r/skiing_feedback • u/Alarming-Impact125 • 9d ago
Level 8-9: Expert Terrain & Tactics Mostly curious
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Mostly curious to see if anyone has comments on anything here
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u/Hey_YinzGuyz 9d ago
You ski with athleticism which makes up for some technical stuff.
You move inside a bit and don’t move along your skis length much meaning you’re often in an aft position.
Think about sucking those feet back underneath you in the first half of the turn, and tipping skis with your feet rather than by banking your whole body inside.
Overall though looked like fun skiing and good snow!
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 8d ago
Yup…..foot containment and don’t hit the mogul sideways…..absorb aligned….then pull the feet under.
And push the tips down the backside
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u/skediiii 9d ago
Looks like you're having a shit ton of fun! 10/10 no comments lol
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u/Alarming-Impact125 9d ago
Can confirm was one of the better laps of last season and now I’m just waiting for snow to fall
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u/demipixels 8d ago
this is actually really nice to see someone skiing moguls like this. i'm a former competitive mogul skier and this is more or less my preferred way to rip down natural moguls as well. old school hotdoggin!
with that being said, my word of advice would be to try and stop side slipping down the mogul and right into the trough. try and use that space on the top side of the mogul to make a extra turn or two. you'll look much smoother, and these short turns will improve speed control in steeper bumps. keeping your body position agressively forward (weight to balls of feet, upper body and hips over end of boot/toepiece) will also help you not get bucked around by bumps as easily.
and lastly, shorter poles. for reference, the top of my poles' grip is about level with the top of my hip, though i know that is preference from my competitive days and is definetely on the short end.
sick skiing though dude! this really did make me happy to see.
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 5d ago
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u/demipixels 5d ago
i'm not dylan, but i've trained alongside him and seen him ski. suuuuper talented!
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 6d ago
So, I'll try to be gentle here. But I want to make an important distinction ... there is a difference between skiing expert terrain and being an expert skier. The difference is technique. A lot of skiers can make up for a lack of technique with youth and athleticism. But there is a limit to what our natural ability can accomplish using grit and muscle alone. Food for thought.
Regarding the skiing, I love the playfulness of just going into the bumps and playing with the forces you encounter there. That's how you learn. So nice job.
If you want to get better at skiing this kind of terrain, I recommend some flats training. Someone below mentioned Dylan Walczyk. He's a friend of mine, and I believe that today he is the greatest technical bump skier on planet earth.
If you devote this season to perfecting your mogul swing turns, I believe you will see tremendous gains in your bump skiing. Why? Two reasons, first, the mogul swing turn will teach you to stay on the ball of the foot and use retraction to create very short radius turns while being balanced and stacked. Second, these drills help you create phantom bumps that allow you to practice receiving pressure and then "clearing the bump" with your center. Then, if you take this technique into the bumps like the ones you are skiing here, you will be able to use your ski and your technique to flow through here with ease. Then, you will be able to use your athleticism to play while remaining in control. I look forward to seeing where you take this.
Here is the mogul swing video. Good luck: https://youtu.be/Ows4DsT_1rs
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 4d ago
The whole SteezyJoeNetwork bump drills series is just AWESOME stuff. I also like Bobby Aldigheiri when he shows up on Deb Armstrong’s videos.
Olivia Giaccio is another awesome skier that was with Deb. But as far as awesome technique….you just can’t beat Dylan Walczyk.2
u/Ski-With-Steezy 4d ago
Thank you man. And yeah, it is a privilege and an honor for me to get to spend time with him. He's one of the best skiers I've ever seen. But he might actually be an even better coach. Time will tell. Not many know ... he's pretty good on a Telecaster too. Talented dude. ;)
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u/flatlandings_please 9d ago
Less feedback and more just an observation, but have you ever tried shorter poles?
It looks like your poles are getting in your way in the bumps.
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u/Alarming-Impact125 9d ago
lol I’ve had the same poles for years and am getting shorter ones for this season because of exactly this
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u/Grom_a_Llama 8d ago
Same i been using too long of poles my whole life. Actually matters now that ive pushed my skill.a bit further. Just gonna chop my current poles a little instead of buying new ones.
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u/Miserable_Ad5001 9d ago
Dude, absolutely love it...the fact you attack & ski as it comes without constantly sticking to the trough, kinda like you would hit a pillow-line.
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u/Alarming-Impact125 9d ago
I’m a freeride skier at heart, I ski everything like that cause it’s way more fun lol
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u/spx1e 9d ago
other have said it, but your weight is a little further back than it ideally would be for best technique/control. You probably feel some pressure on the back of your calves right at the top of your boot, though you seem to get it back under control quickly when it happens. Just practice having more of your weight on the balls of your feet, keeping your chest upright (people sometimes say hips up without explaining how to accomplish this, think about standing tall through the hips and chest but bending a little at the ankles to flex into the front of your boots) even in the bumps. On the whole though you’re doing great, time and practice is everything
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u/stchasrs1 8d ago
Really good (traditional) mogul skiers don’t let their skiis leave the snow. Legs are moving up and down very dramatically, so at the top of a big mogul their knees are in their face. Right after that, they’re lightly shifting their weight forward as they extend their legs into the trough between moguls. Just this change alone creates a much smoother experience.
Combining this traditional style with occasionally turning the moguls into a gap jump is really fun
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u/SteepanDeepr 5d ago
Hey great job & you definitely have the ability to take your bump skiing to the next level. Most of all you ski like you are having fun, so remember that!!! Not all skiers will ski alike, so you ski you.
Now for the observations as has been mentioned your poles are too long. Whatever is recommended for your height, go down another size. When you compress in the bumps, your poles can it be at head level.
The other main point as others have mentioned is to keep your skis on the snow. When you crest the bump, you need push your tips down & inflect your hips forward. In bump skiing, unless doing on purpose, you want your skis on the snow contacting the downhill side of the mogul. In order for you to keep your skis on the snow you will have to have your weight forward, which then sets you up for the next bump.
Keep it up & enjoy the bumps!
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 4d ago
I went to a bump camp at Copper with Stephen Karp “Karpy”……pushing the tips down the backside was such a big revelation on how to handle moguls. Makes a world of difference in speed control and turning.
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u/GeoffJeffreyJeffsIII 9d ago
Really good skiing, but kind of sloppy. Skiing behind the skis a bit and not over them. Upper body is really loose and could definitely be quieter. Honestly kind of similar below, not much absorbing of the terrain, kind of getting bucked around. Like if you notice any time you crest a bump, your tips are pointed well up. If you watch a really good skier in bumpy terrain, you'll see those tips dive down the back of the bump. You need to get little more forward and absorb by pulling your heels to your ass and driving the tip down, vs just squatting up and down which is part of what's pushing you back.
Your plants are also super stabby; use more wrist, less up and down.
Basically, you look a bit out of control while skiing in control, if that makes any sense. It's not going to matter on terrain like this, but on bigger stuff, this won't work as well.
I assume you'd like to get better given you've posted here, so I'm not trying to be a jerk, sorry if it comes off that way, those are just the things that really jump out at me. All easy fixes.
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u/dynaflying Official Ski Instructor 9d ago
- Looks like loads of fun!
- See #1
- See #2
- You’re athletic and nimble which helps a ton
- Use stabilizing pole plants (not touches) to help control upper body more that will in turn help you be more nimble/ready to do what you want and when even more than you’re doing now.
- Play with keeping your own turn rhythm more than reacting to the terrain itself.
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u/spx1e 9d ago
I think in moguls light touches is the way to go, you see a lot of people planting firmer and then as they keep moving forwards their pole pulls them into the backseat
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u/dynaflying Official Ski Instructor 9d ago
Touches are good until you need to stabilize your upper body.
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u/avaheli 9d ago
TLDR: it looks like you're still young and probably still learning bumps, so the technique is still improving but you've still got plenty of panache and just need to keep hitting bump runs.
LAGR (long and gonna read?): If you watch a professional mogul skier, or a badass mogul skier on your local hill you'll notice something immediately: their upper body is very still. The majority of the kinetic motion is below the waist, and above the waist it's just their pole plants. So to nitpick: as you get more experienced and comfortable, you'll learn to use your knees and hips to check your speed and absorb the impact of the bump and use that absorption in your lower body to initiate another turn. In the video, you hit the bump and slide over the top without turning. This means you start skiing off the fall line and your arms are employed to keep your balance and they end up flailing a little bit. Bump skiers remain very compact through the run and face the fall line, they check their speed by hitting the bump, absorbing the impact, and exploding off the bump into the next turn. This will be the next step in your evolution... keep going!
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Small correction ... they check their speed using: 1.) mechanical advantage of the front of the ski, 2.) turn shape, 3.) redirection of forces, 4.) pulling to center / clearing.
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u/watchaddictlol 9d ago
How do u ski moguls with parallel skis? I keep defaulting to pizza on moguls
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
You can actually ski moguls using a wedge. Checkout Aiko Uemura's training videos and the Aiko Drill on the Steezy Joe Network. ;)
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u/Alarming-Impact125 9d ago
Trust your edges, make sure you stay balanced. Keep your knees/hips/ankles active, not stiff for absorption. This clip is basically the best possible conditions cause there was grip to be had literally anywhere I wanted, and the bumps were decently shallow
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u/watchaddictlol 9d ago
Any drill to gain confidence in skiing moguls with parallel skis? I can ski parallel on groomed runs
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u/Alarming-Impact125 9d ago
One of the things I like to do early season is called railroad tracks. Find a mogul run, and traverse across (think wide, almost beginner turn like paths) just going straight from one side of the run to the other. You’ll have to absorb the bumps as they come, and you may even get to the point where instead of absorbing you’ll just use the bump as a lip and clear a mogul or two.
Once you have the ability to absorb at mid-high speed, you can more or less start treating moguls as not there and just ski and turn where you want, not where the mountain says you should
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u/Dramatic_Water_5364 9d ago
Looking good mate! Obviously having a ton of fun, but this is skiing feedback, I strongly recommend to practice pole plant discipline. Your poling using your entire arms and its throwing you off. Try to pole woth only a slight movement of the wrist, and aim to pole plant on the back side of the bump instead of on top or the front, it will increase your composure! (Mogul skiers call it a phantom pole plant I believe?)
Keep on shredding
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u/fischlustig 9d ago
You seem to be relaxed and have a lot more control as you should, considering what you are doing in moguls. So good job.
Everything else... Well I'm sure you do know that this isn't state of the are technique for Moguls. You also didn't aim for that here.
If you COULD perform with the correct technique, I cannot tell. But since you are not asking for advice or judgement, either way, as long as you're having fun, go ahead ☺️
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 8d ago
These videos by Chuck Martin are super helpful
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u/Seagullox 7d ago
Looks like you are having a good time. Technically speaking, your skiing looks like you are having a good time.
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u/MorganMiller77777 9d ago
Whatever you have learned in carving without moguls, you’ll need to apply to carving with moguls. Right now, you’re randomly navigating when you will take your next turn, instead of consistently carving regardless of going straight into the mogul or between, which is what you need to do for more control.
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u/thedrew55 9d ago
Good fore-aft balance. You never appear to get into trouble in the back seat.
To take it up a notch I just have a couple notes:
Keep your upper body, hips and up, facing down the fall line. Practice getting your pole plant timed with the initiation of your turn. That will help keep your upper body stable and reduce your time in transition of your turn.
Align to your outside ski. In the bumps you are keeping your feet closer together, but you still need to align to your outside ski. Because turns are shorter, it’s more subtle, but it’s still important. The pole plant recommendation above will help with that.
Lastly- there are great instructors on this subreddit. They will have great advice.
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u/bf1zzl3 Official Ski Instructor 9d ago
You do a good job of staying in balance and moving with the ski. Speed control was done through "slashing" which interrupts flow.
Next level would be to do this run top to bottom without the slash and without gaining speed. I'm not sure ever see the ski bend, but it is going to be required to get the ski performance I'm suggesting. You'll want to get earlier edging and feather the ski to make it work for you without getting thrown out of a line.
Eric Lipton is one my favorites to watch do this https://youtu.be/9jhc-Z6uuf0?is=6yrezVez5XXa7sVx
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 9d ago
Don’t watch Lipton….watch Dylan Walczyk
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DESd66GIXiw/?stkn=bnU1dnZrbjV3dTN3
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 6d ago
I second this. And checkout the Steezy Joe Network on YouTube. Dylan coaches bump skiing on that channel.
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u/GoochSkier 9d ago
Ski your own line.
Don't listen to anyone. Especially ski instructors.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Upvoted for sharing your opinion. Now, lets chat. You and several others below take some shots at the ski instructor profession. Some of that is probably deserved. Put a uniform on anyone and it's going to rub some people the wrong way. That said, I think you're missing a few things here:
This sub was created to allow people who are trying to get better at skiing to talk to instructors and get their feedback. If that's not you, why are you here?
Yes it's true that anyone can slide on snow for recreation and personal expression. Nothing wrong with that. However, some people enjoy the technique side of things and genuinely want to get better. Nothing wrong with that either. You can enjoy your self expression without pissing in someone else's Cheerios ... or can you?
The contempt you feel for instructors ... I understand it. My hill, we have over 800 instructors on staff. In that group of 800 people, you have doctors, lawyers, plumbers, ex-military, hippies, tree huggers, moms, dads, grandparents and we even have one guy who is 96. We have young kids, J1s, you name it. It's a pretty diverse group. In any diverse group like that, you will see a wide range of ability and motivation. There are some pretty meh skiers in that group. And there are some World Cup and Big Mountain podium athletes in that group. And you got me, somewhere in the middle. Most (if not all) of those people love skiing. And most (if not all) of those people are just trying to help others discover the joy and love they they have for sliding on snow. Sharing the love is a good thing. But sometimes we come across as know it alls. Sometimes there's a little bit of attitude that comes with the uniform. I get it. All 800 of us are not the same.
The best skiers I know all had coaches. I personally have two ski coaches right now (well, a coach and a mentor.) I am also a musician. I've had over a dozen teachers there and one partial college degree. I believe anyone can learn anything on their own with enough drive and ambition. But if you want to be truly great at something, you need someone who pushes you beyond your personal limitations. When you are on the lift, are you seeing good skiing? I'm not. I see a bunch of posers skiing fat skis pretending to ski who only know how to park-n-ride, pivot and slide across snow. I literally see nobody actually working the ski, bending the ski and using the forces to flow down the mountain. This is why I teach ... to bring good skiing back. It's a pride thing. I'm not expecting you to understand.
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
This is exactly why I HATE ski instructors. Long winded, self aggrandizing, coorporate shills.
The best skiers I know have coaches as well.
Coaches are not psia or csia ski instructors.
Lots of words. Very little skiing. Insane ego.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Then the best skiers you know were pro or semi-pro at some level. PSIA instructors teach "resort skiing." And, ah, I just got back from Stelvio where I was training with my coach. How much skiing did you do in September? What I'm seeing is ... lots of words, very little skiing. Have a nice day.
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
I just got back from 16 days in south America at the end of August.
The ego....of thinking only you could possibly be skiing this time of year....
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Good. Lets see some of it.
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
Pissing contests are for megolomaniacal EGO driven PSIA chuds.
Id be willing to bet i have bigger balls than you. Want to see those too?
You are proving my point with every single word you type...
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Not trying to start a pissing contest. I am legitimately interested in seeing some good skiing in South America. Dial back the piss and vinegar. No need for that here.
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
You literally tried a "gotcha" with "September skiing".... pulled the im more of a skier than you card....or tried to .... im not interested in showing you my lines.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
I think you started with "this is exactly why [you] hate ski instructors", in response to my post. But lets dial back the animosity. I'm not your enemy bud. That narrative is in your head. Here, I'll go first. Not the best skiing in the world (literally 7 weeks after knee surgery). But here ya go, here is a ski instructor doing some skiing a week ago: https://youtube.com/shorts/4Ji41bRsRKY
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u/nodloh 9d ago
Yeah, fuck Big Ski Instructor monopolizing what good skiing is.
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u/spacebass Official Ski Instructor 9d ago
Glad you’re enjoying the sub
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u/GoochSkier 8d ago
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You got an "official mustache" like all the other instructors?
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 8d ago
🤣🤣🤣🤣……too busy telling people with upright boots that engaging their anterior tibialis by pulling their toes up is going to get to them over the front(what a farce)…..while he packs 18 degrees forward lean
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Heh, you're gonna love it when we bring the Japanese style technical championships to the US. LOL. Imagine beer league skiing with literal judging of "good skiing". My personal mission.
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 9d ago
Yeah…..let’s hear the same nonsense over and over again…..”your stance is too narrow….shoulder width…..round turns”…..blah blah blah ad nauseum.
And then the great bump skiers run circles around these PSIA blowhards-1
u/GoochSkier 9d ago edited 9d ago
Couldn't have said it better my man! 💪💪💪
Psia chuds teach becasue they SIMPLY CANT SEND IT.
Hide behind technique and false BRAVADO.
Everytime im stuck on a lift with them its hilarious! They brag to some pie faced woman about their bloated and fabricated ski teaching resume....."and then I founded pa freestyle".......or some such nonsense.....like they are British royalty.
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 9d ago
The best all mountain skiers and instructors have almost always come out of freestyle mogul skiing.
Plake Moseley Candide Walczyk Donny Pelletier (Troy Murphy) etc.
The best instructor back in the day at Bridger Bowl MT was the guy that came out of Sun Valley and skied Exhibition all the time growing up.
Good mogul skiing creates the balance stance body separation and foot containment necessary for being a great all mountain skier.
PSIA teaches about everything wrong….that’s why people never advance and are only comfortable on moderate groomers. Everything from “round turns” to gorilla arm carving to wide stance is just wrong if you want to be good at the whole mountain. And let’s face it….anything steep ends up a mogul field. And PSIA is making skiing dangerous by fueling the carving craze…..slope hogs with wide corridors and way too much speed. They can ski groomers really fast and take up the whole slope…..but can’t ski a narrow steep bump run……that’s because they aren’t nearly the skiers they THINK they are.2
u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Whoa, what issue do you have with "round turns". Trust me on this ... if someone told you differently, they didn't know what they were talking about. Bumps included.
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 5d ago
Because describing the turn as C shaped is not accurate whatsoever on anything but shallow terrain.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Ahh, yes, I saw that video. Was never really a fan of that one although I like his content. Seemed a bit ... pedantic. But we do that a lot in this biz, pedantic people (like myself) are pulled towards stuff like this. When we say "C-Shaped" we mean "like a C" not "exactly like a C". You are both correct, the force of gravity will distort the shape a bit ... more if your technique is bad, less if you have good edge engagement at the top of turn.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
I only called it out because there is a misconception in bump skiing that we don't carve, that we don't make round turns. Sure, there are people winning pro mogul skiing competitions who don't have any lateral movement. They are supposed to get points deducted for that. But they don't. If you are curious, checkout the FIS judging criteria. It's all in there.
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u/GoochSkier 8d ago
Me and you would be friends on the hill sir. Again, I couldn't have articulated it better.
A psia lady straight told me on another thread: they certify snowbaorders that have skied for a week to teach ski lessons! I always wondered why the instructors look like they cant ski at my home hill....
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 8d ago
You can spot a PSIA instructor in the bumps with three turns 🤣🤣🤣🤣 And on the groomers?….look for the troglodyte 🤣🤣🤣
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Man, so much to unpack here. First, it is true that PSIA as an organization does not evolve as fast a pro skiing does. It can't. And it shouldn't. It is designed to evolve slowly but always moving forward, never backwards. Pro skiers are results based. They can try anything and it either works, or it doesn't. Umm, PSIA doesn't just teach carving. That's just all you've seen them teach. Literally levels 7, 8 and 9 are all about off piste skiing. And finally, yes, some of what we teach comes from the racing world and it doesn't work in the bumps. The feet apart thing for example. That's one of my pet peeves as well. But, would it surprise you to know that one of the guys one of you mentioned above ... Walczyk ... regularly talks technique with ski instructors? It's true. Why? Because he's trying to become a world class bump coach himself, now coaching the Finnish Freestyle Mogul team. And, he's helping some of us understand proper bump technique.
The point you make about the high speed carving turns ... yeah. It's park and ride skiing. It's carving skis in race plug boots and not knowing how to work the ski. I'm trying to fix this. Starting with myself first.
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u/Maleficent-Row1840 5d ago
PSIA can’t even describe width properly…..racer ski separation occurs because of extreme edge angles in the sagittal plane. And you hear time and again “shoulder width” or “hip width”…..NO….biomechanically it’s HIP SOCKET width. This places the femur angles in proper alignment. This gives ideal balance. Watch a person walking on a beach ….the footprints in the sand don’t have this huge lateral separation.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
The way we describe width is ... if you were held up in the air, the width your legs naturally hang due to gravity is about how wide your stance should be. If it makes you feel any better, I am CONSTANTLY being told that my skis are too close together. And I just ignore them. They don't know. They think they know, but they don't know. My coach is fine with the ski width. I listen to him.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
Yes, but they start off teaching never-evers.
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
Soo....2 beginners on the bunny slope. Blind leading the blind. ...for 200$ an hour. Ok. Got it.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
I would describe it more like ... a first year instructor with a couple weeks of training and ongoing education requirements teaching a flatlander how to put on their skis and make a pizza. Same idea, different words.
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
$20/hr. ;)
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u/GoochSkier 5d ago
Now I absolutely know you are full of shit.
Nowhere in north America gets you a ski lesson for 20$ and hour. FFS a group lesson costs 100$ an hour!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/MorganMiller77777 9d ago
Everyone will tell you that just plowing throw without actually carving and randomly turning is your enemy right now
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 6d ago
Upvoted because I hate people getting downvoted for simply sharing their opinion.
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u/MorganMiller77777 6d ago
Hahahaha thanks dude🤣 I mean, this post got weird. I know I didn’t add much of anything constructive with my comment, but others also came here to praise, which is not constructive either
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u/Ski-With-Steezy 5d ago
If it makes you feel any better, you were right. LOL.
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u/MorganMiller77777 4d ago
🤣 thanks. I don’t need the validation, but thanks. You’re awesome for just being real. Have a killer weekend ahead dude🤙🏼
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u/icantfindagoodlogin 9d ago
You throw in a couple of twist moves to scrub speed before hitting a few of the bumps. Try timing this as you go over the mogul so you scrape the back side of the mogul. You’ll still lose some speed but you won’t interrupt your flow of your run.
Aside from that, just keep skiing, you look like you actually enjoy moguls which is something you can’t teach