by P. Clifford

Created on: March 26, 2009

Moguls are a mysterious phenomenon. Sure, it is plain enough how they form. They are the result of the slow piling and compacting of snow as skiers continually turn at the same spot. Moreover, their variety, some are as large as an elephant's back while others are destined to spend eternity no larger than a watermelon, is as plentiful as the bad Jimmy Buffet covers coming from the warming hut.

So, we can establish that trying to navigate them on skis is a foreboding task. Let me recount a perilous mogul tale from when I was eight and thought I knew what I was doing. I had been skiing a run at Winter Park, Colorado called Cranmer most of the day. The ski area rated the run an intermediate, but allowed moguls to form on one side of the run and groomed the other. I thought I knew what I was doing, so I entered the majestic field of white bosoms from a groomed section of the run without checking my speed. I remember being dazzled with the speed the snowy beasts came and went. Then my face involuntarily shot down to get a closer look at the snow. My bindings unlatched and a ski flung around and cracked me on the left temple.

This was the 70s; no one wore helmets on bikes or skis and for whatever reason you strapped your skis to your ankles so they could wheel around like the blades of a helicopter when they came unlatched. It seems a little ludicrous now, but so do candy cigarettes. By the way, my mother got me skis with brakes after the gash in my head healed.

That was how the incentive to learn to ski moguls came to me. Since then I have ripped the tendon between my thumb and forefinger a couple of times, jammed three of my fingers and bruised countless ribs. But, in the end, I could successfully navigate the moguls and successfully land aerial tricks while doing it.

The answer to the question this essay poses can be answered in one word: Practice. Ski a lot, watch videos of people skiing moguls (and while you're at it watch them ride rails, rip the pipe and do front flips), and keep in mind a few very simple tips.

1) When you are first starting, the steepness of the slope is very important in helping you control your speed. Find an expert run with moguls that spills onto an intermediate run. Enter where there are smaller moguls and the slope is relatively tame. This is the perfect practice setting. Of course, make sure there isn't some maniacal freak scorching down from above when you do this.

2) Ski in the troughs. Eventually you will go faster and you will no longer

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