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Things That Go Bump

by Dan Giesin | December 27, 2017

So, Santa left you a pair of Volkl Mantras under the tree, and now you’re just dying to test those puppies out.
But where?
Because the Mantras are pretty sweet bumps skis, you’ll want to put them through their paces on some mogul field that is worthy of your boards.
Here are nine bump runs that will give your skis — not to mention your legs — a thorough workout:

Al’s Run

Because it plunges 1,800 vertical feet under the two main lifts at Taos, this is the perfect run for those on top of their game — or not afraid to flail and fail in front of a mostly appreciative audience.

Bald Eagle

Ride up the Grouse Mountain Express at Beaver Creek, come back down the lift line a couple hundred feet, then turn left for this 1,400-vertical-foot leg burner. Luckily there’s Talons restaurant near the base of the lift for you to take a well-earned break — or two or three — during laps of the run.

Exhibition

Although it’s not very long — less than a thousand feet of vertical — this Sun Valley classic, which easily accessible by the Roundhouse gondola, was the one of the original playgrounds for hot-shot mogul meisters and hot-dog wannabes.

Gunbarrel

Seeming to rise 1,700 straight of Lake Tahoe, the Face of Heavenly is a pock-marked field of massive bumps. And the moguls get more massive when you enter the narrow confines of Gunbarrel which splits (skiers’ left) off the main Face about a third of the way down.

High Rustler

Perhaps the signature run at Alta, High Rustler plunges a little more than 700 feet straight down toward the resort’s Wildcat base area. Accessed by the Collins lift and long, sometimes sketchy traverse, the narrow run is pitched at 30 degrees on the average and tops out at 32.

Moseley’s

Named in honor of Jonny Moseley, the 1998 Olympic moguls gold medalist who hone his craft here, this run (still often referred by its original name, West Face) drops precipitously from the top of KT22 to nearly the valley floor at Squaw Valley.

Outer Limits

Another training ground for a former Olympic moguls gold medalist — Donna Weinbrecht in 1992 — this Killington classic lays claim to the longest (1,000 vertical feet) and steepest (sustained 30-degree pitch) run in New England.

Outhouse

One of the many bump runs that are sprinkled throughout the mogul-hopper’s paradise known as the  Mary Jane complex at Winter Park, Outhouse is the first cut run you encounter on the left after getting off the Zephyr Express.

The Plunge

Perched high about the town of Telluride is Lift 9 (a.k.a., the Plunge lift), which rises nearly 2,000 vertical feet above a complex of steep double-diamond runs cut out of the woods. Ski Kant-Mak-M to Spiral Stairs to Bushwhacker  and you’ll be thankful the ride back up is an old and slow triple chair.

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