How do I ski the bumps in tele??!!

[bauerb]

btw, I just stumbled across this video made by an Olympic mogul coach. one thing you should take away from it is the emphasis on practicing short radius turns on groomers. the idea is: if you can't make those kinds of turns on groomers, you definately cannot make them in bumps. most people can survive a mogul run, but skiing bumps gracefully starts on the groomers. eg. if you can't move your feet quickly doing short radius turns on flats, don't expect to be able to do them in bumps

note that although the guy in the vid is a world cup mogul coach, the ski run he is on is typical of what you would find out west at a resort( god help you if you are trying to learn on frozen volkwagons at Killington, Mad River Glenn, etc)

[Montana St Alum]

My only critique - to the extent that it is a critique - is that he restricts himself to the troughs.
That becomes counter productive in many scenarios, especially on tely gear.

Also, these guys are generally on crazy stiff boots. To absorb impacts, you have to have two pivot points on your body. For them, since they can't pivot at the ankles, the two points are the knees and hips. That necessarily puts you into a seated position that slides your CG aft, slightly. They are so insanely fit and technically capable that that isn't an issue.

On tely gear, the pivot points can, and must, include the ankles and knees. This allows for a much more upright stance with a nicely centered CG - If YOU CAN MANITAIN IT. That should be a goal.

And you can generally pick spots on moguls other than the troughs to turn. This opens up all sorts of options for skiing the bumps as a form of self expression as well as options for picking lines as a practical application.

It allows you to introduce a degree of syncopation to your rhythm that is more useful, and fun, than being a metronome confined to a predestined path. (Man, can I lay it on thick, or what?)

[bauerb]

I agree. in bumps that soft that are not fully formed, I often will shave the tops. I enjoy the mini "launch" I get that unweights my skis...also, when I ski bumps, because I am absorbing, my trailing foot may be only about 6" behind my front foot, but my knees are super close to the skis...and yes, I get very tired doing that and stop alot.

[WorldMogul]

Regarding stance... there are pros and cons to both the high and low tele stances. For the high stance, you can have much quicker lead changes and it is less tiring, but stability and balance can be harder to find. For the the low stance, you have better stability/balance, but it is more tiring and lead changes are slower.
When starting out, if your fitness is okay, I'd probably go with the low stance since it gives more stability and you probably don't need to quick until you start zippering/ crushing moguls. Don't forgo the high stance completely, however, since it adds versatility to your skiing and 'street' moguls are always throwing a new problem right at you!

[Woodserson]

My only critique - to the extent that it is a critique - is that he restricts himself to the troughs.
That becomes counter productive in many scenarios, especially on tely gear.

Also, these guys are generally on crazy stiff boots. To absorb impacts, you have to have two pivot points on your body. For them, since they can't pivot at the ankles, the two points are the knees and hips. That necessarily puts you into a seated position that slides your CG aft, slightly. They are so insanely fit and technically capable that that isn't an issue.

On tely gear, the pivot points can, and must, include the ankles and knees. This allows for a much more upright stance with a nicely centered CG - If YOU CAN MANITAIN IT. That should be a goal.

And you can generally pick spots on moguls other than the troughs to turn. This opens up all sorts of options for skiing the bumps as a form of self expression as well as options for picking lines as a practical application.

It allows you to introduce a degree of syncopation to your rhythm that is more useful, and fun, than being a metronome confined to a predestined path. (Man, can I lay it on thick, or what?)

Oh man, this post, 1000x over.

Also, the ankle/toe/knee flexion points make it all easier on everything, especially your lower back. Fixed-heelers can only bend at the knees and waist (ok, ankles... somewhat barely), putting enormous pressure on the lower back. This is how and why I left alpine and went full stinky granola.

[Lumpy]

Montana has it spot on with using the entire mogul as opposed to just the troughs. There’s generally some great snow to be found going up & over the bumps.

Can’t overemphasize fast feet & keep those hands where you can see them. If your hands drop back & down, your hips will follow.

Choice of skis can make a difference too. Best tele mogul ski i ever had was fischer stingray. Soft soft shovel, could drive it into & up & over the bumps.

[oldschool]

Been forever since I was over on this board - here's a few things I did for this -

1) Find a context to push yourself to develop fluid, continued focus on stringing together several bumps at a time. For me, I taught myself to tele bumps and stiffer terrain seriously on some Merrell Comps and 194 cm Karhu Kondors about 15 years ago. My kids were doing a once per week night ski school at the local place and I went to catch the occasional glimpse of them from the lift and to ski by myself - I made a program of it - 2 hr or so, dinner of a burger and a pint or two, then another hour and then home. Focused myself on hitting the bumps. That got me started.

2) Graduating to longer mogul fields and steeps I pushed myself to double blacks on the same gear. Merrell Comps did make me a very light footed skier. I noticed the Karhus got hung up in the bumps and skiing tight glades - this led me to get a pair of 183 cm K2 Piste Pipes - used from a dude but pretty well mint otherwise. I've been on them since - still a bit long but they are good. They are twin tips and I feel like having a rear tip that is rounded on the sides helps some - see the next comment.

3) Tuning - it can help to detune the tips and tails a bit further to do bumps - I have the shop do my edges, they hit the tips and tails with a gummi stone but I sometimes will take it a bit further toward the binding from the tips, not much but a bit more. If you have edges that run the length of the ski, detune the tips and tails and you'll be amazed at how much better you can pivot while turning too.

4) I found the Paul Parker book Free Heel Skiing to be really helpful. Besides stance, keep your shoulders pointed down the fall line - keep your uphill shoulder from "opening up", meaning dropping back - this puts your weight back. Face downhill and try to go aggressively.

5) On steep stuff I pick my way - 3-4 bumps, stop, evaluate, again, again, again.

6) My kids like boarding and skiing glades - some are tight and hellish. I have realized that to enjoy myself, I'll parallel them when I need to. Mixing it and using teles and parallel interchangeably is a good approach and better for me than trying to exclusively tele them. So don't be afraid to parallel if you need, especially if the alternative is nailing a tree or something.

7) Skiing Scarpa T2s now on the Piste Pipes - not a big difference in the terrain I could tackle but I find them a bit less fatiguing for intermediate terrain.

Build into it and you'll be on the still harder stuff soon enough.

Nice to see this board is still very active!

[oggopoggo]

Shorten your poles and probably back off your binding springs if you are usually into carving. Have a fast wax, especially if it is warm. Fluoro spray wax is fine. Eliminate anything that slows your movements. That's not to say go fast, just don't waste energy.

Some good terrain to practice on are rollers across the fall line, slight ridges down the fall line and lower angle moguls. You should work on maintaining contact with the snow (rather than jump turns) and strive to limit your centre of mass from up/down movement. Jump turns have their place but it is a different skill.

[oggopoggo]

Oh and watch the Tely Bumps 2010 video over and over.

[joeatomictoad]

Also, the ankle/toe/knee flexion points make it all easier on everything, especially your lower back. Fixed-heelers can only bend at the knees and waist (ok, ankles... somewhat barely), putting enormous pressure on the lower back. This is how and why I left alpine and went full stinky granola.

My introduction to telemark skiing, about 20 years ago, going up a lift at Alta, sitting next to an older gentleman, wearing a cowboy hat, and introduced himself as "Wild Bill". Said exactly the same about less stress on his body. Prior to that, I knew that telemark looked cool, but I suppose hearing Wild Bill's testimony is what got me really thinking about switching from alpine.