Study shows moguls moving uphill!

**funkendrenchman** · 12-09-2006, 10:05 PM

"What they're doing is they're scraping the bumps the snow is actually moving uphill just like you think it should but when the skier hits those bumps they scrape it off the backside of each bump and pike it up on the bump below so that bump is actually slowly moving up the hill," said Bahr.

WINTER PARK - After years of skiing at Mary Jane, Brad Peterman says he and his family have gotten pretty good at hitting the bump runs.

Additional Resources...
Professor Dave Bahr's Wep page

Study shows moguls gradually move uphill. 9NEWS at 5 p.m. December 9, 2006.

"We like the bumps here," said Peterman.

Even Peterman's daughter Nichole has already got the hang of moguls.

"Just go straight down keep your body facing forward and just turn your skis," Nichole said.

However, something the Peterman's do not know about moguls is that they move, and during a season they move up hill.

"That's weird. I never would have guessed it," said Nichole.

It is a discovery made by Regis University Professor Dave Bahr.

"People ask me if they put hay bails under these bumps. They just migrate into position so the question is, 'How are they moving?' I thought about it and realized pretty much the only way they can move is uphill and of course half the people I said that to said I was nuts," said Bahr.

Professor Bahr started his research last year by setting up a water proof camera to take pictures of a bump run at Mary Jane.

"Once an hour on the hour all day long everyday of the year and then at the end of the year we take all the pictures and combine them into a movie," said Bahr.

The movie shows that during the season, bump runs are moving a few feet slowly uphill, and the more skiers are pounding the bumps, the more the moguls move.

"What they're doing is they're scraping the bumps the snow is actually moving uphill just like you think it should but when the skier hits those bumps they scrape it off the backside of each bump and pike it up on the bump below so that bump is actually slowly moving up the hill," said Bahr.

Winter Park's Communications Manager Darcy Morse says the information came as a surprise to some.

"I'm sure there's people in the resort for years who have known this, but myself no I always thought they moved downhill with the skiers," said Morse.

Still the research could go a long way in helping the resort reduce the impact skiers have on bump runs.

Professor Bahr says that's one good outcome to the study, but there are others.

"We're studying things like LCD TV's and all sorts of chemical reactions, even the way spiral galaxies form just by looking at bumps," Bahr said.

**Cyber Cop** · 12-09-2006, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Still the research could go a long way in helping the resort reduce the impact skiers have on bump runs.

I thought that's what snowboards were for?

**summit** · 12-10-2006, 12:08 AM

fuck thats common sense... anyone here could have told you that after thinking about it for 2 minutes

regis should give me tenure

the bigger question is... who really fucking cares if moguls shift position 2 feet over 4 months

**iceman** · 12-10-2006, 12:11 AM

I'm a bit puzzled about how moguls can be used as a computer I'll admit.

**elchupanebre4** · 12-10-2006, 12:14 AM

My question is if the mogul is moving up hill, why is it doing so becuase of the mogul that is uphill from it being moved downhill? They say "the snow is moving up hill" but it's really not, the snow is still being brought down, the line is just moving up. Maybe I'm jsut retardarded and need beer to truly grasp this concept.

**summit** · 12-10-2006, 01:41 AM

the snow from the bottom half of the mogul moves downhill onto the top of the next mogul, building its uphill side. the snow moves down. the peak of the moguls move up.

**rideit** · 12-10-2006, 01:51 AM

Winter Park's prices are not high enough...if they were $80 a day, skiers could "be involved in the process of reversing gravity, with proof of it to boot."
Man, I should be in marketing.

**KansasBoarder** · 12-10-2006, 02:23 AM

I wonder if this recently observed physical phenomenon holds if the skiiers are moving at relativistic velocities....

**ccharp** · 12-10-2006, 02:35 AM

I've always been a big fan of banning moguls outright...

**Cliff Huckable** · 12-10-2006, 04:13 AM

Originally Posted by Summit

the bigger question is... who really fucking cares if moguls shift position 2 feet over 4 months

I make extensive mogul maps at the start of every season, and by the end of the season I'm getting hammered to hell.
Now I know what's wrong.

I guess I should start relying more on sight and less on my mogul maps.

**iskibc** · 12-10-2006, 08:46 AM

Where do they store the moguls in the summer?

**Steven S. Dallas** · 12-10-2006, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by iceman

I'm a bit puzzled about how moguls can be used as a computer I'll admit.

By being used to find the way spiral galaxies form, duh.

**Altaholic** · 12-10-2006, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by iskibc

Where do they store the moguls in the summer?

Dude, everybody knows they send them to south america silly!!!!!

**TBS** · 12-10-2006, 11:39 AM

What happens when the top row of moguls crests the hill? Do they go to South America then too?

**FiveLarge** · 12-10-2006, 01:10 PM

Good thing I didn't buy those moguls someone had in gear swap several weeks ago. Sounds like I need to get ones with anchors. A mogul moving uphill would seem to be tricky, if not also dangerous.

**bakers_dozen** · 12-10-2006, 01:53 PM

Yeah common sense. Same thing happens to wind blown/water formed ripples to sand dunes

**Big Blue** · 12-10-2006, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by elchupanebre4

They say "the snow is moving up hill" but it's really not

I think that was a typo. They meant the snow is moving downhill, but the bumps move uphill. I'm also going to assume that the snow piles on the bump below rather than "pikes".

**snow2night** · 12-15-2006, 07:52 PM

A better explanation is at http://academic.regis.edu/dbahr/Gene...ulResearch.htm

**bakers_dozen** · 12-15-2006, 08:06 PM

What a joke of research

**Telenater** · 12-15-2006, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by bakers_dozen

What a joke of research

Maybe, maybe not. Movement of particles vs the concentrations of those same particles on a spatial scale is on the cutting edge of research in many fields whether it's galaxies, solar systems, people, other species, grains of sand/ice, molecules, or atoms. Very similar modeling has become the key to the creation of molecular constructions in electrodes for fuel cells (cue Legoskier's input on nanotechnology).

There are very few mathematical processes that are not applicable at scales other than those for which they're initially observed.

</nerd>

**HyRUPz** · 12-16-2006, 12:23 AM

Maldelbrot Set ... practically explains the variability of everything in our universe, if you can get your brain around it. Very complicated ...

General definition see link, and no - it's not about the picture per se, that's just a visual proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set

**Deep Days** · 12-16-2006, 12:26 AM

I'm definitely in the "who gives a fuck, just go ski them, irrespectagardless of their relative positions throughout the season" crowd...

Galaxies... ok. But I guess that ties the name of the resort to the spanish translation and associated outlandish ideas... "Hey, man... like bump runs and galaxies and shit, bro brah!"

**paleale** · 12-16-2006, 07:09 PM

I'm just glad that somebody is getting paid to study a bump run.

**snow2night** · 12-16-2006, 08:07 PM

Actually, his real research seems to be global warming and sea level. From his web page,

"The mogul study started primarily as a fun (and inexpensive) illustration for the classroom -- it demonstrates self-organizing behavior and unexpected computation in natural/man-made systems. However, if you are curious, most of my research involves glaciers and their interaction with climate change and sea-level rise. Many of my studies have also focused on cellular automata and complex global systems that arise from simple local interactions. A list of my published papers indicates my general research interests."