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I was skiing in the low rider trees on Saterday and was talking to a fella there about the bumps. I guess I caught his attention because I was so winded after a few turns. I think I said something like "Boy that's fun but man is it tiring ! " He suggested that maybe I'm holding my breath and tensing up as I make my way down. So I tried to keep my breathing in mind for the rest of the day and I found that, sure enough, I could go a little further without stopping if I keep a better breathing rhythm and didn't get so winded.

GladeMasterB wrote:this is gettiing confusing. It's like the golf swing - A million swing thoughts but you can only have a couple during the actual swing. What's the top three for the bumps ?

You dont have to work on everything at the same time. After a while it gets into your muscle memory and you can concentrate improving somthing else.

Biggest thing i have been helping my brother with is his hands. he has a tendency to let his off hand slip behind him which keeps him in the la-z-boy. I got him to pull his off hand into his stomach, an exaggerated movement for sure, but it corrects his biggest weakness. Once the hands fall back, the ass is sure to follow

I leave my hand behind too. It's like I'm so busy looking at the next bump I'm forgetting to take my pole out of the last one. Your tip here may help me. I'll give it a try.

One of the things that has really helped my bump skiing this year is to practice super quick turns on flat trails. It works something like this...on a moderate blue pitch, start out with your hands and poles up and out, like you're driving a bus almost. Make sure you are in the athletic "stacked" position with a good amount of shin pressure. As you pick up enough turning speed, try making several connected, quick and short turns, as if you were in a really tight slolom course. You should feel like you're riding a bicycle in really low gear. Also, you should feel your hips starting to get into the action too as you loosen up and start to swing your legs from turn to turn.

A great publication for skiing help is "The All Mountain Skier."

Here's an Amazon link for ya to check it out: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 9?v=glance

Another tip.

Vision.

Meaning, look a few bumps down the line (3-5), and not at the bump/rut right in front of you. If you look at the bump right in front of you, it brings your vision down, which then brings your body position down also (meaning, you tend to bend at the waist).

Now.. all I have to do is start doing it consistently.. but I know when I keep my vision up, my bump skiing is a lot better.

Sounds like what I was doing. I was planning my next 3 turns. I was even able to go over one ridge that was near 90 degrees. My ski's just rode up and over and then I pushed them right down on the back side. The knees came up but the body stayed put. It almost felt like the bump wasn't there. Kind of like the perfect golf swing. Contact feels almost non-existent when it goes well.

I was definitely keeping both arms forward. Dropping back arm can also be a symptom of trying to turn with the upper body which can lead to trouble. I saw many people trying to toss their body around to make the skis turn. After a couple of turns, their skis would race out and down they went on their side or back.

This url shows a pretty good video of how it should look.
http://www.j2ski.com/ski_technique/Mogu ... oning.html

I think what did me the biggest favor was losing my fear and doing what I mentally knew I needed to. I also practiced the short turns on a non-bump run first. My biggest improvement came from actively pushing my skis down on the downside of the bump.

As for the work, I don't think there's an easy answer. Active, high energy skiing requires conditioning. Technique helps, but Moguls make you work.

I'll be getting a skiers edge for the offseason, and hopefully this will improve my conditioning.

Mack wrote:Another tip.

Vision.

Meaning, look a few bumps down the line (3-5), and not at the bump/rut right in front of you. If you look at the bump right in front of you, it brings your vision down, which then brings your body position down also (meaning, you tend to bend at the waist).

Now.. all I have to do is start doing it consistently.. but I know when I keep my vision up, my bump skiing is a lot better.

Vision. Vision. Vision, dude. I forgot to mention that.

Without the vision technique, I can't do squat. Now I just take a quick glance at whats in front of me before I start off, and then I'm looking 3 or 4 turns ahead. Same thing on the flats.

It helps TREMENDOUSLY.

Thanks for reminding me.

SkiDork wrote:BTW, Jimmy (who won the BMMC last year but blew his knee recently) said to me the 3 most important things are:

Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure

Thats how much importance he puts on it. He's right.

Jimmy has always spoken about the importance of shin pressure.
thats great for fine tuning it, but a BBP (Balanced Body Position) is the core of it all.
FWIW jimmy and I have been friends for a long, long, long time. we used to live together and ski six days a week for many years. I 've learned a few things by skiing a few million vertical feet with him. he has the strength, technique and talent to be the great skier he is. too bad he blew out his knee three times. he'll be back and skiing as well as ever

SkiDork wrote:BTW, Jimmy (who won the BMMC last year but blew his knee recently) said to me the 3 most important things are:

Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure

Thats how much importance he puts on it. He's right.

I know Jim... He quit the Hunter bump contest cause he thought it was rigged... Tried to talk him into racing but he wouldn't... Too bad.. Would've been cool..

He's friends with a lot of ex-Hunter people I know...
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/Hunter_ ... Lora_1.jpg
Good guy...

GladeMasterB wrote:I was skiing in the low rider trees on Saterday and was talking to a fella there about the bumps. I guess I caught his attention because I was so winded after a few turns. I think I said something like "Boy that's fun but man is it tiring ! " He suggested that maybe I'm holding my breath and tensing up as I make my way down. So I tried to keep my breathing in mind for the rest of the day and I found that, sure enough, I could go a little further without stopping if I keep a better breathing rhythm and didn't get so winded.

Tensing up is the worst thing you can do. You need to breathe and don't hold your poles so tight. I keep my pinkies pointed out.

CAPBOY wrote:

GladeMasterB wrote:I was skiing in the low rider trees on Saterday and was talking to a fella there about the bumps. I guess I caught his attention because I was so winded after a few turns. I think I said something like "Boy that's fun but man is it tiring ! " He suggested that maybe I'm holding my breath and tensing up as I make my way down. So I tried to keep my breathing in mind for the rest of the day and I found that, sure enough, I could go a little further without stopping if I keep a better breathing rhythm and didn't get so winded.

Tensing up is the worst thing you can do. You need to breathe and don't hold your poles so tight. I keep my pinkies pointed out.

Ah, yes, another elitist bumper.

ozzy wrote:

SkiDork wrote:BTW, Jimmy (who won the BMMC last year but blew his knee recently) said to me the 3 most important things are:

Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure, Shin Pressure

Thats how much importance he puts on it. He's right.

Jimmy has always spoken about the importance of shin pressure.
thats great for fine tuning it, but a BBP (Balanced Body Position) is the core of it all.
FWIW jimmy and I have been friends for a long, long, long time. we used to live together and ski six days a week for many years. I 've learned a few things by skiing a few million vertical feet with him. he has the strength, technique and talent to be the great skier he is. too bad he blew out his knee three times. he'll be back and skiing as well as ever

oz, you're right about balance, but most people (myself included) are so much in the back seat so much of the time, that if we concentrate on shin pressure, it will solve probably our worst bad habit just by overcompensation. THen when it becomes more natural, it can be less emphasized.

Thats prolly why he stressed it to me so much. I had back-seat-itis.

All I know is it helped me a lot.

CAPBOY wrote: Tensing up is the worst thing you can do. You need to breathe and don't hold your poles so tight. I keep my pinkies pointed out.

Funny, I do that w/ my wine glass!

Sprite

Dr. NO wrote:Even above the fray you still have to absorb. If you do not extend, what do you absorb with? Spring bumps, at least those of old, used to be huge and air was had between. You left one bump to the next, extending in mid air only to slam the next, knees absorbing into your chest, and then repeat. Even if you go top to top, you have to absorb and extend. failure to do so traps you and sends you to the back seat. Even a good so called banger must absorb, and thus MUST extend.

Doc - I'm going to have to have you show me a few. Seems like I get airborn before I have any chance to extend. Maybe not absorbing enough?

CAPBOY wrote:

GladeMasterB wrote:I was skiing in the low rider trees on Saterday and was talking to a fella there about the bumps. I guess I caught his attention because I was so winded after a few turns. I think I said something like "Boy that's fun but man is it tiring ! " He suggested that maybe I'm holding my breath and tensing up as I make my way down. So I tried to keep my breathing in mind for the rest of the day and I found that, sure enough, I could go a little further without stopping if I keep a better breathing rhythm and didn't get so winded.

Tensing up is the worst thing you can do. You need to breathe and don't hold your poles so tight. I keep my pinkies pointed out.

Funny my instructor on Saturday told me to keep my arms stiff in front of me when skiing the moguls. She said I was being too lazy with them.