The 2018 mogul season if off to a slow start as you may have heard 2 events, Bumpin’ at the Bird and Sun Valley Spectacular were canceled. This was due to not enough snow and the US Freestyle & Freeskiing Competition Guide rule 4202 outlines basic requirements of a course.
- Uniform moguls with a constant pitch and fall line with satisfactory snow cover
- course should not be overly concave or convex and no distinct changes in gradient
- additional snow must be brought in to safely cover the course
- no sharp bumps, and removal of any ruts, ice balls, and machine tracks
- Jumps
- the in run leading to the jump, the jump, and landing should conform to specifications listed in Appendix A of the Guide
- top jump is located approximately at 15% course length from the start and the bottom jump at 20% course length from the finish
- jumps should not be continuous across the course
- chopping the landing is for safety of the competitors
- Control gates
- skier’s right is Blue gates and Red on the other side, which define the outside of the course
- 11 gates total on each side of the course
- one gate at the start and one gate at the finish line
- 9 gates evenly spaced dividing the course into 10 sections
Although these guidelines are not the most exciting aspect of the sport of mogul skiing, they are essential for the athlete’s safety, having some predictability from course to course, and control gates are used in judging (it was actually a judge that initiated the standard of having control gates).
The question is – Can you state at least one criteria in which control gates are used by the judges? Answer will be the next post and use the comments section to leave your answer.
For an interesting read on how a mogul course is made visit:
