BUMPS FOR BOOMERS ® - Aspen, Colorado

William S.

I have been looking at this class for several years and finally got signed up. Kudos to Aspen for allowing this affiliate program, I have a new appreciation for Ajax.
The small class size and grouping by skill level made learning new skills a breeze. The instructors are passionate about teaching and were able to bring together needed basic skills and techniques for skiing the bumps quickly, allowing time to master the skills by day 4. It also allowed time to spot and fix bad habits. I had a great time and would recommend this course to any skier, regardless of age, desiring to improve their skills and at the same time ski with less effort.

Jeffrey Q.

I had been considering the Bumps for Boomers clinic for a few years. When we heard this might be the last year, I convinced my wife that we should sign up right away. Our primary goal was to be able to safely and confidently ski the bumps that our kids love but scared us.

Day #1 was spent getting rid of bad habits and an introduction to the mechanics of mogul skiing. This set us up for success for the rest of the week.

Day #2 was a solid introduction to the bumps. First thing that both of us noticed is that our fear of acceleration in them disappeared. Focusing on finding the correct line and completing the turn both helped with that.

Days #3-4 were spent primarily in the moguls. Along the way, we were offered opportunities to expand our comfort through more difficult terrain including black diamonds. No one was pushed beyond their comfort level but were shown easier paths down if they weren’t ready for the next challenge.

Overall, this was an excellent experience that exceeded our expectations! A particularly outstanding part of the experience was our instructor Alan Bush! He is an excellent educator and motivator. His ability to individualize a group clinic was impressive. We will seek him out next time we are in Aspen! In the meantime, we’ll be enjoying the bumps with our kids!

Amy G.

Wow! What an incredible experience and clinic! My non-boomer 16 year old son and I participated in this clinic together and mastered the bumps while making special memories together. We want to be able to ‘Ski For Life’ and skiing safely is a number one priority with an ER doctor in the family. This clinic taught us the skills to do just that! The personalized attention and instruction was second to none. The instructors had my personality and learning style figured out within the first hour and adjusted their instruction accordingly to ensure each group member’s success. They invested in us and genuinely cared about each one of us. They did a fantastic job of putting groups together that worked like a team and I found the small group (4 skiers) setting was perfect for me because the team support and encouragement gave me the confidence to overcome my anxiety about skiing bumps. I still need a lot of practice, but I proved to myself that I can do hard things and I now know how to be the CEO of my own skiing and control my speed on all groomed and bump terrain by making smooth, flowing linked turns, completing every turn by steering my skis up the hill, making my short leg long to initiate the next turn, and looking down the hill at a target of where I want to go. Such simple things, but together they make such a big impact when put into practice and done with fidelity under the guidance of an expert; these Bumps For Boomers instructors are the best in the business!

Elaine S.

My husband and I did the two day clinic with Larry Feher. We are experienced skier with years of skiing but wanted to ski moguls and steep with more confidence and skill. I was gravitating to groomers as I aged.

Larry was the perfect coach. He stressed stance, balance and strong basic skiing skills and how to achieve those with small tweaks. He coached gently as we practiced the tweaks.

"Skiing moguls is like riding a bicycle...keep your legs moving", "be patient (or be a patient) and let your skis work with gravity through the fall line without forcing your skis" "commit to your turn (or be committed)" "be balanced and in control before starting the next mogul turn" "look where you want to get to" and "make your short leg long."

The clinic gave me more confidence to start a mogul or steep run now that I know the tweaks that make skiing more fun and effortless.

The clinic is pricey IMHO but the skills and tweaks we took away from the clinic will extend my skiing years. Well worth the investment!

Jason F.

I have been skiing for nearly 40 years and have taken lessons many times, both in groups and privately. Officially, I was at one time a PSIA level 9 skier many years ago. But with time, I was having more and more difficulty skiing moguls aggressively as my joints and reflexes weren't up to it. Thankfully, I found Joe and Bumps for Boomers. What he provided wasn't just a lesson on how to ski moguls, but a different philosophy of skiing that will enable me to ski into my 70's & 80's.

Joe really broke down the biomechanics of skiing and approached the lesson very differently than lessons I have had in the past. His approach really gave me not only the mental tools needed for mogul skiing, but an understanding of the underlying physics of what I was trying to accomplish and how to use my body to manipulate these basic science concepts and turn them into actionable movements that led me to ski confidently through any terrain.

I waited to write this review until I was able to see if what I had learned with Joe was truly lasting. I have had tips and tricks given to me in the past but they really haven't turned into reliable and long lasting skiing advice/instruction that would make it past a few days. Three weeks after my lesson with Joe, my brother and I took on the Cirque Headwall at Snowmass. There was a fresh 5 inches of powder on the mountain and the terrain was steep, bumpy, and some of the most challenging I have skied in my entire life. Using the lessons and instruction that I received from Joe, the Headwall and the canyon that we skied were a joy rather than a terror. I am looking forward to hitting it again in a few weeks.

Thank you Joe for your mentoring. I would recommend taking a lesson with Joe (and the full 4 day class if you can swing it) with my highest recommendation. This lesson was truly transformative for my experience as a skier.

Jason

Dolores

Ski For Life / Bumps For Boomers smashes the dominant paradigm that a great ski day necessarily comes at the cost of an exhausted, pummeled, aching body. See for yourself what others have attested to, it’s absolutely true. Joe Nevin is a gifted iconoclast who has broken down the elements of the human -to-ski-slope interface so that you can learn the best technique to ski wherever you want with controlled speed and beautiful turns, and you can unlearn what no longer serves your skiing self well. You will unlock the achievement of being able to confidently analyze the terrain and conditions and optimize your strategy to apply the precise physical effort required to experience maximum enjoyment, at any age or stage of experience.

If these reasons are not convincing enough and you need more, trust anyone who has ever been to tell you that Aspen itself is a destination and a teacher that will change you and touch you deeply. Don’t miss out. Take the course. Take it with a friend or loved one so that in your future ski days together you will have this new shared language and model to develop with each other. You are guaranteed a great time during the course, and the skills you acquire will carry you forward as a forever better skier. Level up and go. It’s all downhill from here.

Maria T.

The fact that I seem to talk incessantly about my incredible 4 days with Bumps For Boomers (BFB), and my wonderful coaches--Bob Mattice and Joe Nevin speaks for itself. I am not exaggerating when I say that this camp was life changing for me as a skier.

I came back to skiing as an older adult, and wanted to improve as quickly as possible. In the past 4 seasons, I took some private lessons at my home mountain in Oregon, and then attended ski camps at Alta for the past two years. Those experiences certainly helped. However, it was BFB that catapulted me toward my goal of becoming a solid skier that can handle any type of terrain, on or off piste, with control and grace.

I think it was the combination of the curriculum (slowing us down and making us focus on the building blocks of skiing with excellent technique, and then having us apply that to moguls and powder), and Bob. Bob is a veteran coach, and he is also a true mensch/good egg/sweetheart! Bob gave us helpful tips on how to improve, but more importantly, he boosted our confidence, and made us feel like we could absolutely ski that steep mogul field, or deep powder clearing between the trees with good technique, and without falling and injuring ourselves. Not only that, we could ski more difficult terrain and actually have fun doing it! 🙂

Joe filled in for Bob one afternoon, and it was super helpful to have Joe focus on different aspects of our skiing than Bob did. I think it's always useful to have various teachers; it makes one a more well rounded skier.

I was also lucky to be with a great group! We all shared the same passion for skiing, and were positive and supportive of each other.

I can't wait to go back again next year, and the year after that!

Ron F.

Thanks to Bumps for Boomers, my favorite ski resorts just got a lot bigger. The skills and experience gained from their four-day mogul clinic have provided me with a new foundation, enabling me to ski the entire mountain with regained confidence. The program was remarkable for its focus on balance, agility, and stance correction, alongside low-impact techniques designed to reduce knee strain and boost endurance. Beyond the invaluable techniques I'll continue to practice, the coaching by Larry Feher, the dedication of the entire Bumps for Boomers staff, and the camaraderie with a fantastic group of fellow skiers made the experience wonderfully memorable and rewarding.