[Photo: Dan Delacroix, British Ski Federation] The editor of ifyouski.com (Michael Liebreich) in a moguls competition.

Moguls consists of 'one run of free skiing on a heavily moguled course', generally around 250m long, lasting 25 to 30 seconds. Skis are taken slightly shorter than for slalom, 1m90 to 2m for men, 1m80 to 1m90 for women. All skiers perform a single run, with the best twelve usually proceeding to the finals. Parallel knockout finals are difficult to judge, though they make for exciting viewing.

Fifty percent of the skier's score is accounted for by the quality of skiing. Turns must be aggressive yet controlled. The upper body must be kept calm, and poles planted without unnecessary arm movements. Any falls, breaks in form, losses of control or deviations from the fall line are heavily penalised.

[Photo: Sporting Pictures (UK) Limited] The Mother of all Mogul Fields at Tignes

Twenty five percent of the score is based on two jumps. These are marked on execution, height and technical difficulty. Commonly-used jumps include spread eagles, twisters, daffies, kosaks and helicopters, as well as combinations of up to three of these such as Johnny Mosely's 360 Mute Grab, which helped him win gold in the Nagano Olympics.

The final twenty-five percent of the score is calculated from the skier's speed by comparison to a base time set before the competition.