Sanity:
I know I saw a video with you skiing with them on Mogulskiing.net. Aren't some of those black jacket shots from skiing with them? If not it was very similar to one of their videos which is why it got juxtaposed in my brain. Regardless, I'm thinking it's the exact same trails at Mary Jane.
I think you are kind of merging "mogul logic" with "bumpapalooza" in your mind. I think there were some years when the mogul logic camp was held in the days right before the bumpapooza. Or maybe it was the first days of the bumpapalooza. I have never seen chuck at the bumpapalooza or been at that camp. I have not exactly been a full time attendee at the bumpapalooza but several years ago I would ski with them some. They got a few shots of me. I'm not in the video that you posted, but if you search youtube for "bumpapalooza 2010" (posted by that same guy) you can see a shot of me at 1:03 in that video, and you're right, it is on the same run as the black outfit shots that are at 1:04 in my new video "Techno Mogul Ski Variety". That was also from the same year (2012), but it was not the same run. I don't have a shot of the run that they got. In MY video, the people in the background are my good friends. In the background at 1:04 is Mark, Paul, Aaron and Tamarack. Aaron and Tamarack are brothers that live in Idaho. That's why you occasionally will see skiing from Idaho in my videos. Those guys are really strong athletes. They're a little older now.... Tamarack may have at one point unofficially had the world cliff jump record. The jumps he would do were very, very unusual, almost nauseating.
I really respect Chuck Martin's skiing. Back in about 2002 I free skied with him on some days and his skiing made a big impression on me. Watching him was what gave me the idea to ski moguls in multiple different ways. It's cool because apparently he respects my skiing too. He saw my parents in a restaurant a couple of years ago and walked up them and told them "Boy is he good", referring to me : )
The bumpapalooza guys have generally treated me with dislike. What's interesting about this is that most of them treated me this way without ever actually speaking to me. I have also never argued with any of them online. So what was it based on? My skiing ability? They would scoff at me when I would wave to them and try to be friendly with them. I met Aaron because he was here for bumpapalooza and we became friends. Eventually he stopped attending their club, and I think it had something to do with how he saw them treating me... but he and one other guy were my only friends in the group. The other, Frank, actually explained to me something to the effect of that they don't like me because of something to do with my skiing ability and the fact that I don't say much when I am skiing. They didn't say much to me either and I can't keep everyone's name straight that knows my name. One night I was invited to the bumpapalooza house. Jeff (the guy who made the video you just posted, who is kind of the head of bumpapalooza) intentionally embarrassed me in front of the entire group. He ultimately, basically kicked me out of their little club there. Whatever bothered him, I had only tried to be friendly with him. That guy does seem a little strange to me... maybe jealoous... other people have suggested to me that he is jealous... why did he buy a USA outfit? And I wonder if he remembers how he told me when he was drunk about how he forced his wife to accept a second female into their relationship, or if not 'forced', his exact words were that it'd "been hell to get it to work how he wants and to get her to accept it". I don't like them and they don't like me. I have not skied with them much in the past and they never really included me. I even thought that they might purposely take their "group photo" at a moment when I wasn't there so I don't spoil the photo for the guys who hate me, or something. Some of them, not even Jeff, would noticeably actively avoid me. So anyway... I haven't skied with them in years. I skied with them some back in 2010-2012 or something. Now I actively avoid them.
Something that the internet has taught me is that if you are good at something, many people will first try to find any excuse they can to say that you're NOT so good at it... And then they will be just as likely to hate you as like you. I think something like this might be what went on with some of the bumpapalooza guys. If you want proof of what I'm saying, think about how many people still somehow decide that Tom Brady "sucks" and how many people hate him.
Those people suck.
Sanity:
I'm interested in comparing techniques vs. steepness, so inquiring minds do want to know. If you have anything on steep and hard packed (bordering on icy, i.e. not powder or packed powder), I'd love to see it.
This makes me wonder if you have actually watched all of my videos. There are a whole lot of steep, non-powder mogul shots dispersed throughout my videos. I will pick a random video and describe the run and snow... let's do the new one...
The shot at 0:09 is towards the bottom of Long Haul. That is slushy snow. The shot at 0:18 is under the Sunnyside lift. That is slushy snow. The shot at 0:27 is Lower Derailer. I'd say that's pretty hard packed, but I can't stop a little snow from flying. That is not a zipperline. The shot at 0:30 is under The Prospecter. That is hard pack. The shot at 0:45 is Needles Eye. That is absolutely NOT a zipperline. The idea that I only ski in zipperlines is yet another strange thing that people like to try to assume about my skiing. The shot at 0:56 is near the top of Lower Derailer. That is hard pack and those are extremely irregular, huge moguls. Definitely not a zipperline. Those runs on that far side of Mary Jane, I believe strongly are some of the most difficult and irregular mogul runs in the world. They don't call it "The Mogul Skiing Capital of the World" for nothing. The shot at 1:00 was taken right after that previous one on Derailer. Again, those are VERY irregular, early season moguls. The shot at 1:04 is Sterling before the cat track, so it's not flat likethe rest of Sterling. That is a zipperline and probably the biggest moguls in the video. I am skiing with 'flat skis' there. Not tips down. The shot after that at 1:11 is upper Sterling. Another zipperline with big moguls. The shot at 1:18 is that same area. Like I already said, the point of that shot was to mimic the previous two. The shot at 1:28 is on Boiler. I told my ski partner that I was "going for a carvier style" before we took that shot and the next one. The next one at 1:30, theefore is also Boiler. I wouldn't say those are nice zipperlines. The shot at 1:50 is Sunnyside in slush. I think you can see that that isn't a zipperline. The shot at 2:00 is upper Sterling in a zipperline on slalom race skis. -- So... you ski there, or something? You're welcome to say "Hello" if you see me. You don't seem like a complete lunatic or anything lol ...If we get along, I might teach you for free if you video me every time I ask.
Sanity:
I swear I remember you saying one time that you don't weight shift, that you keep even pressure on the skis. Did I get that wrong? If not, I'd be interested in some elaboration
That's not exactly what I said. Outside of the moguls I certainly don't have even pressure on each ski, but I think that you are talking about mogul skiing. I know what you are referring to... I said... At speed in the moguls, I only think about 'pulling up' my feet to avoid impact and maintain smoothness. At speed it's like doing a hanging knee raise on a pull up bar. When my focus only on 'reducing pressure', it is contrary to think about pushing either foot down and therefore 'increasing' impact or pressure.
Sanity:
In that one first person video I put up in this forum, the second half is cloudy, well below freezing, frozen slush at Mary Jane in April where it was above 50 degrees the day before. It represents the best skiing I have ever done in such conditions where I'm comfortably skiing fast and direct which has not often been the case. Not a single mogul skier was there that day. I'd love to know how other people ski it. How would the bumpapalooza folks ski it? How would you ski it? At some point the conditions will get so bad that you won't look like you do in your videos. When does that happen, and what does it end up looking like?
I'm not sure which shot of yourself that you are referring to. If you'd like for me to look at it, you might need to re-post it. I don't know how many more posts I will do here this week though, just so you know.
The times I've been on frozen slush moguls lately, it has not really phased me. After the amount of practice I have had in my life, it would take some really unusual conditions to mess me up. But that doesn't mean that I am always skiing at my maximum at every moment. I ski slow a lot. I often just ski behind by ski partner. I would rather be on slalom race skis in frozen slush moguls. My brother and I did Outhouse on a frozen slush day last year. I was on my slalom race skis, and I don't think that I really messed up the whole way. The technique would be the same as usual. Maybe just a little slower than if conditions were better. On that run on outhouse, my brother messed up once, I think, telemarking, but he also didn't practice much that year.
I work a non-ski job too, by the way. I always have.
Did I say enough? lol Are you happier? : )
I want to elaborate on one thing I said earlier. When I was talking about varying my technique "on purpose", I don't necessarily mean that I can ski exactly how I want at any moment, or that I can mimic anyone perfectly at any moment. It's more that I often have an idea about what kind of shot I want to get and what it will look like, and it might take me a few tries to do it. It's more interesting for me to do different things on different days. In addition to the example I gave earlier, another example would be the slow motion groomed shots that start at 1:25 in my video entitles "Ski Music Video 2". Those shots are absolutely supposed to look that way, and you might notice that they all look different than the shot that starts at 2:11. Something similar could be said about 'all' the groomed shots in between those two times. The shot at 2:11 is more, my natural form.
