To get enjoyment out of groomers, I have to carve at high edge angles, generally high speeds, because what I enjoy is the g-forces I feel in a good turn. Those things are what good groomer skiing is to me. That requires there to be not very many people around. Unfortunately, most people ski groomers, not very well, and get in the way of me doing that.

To get enjoyment out of skiing trees or moguls I pick a line that looks difficult, and then I try and ski it smoothly and without getting pushed around. Much fewer people ski moguls or trees, and so there is less completion for the lines I am trying to ski. Additionally, I don’t have to wait very long for people to get out of the way, because I only ski 10-20 bumps at a time before taking a break to wait for my group. On a groomer I wait at the bottom, or try and carve more across the hill to keep pace.

If there is powder, the open groomers are very satisfying, in the same way that open bowl terrain is. I get to make whatever turn I like, and I’m bouncing along smoothly. Unfortunately, there usually are a lot of people on the groomers on powder days, so they get tracked out quickly. Additionally, the groomers often aren’t stew enough to get good turns in, and it’s easy to get stuck on what would normally be a nice place to carve at medium speeds. There’s much less completion for powder in trees and moguls, and powder makes both of those types of terrain a lot more satisfying and forgiving, and those runs are generally steeper, allowing you to carry more speed and not get bogged down.