Mogul Skiing Technique | How To Plan Your Turns In Moguls

There Are Two Different Ways To Plan Your Turns When Skiing Bumps

When you are first trying to learn mogul techniques it is difficult to make the decision of where to initiate your turns. You are under pressure to make the proper decisions and everything appears to be moving fast. It is hard for the brain to process all the incoming signals in a timely fashion.

Therefore, it is important to cover the final step in learning mogul techniques – to decide the method you will use to determine where you will make your turns – e.g. determining your precise skiing path when your are skiing bumps.

There are two different mogul techniques you can choose from to establish your route plan: “Pick A Line” … or “Connect The Dots”.

Mogul Techniques #1: Pick A Line:

When thinking about mogul techniques the “classical” method of route planning is for the skier to stand at the top of the mogul run and, in advance, select a sequence of specific points where you intend to make your turns.

If you are interested in speed, or your objective is to get down the mogul run in the fastest possible time, “Pick A Line” is probably the best choice of mogul techniques for skiing bumps. However, “Pick A Line” requires more complex planning, more expertise and more mogul skiing experience to do it well. And, if you invest in planning a specific route, and then you miss a turn, or in mid-stream choose to turn at a different spot, you end up throwing your plan away.

Mogul Techniques #2: Connect The Dots:

The alternative method of route planning is to not plan a route in advance, but rather to make tactical decisions one turn at a time. As you complete one turn you only need to decide where you will make your next turn. Think of this method as “eating the elephant one bite at a time”.

If you are not interested in speed and your objective is to achieve a slow, balanced, controlled run through the moguls, “Connect The Dots” is the best approach for at least two major reasons.

First, you don’t have to worry about establishing and successfully executing a potentially complex plan.

Second, because you only need to focus on making just one turn at a time rather than viewing a mogul run as requiring a large number of turns, the decision process becomes exponentially less complicated and this, in turn, reduces both the perceived challenge and the fear factor.

Mogul Techniques – Our Recommendation For Learning How To Ski Bumps:

Out of the two mogul techniques discussed above, your best choice for skiing bumps is dependent upon your own personal skiing goals.

If You Are Primarily Interested In Speed: The “Pick A Line” mogul skiing technique works well if you are more aggressive when skiing bumps and prefer speed over control. The “Connect The Dots” mogul skiing technique works better if you are more conservative when skiing bumps and your are more interested in skiing slow and maintaining control. Therefore, a younger or more aggressive skier may find the “Pick A Line” approach to be the preferred method for skiing bumps.

If You Are Primarily Interested In Control: “Connect The Dots” has the advantage of allowing you to focus on just making one turn at a time and making one decision at time. It simplifies the complexity. Because simplicity beats complexity when you are skiing bumps, we recommend the “Connect The Dots” approach for Baby Boomer and senior skiers who are typically more interested in maintaining control.

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