A mogul story

When my children were small and learning to ski, they would ask me about the dreaded moguls.


After reading the many messages about these "vicious skier eaters" I suspect many skiers would learn how to ski on moguls if they knew this story.


First let me tell you that skiing with moguls ( note the WITH rather than ON or AGAINST) is first above all a state of mind.

If you hesitate, if you doubt or if you worry,,, you are lost from the very beginning.

That is the point of this story.


As children grow up, you must give them information about life so they will understand.

While I would ski with my boys often I would go off to ski with the moguls be myself. They would , on my return ask what I did there and why I went there since they could see I was very different when I came back.

My smile was larger. My skiing jacket was wide open.
My first drink from the Corona was longer!

The first critical question came from my boy Sasha.
"Where do moguls come from?"

Before answering, I tought, "what do I say? Should I get technical, should I scare him now or should I say a white lie to prepare him for that first mogul run"!

I opted for the white lie! Here it is!
Before I tell it I must warn you all this lie is valid and accepted by 9 year olds ( or skiers with 9 year old minds).

In Canada we have the beaver that is our national "symbol" and this animal builds a "hut" made of branches, mud, grasses. This hut looks very much like a mud mount! Since I canoe with my boys since they were 5, they have seen these huts many times and have "entered" some to see how beavers sleep!

Well we also have a "leek" I answered my boy which is like a beaver but much smaller. It lives in the ski resorts and in the winter it builds its "hut"! The top is called a "mogul"!

I also taught my boys how to become "part of nature" thus paddling very quietly so animals can come closer. When we came to a beaver hut we would let the wind "drift" us to the beaver hut! That way we would often see beavers 2 or 3 meters from canoe.

So I told my boys that when they would ski with the moguls, they had to be very quiet and focus on the mogul entrance since the leeks would come out ! Of course the entrance is in the lower sections of the moguls.

Also we must never but never ski on top of the moguls since it would frigthen the small leeks that were just born! We had to ski between the moguls!

For many years as we rode up ski lifts I would suddendly stop talking and shout, "look look a leek. There it goes"

They belived in the leeks, the huts and the baby leeks!
They did not go into the moguls until they could ski very quietly and softly.

The would practice so that they were quiet as church mice as they skied down. They practiced setting edges so quietly and well that little snow would be disturbed.

Every year they would ask if they were ready to see the "leeks"!

Finally when Sasha was 10 I invited hime to visit the leeks. I reminded him that we had to be quiet and that he had to look at the lower part of the mogul. That is where the leek comes out!

Down the double diamond run we went! This little boy just 10 did not look at all the moguls, the ice, the fallen bodies!

He did not let the steepness of the run ruin his first leek sighting!

He was not concerned about the "best line"! He just wanted to see his first leek!

( This part you must never tell his mother, if we ever meet)

I must confess that I did tell my boy that leeks are very fast runners. They hear very well so if you want to see them you must ski very fast and softly.

He did just that!

At every mogul, as he past it he would turn to look, thus causing a "natural" turn for the next one.

Faster he went! Still no leeks coming out of the moguls!

He picked up real speed ( remember this was his first mogul run) forgetting all about the other skiers who at this point just stopped skiing in order to see this "wild 10 year old" flying down the run.

At the bottom, breathless, wild eyed he tells me, " dad, dadho I saw one, I saw one but I have to go back again to see it better"!

All day we skied that run never stopping once! Often he was just too slow to see them ( the leeks) so he would pick up speed. He never saw the ice. He never saw the steepness. He never saw the hundreds on moguls! And of course the skiers just shaking their heads watching this old man and little kid "looking for leeks" They were wondering who was the crazier skier!

He was focussed on a tiny animal coming out of his home! According to him he saw many at the end of the day!

I had found my mogul skiing partner. He was the only one that could ski with me all day and not complain about the aching thights! He just complained about those damm leeks that were so fast that he only saw 5 in aday.

At 15 when he won a local mogul championship, he was asked how he learnt to ski so fast and yet easy on steep mogul runs. He answered, " looking for leeks"!

Some children believe in Santa Claus until they are 50, my sone still believes in "leeks" and travels all over the world looking for the biggest, meanest leek he can find! I get postcards now with just one line, "How come you can see them dadho!"


That is what all new mogul skiers must do!

First learn to ski correctly and aggressively on "easy " runs.

Then clear mind of all negative aspects and focus on one aspect of the mogul.

Finally ski like you have never skied before. In moguls there are no half measures. It is better to die in flames giving your all, than to "attempt" to ski moguls.

PS
Remember the leeks in the moguls, so be soft on your edges and fast in your heart. YOU JUST MIGHT SEE THEM!

lol, great story!
i wish my dad had told me that when i was a child.