Hi everyone. I have been lurking on this site for a while and was inspired to join after having an absolutely epic bump skiing weekend at Round Top on Sat and Sun.

As a northern Virginia resident, an avid mogul skier, Snowtime season pass holder, and fan of our local bump runs upper and lower Eastwind, Exhibition, Ramrod, lower Gunbarrel, Lafayette's Leap, and now RECRUIT, I am trying to gauge local interest in folks who are zipperline bumpers, or aspire to be. I chase bumps around at the local 3 resorts 2-3 times a week, but have run into very few hardcore bumpers. The few that I have run into all ski together now and we are trying to building a crew. I would like to know if there are folks out there that are interested in building a local mogul skiing scene.

After skiing some of the absolute best bumps in this area EVER on Recruit this past weekend, and having a lot of folks come up to us and ask about mogul skiing, I was inspired to first reach out to Round Top for their superior support with terrain (they may also make Recruit the bump course permanently), and second to see if there are any other folks that are as crazy about mogul skiing as our crew is. We would love to see a mini mogul culture build, just as it has at 7 Springs over the years.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and RT will be open for one last weekend of rippin' bump skiing, so if anyone is interested in joining us, head there this weekend. After this weekend we will start hitting 7 Springs for more springtime bump action, then it's up north.

Sincerely,

cj68

Good for you cj68. After a number of years when the focus has been on park action or high speed carving I think a return to bumps as a prominent form of skiing is due. My 18 yr old son has a big interest in them right now. I'm a little over the hill for a steady diet of them. Although I'd be open to them more often if I picked up a used, soft pair of dedicated bump skis. If you look for a silver lining about this season, we've had good spring bump conditions since the first week of Feb! We had a good night ski session of bumps (Gunbarrel mostly) at Roundtop in early Feb. That mountain really rocks for a small hill. Moguls can add nice challenge to otherwise fairly tame black diamond runs.

PS: welcome to DCSki

I skied with the Whitetail Telemark mogul skiers a few times this year. I will try to get up to RT Sunday. Thanks for putting the idea in my head. I will be on red and white K2s with blue and gray Voilé bindings and blue Garmont boots. I love Roundtop. If you see me, say hi!

If anyone wants to share a ride from DC area, let me know.

Talk about weird timing? This just popped up in my "Recommendations for You" on Youtube. Hey Rod, there's even a guy skiing bumps on teles at 5:13.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ausvn9sTaME&feature=recommended

Welcome cj68 -- I suck at mogul skiing (unless it's out west where the bumps are big and wide) but I think it's an excellent idea.

then you suck at skiing.

c'mon you know the quote

"Its not that you cant ski the bumps, its that you cant ski and the bumps prove it."

just keeping everyone honest here...


but most hardcore bumper like Juan at spring cant turn outside of the bumps either so I guess it goes both ways.

Are you talking about the older guy at 7 Springs named Juan? BTW, I do occasionally lay down some mini arcs on my Twisters :-) on the flats. But it is far more fun ripping bumps on them. FWIW, way back when, all I used to do was lay down arcs. It was just about the time when shaped skis started to hit that I REALLY got hit with the mogul skiing bug and I haven't looked back since.

So who is headed to RT this weekend... should be epic again. BTW, I usually hang out over at the mogul skiing forum, but since I am a DC local, I thought that this would be a great place to post.

cj

Love this quote! Seen lots of folks that claim to ski the bumps, but more often, its the bumps that ski them! They're just along for the ride. How can you tell? Well, if you don't ski bumps because your back hurts after going through them, then the bumps are skiing you. If your knees ache more than if you skied a flat section, then the bumps are skiing you. If you keep accelerating through the run and don't have a consistent speed through the entire bump course, then the bumps are skiing you.

A good bump skier can turn anywhere on a mogul - top, side, back, front, whatever. A good bump skier can absorb the changes in height between the top and bottom of a bump and set up for the next. A good bump skier will also be able to pick a route around obstacles regardless of whether that route continues his/her "line" or not.

Good rules of thumb for bump skiing - 1. get forward over your skis; 2. hands in front with poles always reaching forward to the next bump; 3. ski tips always being driven down into the bump; 4. ankles always flexing and pulling back to keep weight over the tops of skis; 5. course selection always taking place two or three bumps ahead of where you are currently located.

Fun fun fun!

Right on Jim! Yup, there is definitely a difference between someone who "skis bumps" and a "bump skier".

So who is headed to RT this weekend? Also, I have been in communication with the management there and it looks like we may have some really good things in store for us next year as far as bump terrain. If it comes through, it should be unbelievable... we'll see.

cj

CJ - sorry, no Roundtop for me this weekend - STRATTON! Last runs of the season. Going to play in the new Telemark boots (okay, more like embarrass myself - but we all have to start somewhere!). Have fun at RT!

No argument there, I agree completely. I can't tell you what it is specifically, but deep/tight bumps combined with long skis brings out some deficiency in my skiing which is not a factor in other conditions. The problem goes away as the skis get shorter and/or the bumps get bigger and wider. But clearly skill is at the core of the problem.

Better yet, let's take it from the original source.

http://forums.mogulskiing.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=832

This is where all of the bumpers hang out on the net. Epic is cool, but MS.net is focused soley on mogul skiing.

cj

Haha, was that good Telemark skiing in 1996? I guess so, he's in a Greg Stump film! In my memories, I skied at least that good back then, but that's the great thing about memories vs. film. Every time you relive the memory, you're skiing better in it. Every time you see an old film of yourself, the skiing probably looks worse than it did the last time you watched it. Luckily I have no old films of me to check that theory. I know my skills were a lot closer top level telemarking back then, now I'm more middle of the pack. The Whitetail posse today definitely is skiing better than that old movie star, but I'm sure he has improved considerably by now. The sport has progressed so far in the 23 years I have been participating.

Thanks for the responses. It looks like I got the answer to my original post.

Hopefully things will pan out next year with the terrian at Round Top.

In the meantime, we may get 1 more good weekend of ripping bumps on Recruit... we'll see tomorrow. If anyone from this forum is headed up there to ski bumps, hollar at me... I will be in the black bump pants with white knee patches.

How are the bumps at 7 Springs looking right now? I will probably head there next weekend.

Later,

cj

I'm not going to be able to make it tomorrow. I can't swing the car fare right now. I could not find anyone to share the ride.

Have fun!

Another rediculous weekend of skiing DEEP and tight bumps at RT... absolutley epic! There were quite a few folks hitting it hard yesterday... including a pack of the Ski Patrollers.


Things are looking good for having Recruit as a dedicated bump course at RT next year. There may even be a duals comp or two!

I will try and post some video as soon as I can.

Later,

cj

Deep and tight, glad I missed it. I have a strong preference for user-friendly bumps. Were any telemarkers getting in it? Which run is Recruit anyway?

Hey Rod, you should have made it to Timberline this weekend. The bumps weren't too deep, nor were they very tight. And they were OH-SO-SOFT!! Also, there were tons of tele skiers on them (probably out numbering us alpiners 2:1), most of which looked VERY good in the bumps....

No kidding, out numbering? 2:1!? Wow! I might try to get out there next weekend. If not, next year for sure.

The line we were skiing was definitely not your typical hero bumps... more like the lines you would find at more bump centric mountains or a comp course. But there were some more mellow lines that a lot of folks were skiing. Yes, there were a couple of tele guys getting it done up there.

Does T-line ever get any good zipper lines? That may be an option for the next week or two.

cj

compared to the bumps I skied at spring this past weekend any comp course bump run would have been easier.

http://vimeo.com/3810776

Some, but they aren't too long or consistent. Hopefully they won't groom the one bump run (or the rain doesn't take away too much of the sides of the trail.)

The bump trail (The Drop), is more of an old-school narrow Vermont-style bump trail (some drops and mini-dog legs) than an open consistent-pitch bump-seeded slope. If that makes any sense.

Many on this forum have been advocating that T-Line let one trail become a classic mogul trail.

Really?? Just curious how much time you have spent on the Whistler camp courses, Killington course, or at the Jane?

Out of curiosity, what did you find tough about those bumps on Goosebumps? Are they still there?

cj

they werent that tough for me...other were getting thrown around alot.

comp bump course dont get rutted and they are totally even and dont have the step downs that were on goosebumps. first realize this is my 7th year on skis so some of these when i skied them i sucked but I still remember how they looked.

I have skied the comp bumps at Hunter, Killingon, Holimont, Holiday Valley, Seven Spring when they have them on stowe.

Also some of the bumps runs at snowbird make anything else really easy. My 'bumper" friends hated the bumps at snowbird though because they were to steep to not control speed on.

Timberline currently has a very good bump run. You can zipper through it and get a nice rythm going too. It's not always "as good" being that they usually are so eager to groom the thing... however, it's currently better than I have seen it in years.

We've got photos to prove it (during last weekend's celebration)
http://www.akaflash.com/coverage/luau-2009-day2-bump-contest/photos

I think there were some pretty funny crashes - but everyone had a lot of fun. My true-favorite is the guy from Eastern Europe on rental skis... too cool!