Moguls...

A snowHead

...What's the point in them? Does anyone actually go looking for them and find them fun?

I really can't stand them...or see the point in their existance.

I'm all for being able to Ski different conditions and variables in snow...but these man made monstrosities are a complete waste of time imho. What do they achieve?

The only time i think they are effective and of use, is when they are used to control speed on the piste... as in when section of a piste will be left ungroomed and allowed to bump up to prevent skiers from gaining too much speed and getting out of control.

I like to be able to use my Ski's in the way they were designed to be used. Either carving or floating on powder.

I know you can buy Mogul skis...but what is the point... I just don't get it. Do people actually get a buzz and enjoyment from skiing them?

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

spud, yes and yes and I'm a pretty crap skier

"as in when section of a piste will be left ungroomed and allowed to bump up to prevent skiers from gaining too much speed and getting out of control. " I don't think that's what sections are left ungroomed Laughing

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spud, Hello near namesake! I now enjoy bumps. didn't until this season, but it finally came together thanks to quite a lot of technique coaching at Hemel (from the Inside Out guys). I suppose the enjoyment comes from the pleasure of finally getting to grips with an area of skiing I used to find conpletely impossible.

I've still got a long way to go, and I'm not consistently holding a line, there tends to be quite a lot of unplanned line changes.

Also, losing The Bump Fear opens up a lot more of the mountain, e.g. the dotted line itinery routes that seem to appear on so many piste maps these days.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

spud, I think it tends to be easier to get to grips with handling bumps later in the season when they tend to be softer.

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spud, Exhilarating, especially if you manage to link a few turns and get a straight'ish line. Can't ski 'em, do look for 'em, get a massive buzz from 'em

After all it is free

spud,

When you can't ski them at all they are a pain in the rear end but skiing pistes can get boring and / or crowded. Bumps present another challenge and bump skiing skills are useful elsewhere (e.g. offpiste). A fair few professional / Olympic mogul skiers go on to become professional big mountain skiers (e.g. Jonny Mosley). To me they are another part of the mountain to try and master ("try" being the operative word).

spud,hmmmm, Moguls are they a breed like the Chamonix??? nope , don´t think I´ve ever seen one Puzzled

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Wow...quiet a few positives then. Laughing

Don't get me wrong... I can Ski them, I just don't find them fun or exillarating. I just look at them as a nuisance.

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I thought I quite liked moguls until I realised, under snowarea's tutelage, that I was unbelievably bad at them. Trying (and failing) to get better was seriously knackering.

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spud,

Moguls are manmade Alpine Acne and God's way of saying "Go to the pub. Now".

(would like to have DB's approach to them but for me life's too short....)

spud, I must admit I'm not keen. I probably don't ski them as well as I ski off piste since I almost never ski them if I don't have to. If I were a piste skier I would probably ski them quite a lot just to do something a bit more challenging - however I get my kicks from steep slopes and challenge from breakable crust. If, on rare occasions, I find myself at a bump field with no alternative off-piste I tend to ski down the edge or a steeper line which is usually less scraped and less bumped-up. All or nearly all the guides I know tend to avoid bumps too.

You know it makes sense.

I haven't skied a mogul field in anger since I cast aside my flourescent pink ski jacket in the halcyon winter of 92/93.

Bootpack to powder/steeps a much better option in my view.

Big Paua, agreed.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I don't think people go out to make them, they're just a by product of skiing a steep slope with turns.

I had bumps lessons last season and now enjoy them much more than I did before because I can now adapt the proper technique to skiing them. Compression turns are your friend Very Happy

Also, as has been pointed out, they are a great place to practice off piste technique, and bumps can be found off piste anyway.

Still not my favourite things to ski, but now at least i can say i don't mind them snowHead

A snowHead

Cant ski big ones very well - I mean stupid massive with drops in excess of 1 metre, but love them on blues and reds.

For me they are a bit of a challenge so I send the kids down the piste and i travel over the bumps having tried to get the kids to come along first Smile

They suit my style of having my skis to close together so its the only time my kids dont get to call me a old fashioned skier and get my legs apart lol

A snowHead

My breakthrough a fair few years ago, came when i used the back of the mogul to slow down, rather than the front.

I remember standing at the top of a mogul field at the top of the Bellecotte Glacier, and it was carnage in front of me. It looked like something out of the Napoleanic Wars...Cannon fire had found it's mark. Poles, Limbs, Ski's, clothing, Goggles, Sunglasses, Bobble hats...everywhere. It was physically impossible to find a line down. It was at this point I remember thinking 'what the hell is the point of this?'

My knees are too precious to destroy completely, just to say 'I can ski Moguls'... Each to their own of course.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

spud,

1. skiing bumps properly isn't hard on your knees

2. IMO, skiing bumps properly and well is probably the epitome of having good recreational technique

3. or, to put it another way, it's not that you can't ski bumps, it's that you can't ski and the bumps are just demonstrating this

4. They are awesome fun

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under a new name, ^ point 4 depends on how knackered you are when you come across them. Also there are bumps and bumps - the rock hard VW size ones that you find some places are more of a war of attrition than a 2/3 day old bump field. Long snow droughts & high traffic routes don't help e.g. the Swiss Wall PdS, Tunnel in AdH, Mont Fort in Verbier - there are better places to learn.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Soft April moguls on sugary snow are my Nirvana. The White Lady gets some of the best anywhere. Get your feet and knees together, go down low and fast and ski that tight line through the valley's for one of skiing ultimate experiences. How cool are you Cool

Unfortunately these days it is really difficult to find bumps on piste and as Spud9 says you have to follow the intinery routes for the fun stuff, try the Stockhorn above Zermatt snowHead

Stiff wide carving skis, bulldozed hillsides, winch cats and no doubt litigation have made them all but impossible to find on piste. Skiing has become too processed Evil or Very Mad

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There is even the unusual phemonemon some places of the hard core bumps skier. Within the population of Squaw Valley locals there is a subset of KT locals who will only ride KT22 chair and a further subset of West Face locals who will only ski West Face off the lift. This is phenomenal pitch and to see those guys ski it top to bottom lap after lap is humbling. Needless to say that resort efforts to rename it Jonny Moseley's Run continue to be resisted. Legend has it that they tried winch cat grooming it once and soon stopped as the number of tourists going for long slides was making life difficult for ski patrol.

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Much more fun than motorway courduroy tedium, but I only seek to ski them when having an onpiste day - apart from late.season slush heaven bumps anyway.

After all it is free

I don't mind them, and after a few runs to get back into them they are fun.

There is a thrill about clearing one of them to find a mega drop on the other side, or a much tighter gap than expected. By the time you think you're stuffed; you extend, absorb what seemed impossible, extend again and you're on to the next one

If you can ski bumps then you love them. I'll seek out the bumps over an icy hard packed piste any day.

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If you can ski bumps then you love them. I'll seek out the bumps over an icy hard packed piste any day.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I like the moguls - after all they did invent the korma and the biryani! Toofy Grin

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You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

rjs, I didn't say I can't ski it, just that I prefer bumps (and ski them better than I ski on piste)! I love my 3V LABs, they're great all round - and I wouldn't want a softer ski.

A snowHead

A snowHead

abc, There is a third option of just turning more often to keep the speed down. I can ski bumps fine but I would much rather be skiing on a nice bit of ice.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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fatbob,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Snakeskin Si, OK lets just say damage, some of the dancefloors I've seen have had ladies who weren't above the odd tactical knee deployment.

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Bumps ('specially soft, big ones Very Happy

) + Tele skis = much fun and much less harm to back and knees Very Happy

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After all it is free

with the "authentically European" Berlin Bar underneath. Presumably named in the hope that someone would do us all a favour and knock the walls down.

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fatbob, you make a good point, however, I had several outings this year up the Grands Ms and down Hearse (sp) where the bumps were pretty hard and yet the troughs had lovely soft dust to brake on. Marvellous.

But, you don't want to start learning to ski in bumps on Mont Fort after a high altitude rain-freeze cycle.

spud, odd - I know no-one who can ski bumps (zip line them) who doesn't like them.

Help!!

Moguls...

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