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It's Wiggle Season...

dbostedo

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Saw these posts from Alta recently.... and well, it must be wiggle season... Anyone skied one yet? I've skied ones at Whitetail (local hill) and at Copper and Mammoth. I don't know that I've made it the whole way top to bottom without getting spit out though!

Alta:
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Erik Timmerman

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How does this happen? Does someone set gates to get it started?
 

mdf

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What are the "rules" for these things? I've always been spit out before the end, but I thought braking was cheating.
 
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dbostedo

dbostedo

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How does this happen? Does someone set gates to get it started?
Not that I know of. I assume a few folks just set a line and it goes from there.... it's a spring thing I think because there's not enough new snow or skiers to wipe it out, so it grows and gets deeper.

EDIT: Here's an Unofficial Networks article on wiggles, with some explanation... https://unofficialnetworks.com/2018/11/21/the-art-of-skiing-the-workers-wiggle/

The referenced "Workers Wiggle" from 2007 at Jackson Hole, set around the lollipops in Rendezvous Bowl:

1617759106879.png
 

mdf

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How does this happen? Does someone set gates to get it started?
I think most have some gates. The first one I ever saw was around the fog poles on Rendevous Bowl at Jackson the year the Tram was being rebuilt. They had a short chair just serving the bowl, so there was way more traffic than in a normal year.

But I think some form spontaneously in the usual spots. If they are in the same place year after year (there is one in the same spot A-Basin every spring, for example) the regulars will know to follow instead of cutting across. The A-Basin one is a little off to the side from the normal traffic flow, so most of the people over there are there on purpose.

it's a spring thing
Hmmm...the Jackson one was mid-winter, so it was definitely atypical.
 

KingGrump

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What are the "rules" for these things? I've always been spit out before the end, but I thought braking was cheating.

Drifting isn't.
 
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chris_the_wrench

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At Whitefish a mess of small orange flags showed up one day on the south face about 6 weeks ago and then a parade of snowboarders just lapped it till the trenches were deep. I never knew it was a ‘thing’.
 

James

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What are the "rules" for these things? I've always been spit out before the end, but I thought braking was cheating.
Turning is cheating in regular skiing.
Shape skis = “Cheater Skis”
More shaped race skis = “Cheaters”
The only resistant area is moguls. No one calls mogul skis cheaters because it’s still hard.

Not that I know of. I assume a few folks just set a line and it goes from there.... it's a spring thing I think because there's not enough new snow or skiers to wipe it out, so it grows and gets deeper.

EDIT: Here's an Unofficial Networks article on wiggles, with some explanation... https://unofficialnetworks.com/2018/11/21/the-art-of-skiing-the-workers-wiggle/

The referenced "Workers Wiggle" from 2007 at Jackson Hole, set around the lollipops in Rendezvous Bowl:

View attachment 130582
Wow, that’s the most regular one I’ve seen.
Doesn’t Jackson have sort of a semi permanent one down low? Kind of a luge run.
 
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dbostedo

dbostedo

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Doesn’t Jackson have sort of a semi permanent one down low? Kind of a luge run.
If they do, I didn't find it at the Gathering. Several places have "skier cross" courses that are open that tend to have some banked turns and are a bit similar. The one at Whistler was big and I didn't take it at any real speed. The one at Copper is kind of lame and could use more banking and bigger humps (though it is a "family" skier cross). I don't know if JH has one of these either.

Reading a bit, it seems the one in Rendezvous Bowl is a yearly thing, so probably gets set better than most. It's regular because they are using the fog/guide lollipops that patrol sets down the middle.
 

cantunamunch

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If they do, I didn't find it at the Gathering. Several places have "skier cross" courses that are open that tend to have some banked turns and are a bit similar.

This was part of my point further upthread. MTB trails have plenty of S-curve banked track. Take your skis down to Wakefield after a good covering storm and do powerline wiggle laps all day. Or vice versa, get a fat bike and (try to) ride a snow wiggle.
 
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robertc3

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I saw some people getting on started at Stevens a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't been back since so I don't know if it developed or not. We get new snow late into the season most years so this could be tough to make happen.
 

David Chaus

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Doesn’t Jackson have sort of a semi permanent one down low? Kind of a luge run.
Are you thinking of Dick’s Ditch? That’s more than a wiggle, it’s a winding gully.
 

James

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Are you thinking of Dick’s Ditch? That’s more than a wiggle, it’s a winding gully.
No, when we were there they had a course. Wider than a wiggle, more escapable, but basically a luge track. It was skier’s right off a traversing trail as I recall.
 
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mdf

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I thought the Rendevous Bowl wiggle was a special case brought on by the increased traffic during the year of the temporary chair (when the Tram was down for replacement). I don't remember seeing one any other years.
 
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dbostedo

dbostedo

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I thought the Rendevous Bowl wiggle was a special case brought on by the increased traffic during the year of the temporary chair (when the Tram was down for replacement). I don't remember seeing one any other years.
Maybe? But the articles don't make it seem that way. In this one:


It says "Since the mid-1990s, Jackson Hole has boasted of its “worker wiggle” down Rendezvous Bowl. This snake, at 10,000 feet, gets so pronounced you can sometimes see it from the valley floor."

Then it goes on to talk about one under the Teton lift, in 2018.
 

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