Learn to snowboard on bumps and moguls

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sat on a chairlift listening to snowboarders complaining and moaning about bumps and moguls – cursing skiers for forming them and making it impossible for them to ride down. QUIT YOUR WHINING! Snowboarding brings a different challenge to you every day, whether that be an untracked powder field, heavy slush or rock-hard piste. It’s that variety that will keep on challenging you. Face those challenges with the right attitude and snowboarding will never get boring.

I’ve been wading through my photos to try and come up with some “do” and “don’t” shots and I think there are a couple of things that I can illustrate with the pics I’ve found.

Exhibit A:

This shot is an example of the heavy chop that you get when fresh powder has started to get compacted into lumps. It’s still relatively forgiving, but it will have a few hidden surprises ready to catch you out. So, the key here is to stay on the ball and be ready to soak up what lurks beneath. How to do that is illustrated perfectly by the guy at the front (he’s a CASI level 4 instructor... so he should be perfect!). Things that he’s doing that will help you in this situation are:

1. His knees are nice and bent – the more bent they are the easier they’ll soak up the terrain.

1. His shoulders are level with his board –this gives him far more control over the edge he’s on. With everything level it makes it much easier for his knees to act as suspension and soak it all up (NB having a bit of fitness will definitely help you to bend more!). In contrast check out the guy at the back, he's "counter rotating", with his shoulders twisting at an angle to his board. This will be making him unstable on his toe edge.

1. There's a straight line from the top of his head to his feat - there's very little bending at the waste, his legs are the ones doing the bending, everything else is well centred. This improves balance and stability over this uneven terrain.

1. He's relaxed - look at the control in his posture in contrast to rider number 2, who's flapping his arms around. Keep your legs relaxed and bent and don't fight against the bumps with them, this will allow you to keep a good posture with your upper body.

Exhibit B:

Okay this is where things start to get a little trickier. Here you can see young Becky struggling with a beastly mogul field. Tackling these things is a bit of an art and requires solid technique, but persevere and it’s one of snowboarding's greatest challenges ticked off the list. Becky's a solid rider, but unfortunately in this picture Becky's doing a lot wrong (sorry Becky), it shows that when you’re out of your comfort zone you really need to focus on getting your basic technique back together again. What she's doing is very common, especially on the toe side - you'll see a lot of panicked snowboarders doing the same thing on every mogul field. Here are the big things to avoid:

1. Counter rotating - as you can see, Becky's opening her shoulders and they aren't in line with the board. This will twist the base of the board and make your edge unstable – not what you want on rock-hard bumpy terrain. It is also a less balanced position for your body, and you’re going to need all the balance you can get in this situation.

1. Legs are straight - when approaching the next bump she will be thrown off balance and probably fall over because she'll have no hope of soaking up the changes in terrain.

1. Scraping down the slope - Move in the direction of the board, not at 90 degrees to it. (She's actually doing this correctly in the picture, but this is just another common problem). If you're sliding down with speed on your edge, without moving across the slope, and then hit a bump you will lose the edge from beneath you and fall on your bum / face. If you move in the direction of the board, your edge will cut through the terrain much easier with less sliding. Remember - you can always control your speed and slow yourself down by turning up the slope, rather than scraping down it.

Exhibit C:

Here's Becky on the same mogel field, this time looking a lot more balanced and confident. She's really starting to get it right here. You can see that her legs are nice and bent, her shoulders are level with the board and she's moving in the direction of the board (not scraping down the slope), which is helping her to slice through the lumps.

Important note on how to turn

Until now we’ve just talked about good posture and control, which is all well and good, but the most challenging part comes during turns (particularly on harder moguls). All aspects of good technique apply on bumps as much as they would on a groomed piste, but there are a few things you can do to make life easier.

1. Try turning off the top of lumps – When in a hard mogul field, timing of edge change is critical. Try traversing across the slope, soaking up the bumps and, when you’re ready, pick a bump that you want to turn on. Head directly to it (remember - slice along your edge in the direction of your board and avoid scraping downwards). Aim directly for the highest point of the lump; as your base reaches the ridge, pressure is released beneath it (as the bump drops away); this is the perfect opportunity for you to change your edge. So put your turn in quickly and secure your other edge on the downside of the lump.

1. Plan ahead – Try not to focus on what is directly underneath you. Your aim should be to plan a couple turns ahead once you start picking up speed. With practice you’ll be able to pick your lines with ease and plan where best to change your edge.

So there are a few tips on technique improvement, but don't take our word for it (or do, we know what we're on about), head out to the snow and test these methods out for real on one of our snowboard instructor courses. In the mean time here are a few more blogs that you may find useful: