Posts Tagged ‘skiing moguls’

Controlling Your Speed In The Moguls

Thursday, 18 November 2010 17:41 Written by Admin 1 Comment

This tutorial will teach you how to control your speed efficiently and safely while skiing the moguls. Sometimes, we just get going too fast in the moguls and it is difficult to slow down. When this happens, it is a common habit to get back seat and in the defensive position. However this is the exact opposite of what you actually need to do. It’s very important to stay forward and balanced, and not let your weight get on your heels. Speed is determined by the size of your turns and also your absorption. So, if you’re going too fast and want to slow down, simply finish your turns more by making wider turns down the backside of the mogul. Just like on flats, the more turns you make and the wider they are the slower you will go. Through absorption you can also decrease your speed. You will go slower if you fully absorb the mogul and, after you reach the crest of the mogul, pull your feet back behind you. The more forward and better balanced you are while going through the moguls at any speed, the easier it will be to shave off some speed in the bumps. If you have good balance and absorption, slowing down is just a matter of getting on an edge and making turns, just like you would on flats.

Getting Out of The Backseat

Sunday, 14 November 2010 16:24 Written by Admin 3 Comments

Getting out of the backseat while skiing moguls is actually quite difficult, especially on icy, steep runs. These next tips will help you be able to pull yourself forward and ski on your toes instead of your heels.

  1. The most important tip I can give is to get your hands forward! At all times while skiing the bumps, you need to have your hands driving down the hill. Your hands should be at least a foot and a half in front of you and one to two and a half feet from each other. If you ever feel yourself getting onto your heels, just punch your hands forward and it will get you forward 90% of the time.
  2. If pushing your hands forward doesn’t get you on your toes, then the next thing to do is to push your hips forward. Putting your hips in front will get you forward and will also lift your chest up, which is good because a “hunched” chest can get you backseat.
  3. My last tip to get in the front seat is to keep your feet underneath you. By this I mean don’t let you feet get out in front of you; your feet should always be directly underneath your hips. If they are in front of that line, then pulling them back underneath you could very well be the key to getting forward.

I hope these 3 tips help and that you liked this tutorial. Mogul skiing is probably one of the biggest challenges of skiing, so don’t expect great results immediately; just remember to keep working at it and soon it will be second nature. I would like to wish you good luck in your bump skiing, so have fun and see you on the slopes! If you have any questions or comments, please contact us below and we will reply immediately with our free help.

-A super common cause of backseat skiing especially on steep stuff, is the habit to “throw your feet in front of you at the mogul” and that will really get you backseat. Be sure that wherever you’re skiing, don’t let your feet get out in front of you. It’s really easy to do on steep, hard stuff, but you have to let the mogul come to you and keep your feet underneath you. Always try to stay in a solid stance with your hips going down the hill first, not your feet.

-This tip might not apply to you, but your really have to reach with your poles. You need to flick your wrists and make your pole actual reach, you should aim for your pole plant to be on the far side or back side of the mogul. It’s also important that your pole plants aren’t pulling you back. If you reach, you shouldn’t have the problem but you’ll feel if your pulling plant is “pulling” you backseat.

Absorbing The Moguls

Sunday, 07 November 2010 18:27 Written by Admin 17 Comments

Absorbing the moguls is when your knees come up to your chest and back down to minimize the jerk on your upper body. For some really good example of absorption (and good skiing in general) check out our videos section.

To absorb the moguls, you must first approach the mogul with the correct body position; that means hands in front, looking down the hill and your shins pressing up against the front of your boots. Once you have this you are ready to absorb some moguls!

  1. Absorbing the moguls early is important, so begin the whole process when the tips of your skis reach the beginning of the mogul.
  2. Once your reach the mogul, let your feet come up towards you chest similar to the position of sitting in a chair. It may seem weird, but skiing moguls is like standing up, sitting down, standing up, etc. Practice this until you have a good range of motion, that means your knees should be able to bend and your feet come up and then push them back down.
  3. Once your knees are up and you’re on top of the bump, you need to push your feet down and return to a tall position. It is also important to “drive” the tips of your skis down the backside of the mogul so that someone standing below you doesn’t see the bottom of your skis. This may be hard at first, but it is an important quality of a good mogul skier.
  4. Keep practicing this over and over again until you get the hang of it. Don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone and let your knees come up as high as they need to. Over time, try to incorporate this into your mogul skiing, but don’t let it get you “backseat” or skiing on your heels instead of the balls of your feet. Good luck! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I promise I’ll respond!

Body Position

Sunday, 07 November 2010 18:27 Written by Admin 1 Comment

This mogul skiing tutorial will teach you how to have the correct body position while skiing the moguls. To make it nice and simple, I’ve divided them up into four categories. These are:

Eyes Up: One of the most important bump skiing tips is to keep your eyes up. You need to be looking directly down the hill approximately 2-3 moguls ahead of you or 5-6 moguls when you are skiing fast. If at any time you drop your vision while skiing the moguls your whole form will look sloppy and it will be very difficult.

Hands In Front: One of the most common problems in mogul skiing is dropping your hands. This is a really bad habit and can really get you in trouble. Your hands always need to be out in front of your body and constantly driving down the hill. It’s okay to have your hands out wide as long as you are still reaching down the hill and your hands aren’t getting sucked back. A common problem is keeping your hands too low; remember to keep your hands high- they should be at or above stomach level.

Chest Up: Most people don’t need to worry to much about this, but “hunching over” is a pretty big problem in mogul skiing. People who lean forward too much with their chest often get “bucked” by moguls, can’t get their full potential range of motion and have sloppy style. To fix this, just pick your vision up and most importantly push your hips forward. From a side view, your chest should be perpendicular to the slope of the mogul hill and facing downhill at all times.

Hips Forward: Tying into the last one, you need to get your hips forward regardless if you are “chesty.” If you ever find yourself getting backseat in the moguls, just push your hips forward to get back. To know if you are skiing forward or not, you should always be able to feel your shins pushing against the fronts of your boots.

I hope this little tutorial helped and don’t forget to watch the video for visual help. If you have any questions, please post them below and I’ll respond. Good luck!

Choosing A Good Mogul Line

Sunday, 07 November 2010 18:25 Written by Admin 2 Comments

Good Mogul Lines

Choosing your line while skiing moguls, especially when the moguls aren’t perfect is very important. Nothing’s worse when you can only ski 5 bumps at a time just because there is one weird mogul. While choosing your path, it helps for me to think or little targets on each mogul; the above picture illustrated what I imagine my path to be. It’s okay if you take some time to look down the hill in order to ski a good, long line. Remember, you DO NOT have to go straight down the entire time. It’s perfectly fine to mix it up a little bit, ski over the moguls, skip one or go around one; just try to be consistent and keep your eyes and shoulders facing down the hill at all times. Things to watch out are: other skiers, ice, small trees, rocks and other things that might throw you off. A common misconception is to follow the line of the rut. All that will do is put you in a bumpy and bad line; try to stay out of the ruts and just imagine the little targets in your head and try to hit them with your edges. If you want to go slower, then just shift your targets to the side more and put them closer together if you wish to take a more direct path and go faster. If you hit your targets regardless of where they are, taking a better line can help everybody! If you have any questions, please ask them below.