Snow Skills

Ski the moguls slowly? “Better said than done!” is probably a fair guess at the next thought through your mind. It’s a big jump in expectations to ski from groomed trails into a mogul run where space is limited and expect to make terrific turns with speed and style. The image of professional mogul skiers like those that will compete at Torino 2006 could give you an unrealistic expectation of how to ski moguls. You’ve got to crawl before you can run, Young Jedi, and developing skills that let you ski moguls flowly is part of the first steps.

A key focus in having control in moguls is to take advantage of every single turn as an opportunity to slow down. Thanks to gravity, finding yourself going faster in the moguls is rarely an issue; you can increase speed in just one turn, but slowing yourself back down can take a number of turns. Your turns in the moguls are similar to any turn in that they can be open (finish with the skis facing down gravity) or closed (finish with the skis facing across gravity). With limited space to turn, the greater challenge of a closed turn is to end your turn on the backside (downhill) side of a mogul such that your skis have come fully across gravity and left you in control. With this tactic, you’ll have the ability to keep your speed in check long enough to give you the control to pick your next turn and enter it.

In that way, your first turns in a mogul field rely as much on your mental approach as your physical one. Start a mogul run with turns that are fully closed and it’ll be easier to let each turn be a controlling moment. Start out with open turns and, well, you’ll be starting to ski at an Olympic pace. You choose!