I love teaching bumps. I’m a recovering bump-a-phobe. Learning lots of tactics and tricks really helped me love them. I like to think I can help someone make a similar breakthrough.
This post has general ideas on teaching bumps. But I’d like to talk about how I develop tactics and skills before I take someone in there.
My mom’s family is from New York and they love their bagels with a heaping mass of cream cheese. A cheese knife, spreader or what we call a “schmearer” is a key piece of equipment. The flat blade easily spreads cream cheese or peanut butter.
I like to ski bumps like I use a schmearer by standing tall and keeping the edge angle low. This makes it easier for my legs to steer my skis and create nice “C” shaped turns. Standing tall gives us the added bonus of lots of room to flex and extend later.
You can pair students up and ask the follower to watch the tips. Are the tips leading the tails? Are the tips pointing across the hill before they change direction?
Once we’ve got the lower body working I like to focus on quieting the upper body and adding a rhythmic pole touch.
The final thing we’re gonna need is some flexion and extension. In the bumps we do things a little differently. We need to flex both legs as we go up the bump and extend on the way down.
This gives us all the tools we need to be successful in the bumps.
What we want to:
SEE – Tips lead tails, rhythmic pole plant, legs turn under stable upper body, active steering of the tips, flexion then extension
FEEL – Winding and unwinding in the core, legs rotating
UNDERSTAND – We need different tactics in the bumps, less edging and more active steering, use flexion and extension to deal with constantly changing terrain
This post has general ideas on teaching bumps. But I’d like to talk about how I develop tactics and skills before I take someone in there.
My mom’s family is from New York and they love their bagels with a heaping mass of cream cheese. A cheese knife, spreader or what we call a “schmearer” is a key piece of equipment. The flat blade easily spreads cream cheese or peanut butter.
I like to ski bumps like I use a schmearer by standing tall and keeping the edge angle low. This makes it easier for my legs to steer my skis and create nice “C” shaped turns. Standing tall gives us the added bonus of lots of room to flex and extend later.
You can pair students up and ask the follower to watch the tips. Are the tips leading the tails? Are the tips pointing across the hill before they change direction?
Once we’ve got the lower body working I like to focus on quieting the upper body and adding a rhythmic pole touch.
The final thing we’re gonna need is some flexion and extension. In the bumps we do things a little differently. We need to flex both legs as we go up the bump and extend on the way down.
This gives us all the tools we need to be successful in the bumps.
What we want to:
SEE – Tips lead tails, rhythmic pole plant, legs turn under stable upper body, active steering of the tips, flexion then extension
FEEL – Winding and unwinding in the core, legs rotating
UNDERSTAND – We need different tactics in the bumps, less edging and more active steering, use flexion and extension to deal with constantly changing terrain
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