Snow Skills

Moguls! It’s the Catch 22 terrain; it takes learning to gain experience and it takes experience to learn. Let’s start a conversation about skiing and riding moguls by first identifying the parts of the mogul as follows:

• A Mogul is a mound of snow that’s formed by a number of skiers and riders turning in roughly the same location. Moguls can be tall, short, narrow, wide, round, oblong, smooth, sharp, and just about any other shape description. A mogul is most commonly visualized as a rounded mound or bump.
• The Crest is the highest area of the mogul. The Crest is commonly visualized as a flattened cone, with a single high point in the middle.
• The Shoulders are the areas of the mogul to the left and right of the Crest, facing downhill. The Shoulders are lower than the Crest, and extend down the side of the mogul to the snow’s surface.
• The Base is the area upslope of the Crest, extending from the crest to where the mogul meets the snow’s surface. The Base can almost seem like a level surface, depending on the steepness of the trail. The Base is commonly visualized as a square, connecting the start of each shoulder.
• The Backside is the area of the mogul from the Crest directly downhill to the next mogul’s Base. The Backside is usually visualized as a triangle, with the top set at the Crest and its two lower corners flaring out to meet the Shoulders.

That’s a good start; stay tuned for Moguls 102!