Don’t Feel Compelled To Turn At Your Intended Location

Many times when skiing in mogul and powder terrain you will identify a particular location for your next turn but when you get closer to that location the terrain looks much uglier that it did from a distance. If it does not look like a friendly turn location then just don’t turn at that location. Rather, continue drifting laterally down the hill to a more friendly location.

There are no signs in a mogul run that say “Turn Here” so you are not obligated to turn on each and every bump.

Therefore, if you see an ugly bump with a sharp drop off and/or what looks like the bow of a ship on the nose of the bump then don’t turn on that bump.  Instead, continue to drift across this bump (or as many bumps as necessary) until you come across a friendly mogul where you can make a nice relaxed turn.

In our clinics we actually do a drill where we intentionally have clients drift across 5 or more bumps before each turn. In that way you can often flow through an entire mogul run with very few turns. By doing that you develop the confidence that you can continuously drift to friendly turn locations without any sense of urgency that you must make a turn on every bump. The name of the game is to minimize any anxiety coming from a self-generated sense that you must make a turn even though the bump you initially selected for your next turn does not look friendly.