Do you do jumps?

[Wilhelmson]

I seek out the medium jumps and will go off the side of big ones but no huge air. I will jump of some cliffs within reason.

I have never been a really great skier. I used to hit the big ones occasionally but they scared the crap out of me. Did a pretty big 180 on the superpipe one time and a coach who saw me wanted to teach me. I declined as I was just happy to be alive after realizing how rock hard the lip would be if you fell on it.

 

[SSSdave]

Nope and am fine with each to their own choices.

Sometime back in the mid 1980's when airing at Squaw Valley became a media sensation, I developed an attitude after experiencing the large landing forces involved, of avoiding all but small airs because I concluded over years and decades that would eventually lead to knee injuries. Much like trying to powder ski in the occasional heavy Sierra cement...just don't need it. Also do not find the visceral thrill of gravity accelerating, landing, deaccelerating worth regularly repeating. Much like jumping off a pool high dive or from rocky cliffs into lakes, one does it a few times fine, but at least for me that quickly gets old.

Given its cliffy rocky terrain and corniced ridge lines, Kirkwood has always had significant numbers of advanced skiers and boarders launching air. Most of those launching off cornices and cliffs do so in fun bro packs where there is a group challenging whatever terrain vibe and a like audience. Look at those atop The Wave any morning.

Every time I ski down steep, large bump slopes, I make a few small jump turns as a way to reduce speed. Some might chime in "Isn't mogul skiing notorious for wrecking knees?" Indeed COMPETITION mogul skiing where speed is a critical factor thus greater forces to deal with. Anyone that watches this senior ski bump fields will immediately understand why my knees are still fine. Backpacking with heavy packs including camera gear is my complementing sport that over decades has built up strong legs and knees.

 

[Jersey Skier]

We're talking on purpose?

 

[pchewn]

I hope that landing is longer and steeper than it looks. Getting older you learn to LOVE steep landings which are long, so in case you overshoot you dont land flat.

The landing does not even appear in the photo. Just the kicker and the jump.

 

[no edge]

I still jump, but only with the ability to see the landing before I launch. Landing needs to be steep. I like to pick lines that I can carve into a traverse to reduce the distance of the drop. That's a sneaky manuver and it can be fun. Ledges are usually best because sometimes a small gap lets you slip through with a set up to cut across the upper part. Mad River Glen... Paradise - the waterfall, early season. It can be slick as hell on the landing. But soft snow is readily available close to the ledge. Still plenty of air doing it the way I go. I get complements with this because the line unexpected.

What just described is hard to understand using an explanation. I see a lot of people launch straight off large drops. I don't tend to do that (too freakin old - 67). Another example is a spot under the black chair at Magic - there is a chute 10 - 15' wide plus a large bump on the left and a smaller bump on the right. You can pick the one you like or just go down the center. I typically pick one of the bumps with trajectory that avoids straight down the hill. That bump puts you up in the air!. But the landing is reasonable - it's fun.

There's rock in the woods at Magic. If you look at the Magic page you will probably see pictures of someone jumping. Not me. There is no landing. Never jump in the parks.

 

[robertc3]

I will hit jumps as long as my body allows, and probably a few years after that. A run without any air time is almost not a run worth taking. I am in my 40s now, but I still ski like a teenager. Maybe a young teenager, as I don't hit the huge jumps in the park or drop 30-foot cliffs, but getting air is an integral part of my enjoyment of skiing and it always has been.

 

[Max Capacity]

I'll catch air off natural rollers, but not going of any man made jumps in the park.

Last season I recall seeing a buddy stop just below one of the rollers where his head was visible from above, I shifted my line to the left and launched off, I did notice my skis were about the same height as his head. That was on our first run of the day when we had early lift access.

 

[Philpug]

Rarely any more. I started losing my air sense around 50. I have less issues dropping a cornice than I do on a kicker. I did my last helicopter maybe 3-4 years ago.

From an A-Basin trip years back.

I think this was my second to last one...

 

[teejaywhy]

only "sweet jumps" for me.

"You got like three feet of air that time..."

 

[Ogg]

I'm pretty much a big chicken when it comes to launching myself but I will take little jumps and drops onto soft landings. I would like to get a bit more comfortable in the air, I just need a bunch of powder days to practice.

 

[anders_nor]

just land on something steep and your good, as you age, the steeper the better because you can ski steep, but your knees cant land flat

 

[Bad Bob]

Only the occasional bump or pillow. Did my share, wore my fair share of plaster (and soaked my share off too).

Bigger air? To paraphrase that wise old Prophet of Liverpool, Ringo Star.........
'NO NO NO I don't Jump it no more.
I'm tired of waking up on the floor.'

 

[mdf]

Off cornices, yes. But not anywhere with an obstacle (like rocks) between the takeoff and landing.

 

[anders_nor]

screencap from buddys picture taking today, always jump everything! especially when your buddy is there signaling its ok

 

[geepers]

The risk/reward trade-off changes with age. Do my best to eliminate skis leaving the snow. This is easy the 1st week back but after a few weeks back on skis sometimes have to give myself The Lecture. Those last few bumps in a mogul pitch look so inviting!

 

[Tex]

I will hit jumps as long as my body allows, and probably a few years after that. A run without any air time is almost not a run worth taking. I am in my 40s now, but I still ski like a teenager. Maybe a young teenager, as I don't hit the huge jumps in the park or drop 30-foot cliffs, but getting air is an integral part of my enjoyment of skiing and it always has been.

I say 45ish that will probably change.

 

[James]

Little bit. Very small air. Never did lots of air. I get out of the pipe, not far. Tails above rim is fairly terrifying.

Speaking of Targhee, they had a great learning park when we were there in 2015. You could get little, medium, and large medium air. Maybe the big medium one was 12 ft, but the whole approach and take off were big. With nice landing. The thing was, there was a progression, and you could bail at any time.

 

[robertc3]

I say 45ish that will probably change.

I am 46 now, but I know it is coming eventually. My current state of mind is to get it while the getting is good as I know it won't be good forever. The jumps with a high consequence on the landing are a thing of the past. No firm snow unless I know I can stomp the landing and no flat landings. Pow days are for sending everything.

 

[crgildart]

I'm 59 years old, I do not catch air any more, not big air. At some point when you get older, you lose a lot of your equilibrium. In my younger days, I always felt very comfortable in the air. I took gymnastics as a kid, loved doing flips on the trampoline and diving boards, it all carried over to skiing. Probably 15 years ago, I went off the diving board and chunked a 1 and half, I was completely lost in the air, I realized then my "air" days are over.

This is me exactly. I was told that the inner gyroscope function degrades a lot after age 50. Something to do with the brain shrinking and rattling around inside the skull My wife agrees about the shrinking brain part..

 

[crgildart]

@Lady_Salina took this photo about maybe ten years ago?? I used to go bigger. It's about my limit now when I'm getting out regularly.. Lip of jump is very left side of the photo.. Sending it pretty good down the landing ramp. I'd have to take a bet to do this the way I feel these days..