Before we go into the technique, you should know the characteristics and terms of mogul slopes. You'll already know these three:
- the steepness of the slope;
- the height of the bumps/depth of the gullies;
- the distance between the bumps.
But that's not all:
- There are two types of mogul patterns: regular and irregular (see below for images).
- There are two principle types of mogul shapes: round and elongated (see below for images). The top of an elongated bump is called the spine.
- The line running between moguls is called the zipper line. It should be coinciding with (be parallel to) the fall line, but that's not always the case.
Furthermore, a bump has a near side and a far side. If you're on a steep slope with round bumps, and are looking downhill, the near side of a bump is the side you're looking at. The far side is the side you cannot see (well).
If you're a slope with elongated bumps, and are standing between them, the near side of the bump next to you is the side you're looking at. The far side is the side you cannot see (well).
The preparatory exercises
You should also prepare yourself physically. The first exercise is a dry land exercise, called The Twist. It's indeed just like the dance from the 1950s:
It's best done on dry socks on a hard, smooth surface. You may at first do it with full-hand support on an object. The goal of the exercise is to have the legs and feet rotate left and right while the shoulders stay facing forward (almost) entirely.
Note that the heels are off the ground. You should imagine that you're swinging the ski tails around. Next, do more or less the same thing on skis on an easy slope, but do it in a bit faster rhythm:
In this exercise, you should get the feeling that you're swinging the ski tails around. Practice it with different sitting depths, because different slopes require different depths.
If you feel or get the comment that your turns are not symmetrical (one side goes significantly better), you should progress the above exercise to a pivot slips exercise. Do it with as short as possible ski turns but in a rather slow rhythm:
Keep your shoulders facing downhill! The exercise will then strengthen the rotary muscles in question, whereby weak muscles benefit much more from strengthening exercises than normal muscles. So your movement symmetry should improve.
I'm assuming that you furthermore have normal joints; if not, consider seeing a sports physical therapist, manual therapist, chiropractor or osteopath. The last preparatory exercise is this one: the absorption movement:
How to ski moguls (bumps)
You can ski a group of bumps in three different ways. You can combine them, but they are principally different ways. They are:
- Lose downhill speed by scrubbing down-off the far side of the bumps, with the center part of your skis. You're then turning on the top/spine of the bump.
- Lose downhill speed by scrubbing up-against the near side of the bumps, with the tails of your skis. You're then going around the bumps more. This is also called following the zipper line.
- Go over them while absorbing them (no braking action, see the above video for an easy, traversing form of this method).
And now comes the most difficult part: finding a beginner's mogul slope. You should ask the local ski school where the easy ones are (and which ones to do next). But there rarely are real optimal beginner's slopes — with a regular pattern of round moguls that are quite far apart and low, on a gentle-gradient slope.
If you do, the order in which to learn mogul skiing is the order as listed above. The progressions then are:
