It’s that time of year again in Zermatt! A few frantic weeks of bumps skiing for ski schools across resort finally came to a head yesterday at Igludorf for the annual Mogul Mayhem competition.
Building the course
Making a mogul competition course isn’t easy. Markers are placed at intervals in the snow then stamped into place to make the beginnings of a rut. Then the rut is skied and slipped again and again to form moguls or bumps.
This year plenty of work went into getting it ready, only for a snowstorm to come in just days before and fill in all their hard work. So without much time left builders rushed back to the course to get it race ready once again.
The Rules.
The rules are simple enough. Each team is made up of four and must either be mixed gender or mixed disciplines. As a result we not only saw traditional alpine skiers taking to the rut lines, but also telemarkers, snowboarders and snowbladers -no easy feat.
Teams go head to head down the red and blue flag lines and are marked on their technique in the bumps, overall speed and trick over one of two sized jumps at the bottom. So you won’t necessarily win if you reach the bottom first.
The teams are ordered from slowest to fastest, leaving the best till last. After all four skiers from each team have skied against their opponent the scores are added up and the winners go through to the next round. The teams with the highest scores then compete in the quarter finals and the knock out continues until the final head to head.
Competition Day.
After a few final practice laps and one more slip of the bumps the teams lined up at the start, many sporting fashion statements as impressive as the moguls they were about to ski. ES put forward three teams this year, all sporting fancy dress. Even our team Penguin made an appearance.
The day started fair weather wise but as the competition progressed and the finals closed in, so did the visibility and the finalists found themselves competition in flat light and fresh snow. As if it wasn’t difficult enough already. That didn’t stop them from putting down some impressive runs however, really putting on a show for the crowd.
Thanks to all those who organised, built and sponsored the event, not to mention those who were mad enough to compete! See you next year!