From: khe@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Keith Erskine)
Newsgroups: rec.skiing
Subject: Re: Moguls on pins
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:15:12 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA

In rec.skiing, bannan@convex.com (Bill Bannan) writes:

> 
>    Anyone out there have any advice on how to tackle the Volkswagen Bus
>    size moguls on Tele skis? I was tought to " go where the water runs "
>    This is OK for the moderate mogul fields but as the moguls get bigger
>    and the gulleys get smaller this technique dosen't seem to work so well.
>    I've been working on taking the moguls on the sides about 1/2 way up and
>    executing my turn just at the moment I get lift ( sometimes air ).  I've 
>    had some success with this, but after a few turns I start to accelerate
>    to the point where I have to stop to remain under control.     
> 
>    Suggestions anyone?

Paul Parker wrote what I consider to be an excellent book called "Free
Heel Skiing in all Conditions".  I recommend it highly, it taught me
several tricks that really improved my tele'ing.

If you're having trouble controlling your speed in the bumps, I would
recommend the following:

1) double pole plants - sure, they'll take off points at a freestyle
contest, but it's *VERY* effective.  Double pole plants while tele'ing
bumps greatly improves lateral stability, allows a firmer pole plant
for quicker edge change and more speed reduction, and forces you to 
keep both hands in front, a key to good mogul skiing

2) turn earlier - Parker recommends skiing bumps like "stepping over
logs" - as soon as you compress on the top of a new bump, double pole
plant, stand tall, and start the next turn.  I think part of what he is
emphasizing is lots of up and down motion and weighting/unweighting -
this helps control speed.

3) more angulation at the hips - Parker recommends thinking "big toe,
little toe", concentrating on pressuring the downhill ski with the
big toe and the uphill (trailing) ski with the little toe.  When I do
this it really helps get the trailing ski out of the way, as well
as getting more angulation from the hips, which helps with lateral
stability and skidding to scrub speed

4) when starting to execute a turn, first tuck the rear leg before
starting to drop into the turn.  I see *lots* of telemarkers skiing
with *way* too much weight on the back ski, with the front leg almost
straight, doing an awkward pseudo-snowplow.  In bumps it's crucial to 
have most of your weight on the downhill ski, otherwise you get behind and 
the skis go rocketing down the slopes because you can't do the next edge 
change quickly.  Focusing on tucking the rear leg out of the way first
and bending the front knee when dropping into the turn really helps keep 
the weight on the downhill ski.

5) get a faster turning ski with full alpine slalom sidecut, like
the Tua Tele Sauvage.  I've been very impressed with how fast the
Tele Sausages turn.  Be careful, they're not made for bumps - don't
drive the shovel in the troughs hard or you could bend or break the tip.

It's difficult to make tele turns fast enough to keep up with the
line in tight bumps, because it just takes longer to do a tele edge
change than an alpine edge change.  I often stay out of the ruts
and make my tele turns on the sides of the moguls or on the snow piles
on top of the moguls.  Instead of skiing straight down the moguls,
try taking a slightly off camber line - it will open up a whole new
myriad of places to turn, as long as you can avoid sticking your
tips into the sides of sharks tooth moguls.

Good luck, there's not much time left to practice!
Keith Erskine
Newsgroups: rec.skiing