Good Mogul Technique Is About Learning 3 Simple Mogul Skiing Skills
balance | control | tactics
Mogul skiing and Mogul Technique is often viewed as hard, exhausting and unsafe - which leads most skiers to remain on the perceived comfort and safety of groomed runs. The truth, however, is that mogul technique becomes easy once you learn 3 simple things:
Mogul Technique 1: Balance
If you think good balance is an important skiing technique on groomed runs ... it is REALLY important in moguls and powder.
You may be standing upright on your skis - but are you centered and in balance? There is a very good chance that you are not. Good mogul technique requires that you understand how to consistently find, and maintain, balance while you are skiing off-piste terrrain.
How do you know whether you are just upright on your skis or actually in balance? Take a simple test. Ski on 95cm skiboards. If you are not in balance your feet will wiggle. It is the ultimate truth serium. There is no "back seat" and you can not leverage off the front and back cuffs of your boot to stay upright. Time spent training on skiboards is guaranteed to insure that your brain and your muscular system are working together to keep you more centered and balanced than you have ever been.
Did you know that most skiers actually throw themselves out of balance when anxiety sets in. Fast body movements, shoulder and hip rotation and flailing hands are guaranteed to result in you not being centered and out of balance. Relaxed andpatient turns faciliate staying in balance. If you begin a turn in balance, are patient - and don't do anything to throw yourself out of balance - you will finish a turn in balance. It's that simple. Less is more.
Mogul Technique 2: Control
The right mogul technique for speed control is analogous to driving over speed bumps on a residential street. When you see a speed bump, you are more likely tap the brakes rather than hit the accelerator pedal. Since a mogul run is nothing more that a series of speed bumps, why not learn to ski moguls using a mogul technique where you learn how to use the brakes before you become proficient with the accelerator pedal?
The best mogul technique to moderate your speed in moguls and powder is to use a softer edge angle and to steer your skis perpendicular, or more, to the fall line. The softer edge angle allows for lateral movement of the ski on the snow which creates friction that will slow you down. Steering your skis across the hill will keep you out of the fall line and to ski slower. Using this mogul technique you can actually ski a mogul run in slow motion. And this puts you in control instead of the mountain dictating your speed to you.
Where do most people go wrong with their mogul technique? They use a mogul technique that results in skiing speed that is faster than their reflexes can handle. Two major things cause that to happen:
(1) skiing in the bumps with an edge angle that is too high - which creates a carved turn - which, in turn, generates speed (remember that carving originated as a racing technique). Carving is the wrong blend of skills to use in moguls and powder unless you have lightening-fast reflexes.
(2) looking too far down the hill. You will always ski to where your eyes are looking. If you look too far down the hill then your skis will tend to point down the hill into the fall line and not finish the turn by becoming perpendicular to the fall line. Remember, when a ski is aimed toward the fall line you will increae speed. When a ski is perpendiular to the fall line you will go slow or stop.
Mogul Technique 3: Tactics
Using the right mogul technique terrain tactics makes all the difference in the world. There are many different ways to ski moguls and many choices of where to turn. But each turn option has a different consequence. And good mogul technique requires that you understand the pros and cons of each option.
One problem that most people have with moguls is that they stand at the top of a mogul run and see moguls and troughs. And, they conclude that it looks like everybody before them has skied through he troughs and, therefore, that is the proper route to take. However, skiing through the troughs is the second fastest route through the moguls (just behind the Johnny Mosley "knees pumping up to the ears like pistons" down the zipper line approach) and it requires lightening fast reflexes. Skiing the troughs is not a good strategy if you are an aging Boomer with slowing reflexes.
If you study mogul terrain, you realize that all moguls have flat tops (think of the flat top as a green run). And a mogul run consists on a series of flat tops, much like a staircase, which you can use to walk down the mountain. Even more to your advantage, the tops of most moguls have clumps of snow on them, which represent friction, which will slow you down. So lets recap: Flat green run mogul tops with friction layed out in the form of a staircase going down the hill. If you turn on the tops of the moguls, drift with a soft edge from one mogul top to the next, you can change the rules of the game. Your best mogul technique for the least amout of speed: turn on the mogul tops and stay out of the troughs. Use this strategy turn a black or double-black mogul and powder run into a green run. It is a much more manageable, safe and fun experience.
These Mogul Techniques Enable You To Ski Moguls Without The Need For Fast Reflexes
By combining the three mogul techniques presented above - contrary to conventional thinking - anyone can easily learn how to ski moguls without the need for fast reflexes. And this has two very important benefits for you - particularly if you are a baby Boomer or senior skier:
(1) As we get older we all must face the fact that our reflexes are slowing. If we want to use a mogul technique that enables us to learn how to ski moguls into our 80's then we must learn a mogul technique that does not rely on, or assume the need for, fast reflexes. This is important because as you age, your reflex speed declines and if you are depending upon a mogul technique that requires fast reflexes then you are "hosed".
(2) If we use a mogul technique that requires fast reflexes then we will, at some point, be limited by the steepeness of the mogul run. Example: if you can ski a mogul run with a pitch of "x degrees" using fast reflexes, what happens when you move to a different mogul run with a pitch of "x+10 degrees"? Answer: your reflexes have to speed up. At some point you will be doomed. By not relying on fast reflexes these mogul techniques will work on any mogul or powder run, regardless of how steep the slope is.