princess of Pow, why do a lot of these new threads seem like DSM alii or something?

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Originally Posted by joecoffee

I did not see it... can you link? An inch lower down (when I just checked) is "Hellllloooooooo" and the Tahoe thread.

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https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...hool-Bump-Fags ..

Shoulders square to the fall line, stay mostly forward with possible exception in unweight, shoot for skipping around the tops of the bumps with the occasional troughride.