Conquering moguls on the ski slope

She makes it sound so simple. Of course, I knew you're not supposed tostand upm on top of a mogul unless you want to join the ranks of the airborne. But Ellen Post, writing in a recent issue of Ski magazine, communicates the logic of the whole thing so beautifully I just may remember it next time when it counts.

I think I first saw Ellen perform her free-style wizardry at Mount Snow, Vt. She and her sister, Marion, had begun to hoard trophies and turn heads when they were barely teen-agers in Jiminy Peak, Mass. They were both tiny girls. One of them -- I never could tell which -- never made it to five feet. But they could ski circles around people of all sizes. Ballet, aerials, and the bumps - it didn't make much difference. During the big free-style era they were among the best of the world's professionals.

Now, Ellen is a member of the US Professional Ski Instructors Demonstration Team and an instructor at Winter Park, Colo. See if this paragraph of hers in Ski magazine doesn't produce a clear, simple picture of how to increase your control in moguls?

''Instead of rising up on top of a bump, allow the mogul to push your feet underneath you. From this position, rock forward and stand down the back side of the mogul. If you press down on the back side you'll maintain constant contact with the snow and be able to control your speed and direction through this ever-changing terrain.''

What's that about genius being related to simplicity?