How do you ski virgin fluff?

[uphillklimber]

x

 

[campgottagopee]

You're not alone, you just have balls enough to thro it out there---good for you.

I've found that people tend to (as you say) get to far back on their skis. You want to be more centered and think "light" on your feet, by thinking "light" it's very hard to get too far in the backseat. The other thing I've noticed is peeps not staying in the fall line enough, or turining too much. Let the snow hold you back, make smoothe turns and just trust it. The deeper the pow the straighter you'll need to go.

Good luck and have fun!!

P.S. Weight both skis the same

 

[powhunter]

Keep your boards tight.....When skiing pow ya should be a little backseat

steveo

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Fatter skis help a lot, stay on the balls of your feet, centered, and I tend to bend the knees more to push off. Slide the turns, don't edge or carve. If you are trying to learn, look for a slope with less pitch and less deep snow so you are spending less time worried about speed, burying the tips, etc and more focused on technique.

 

[campgottagopee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbOKVvc8bg

Good example----notice how "quiet" the upper body is and how they "steer" their skis with their feet.

 

[Geoff]

The key with skiing powder is that you can't skid your turns. With modern shaped skis, there isn't a whole heck of a lot of difference between a turn in the powder and a turn on hardpack.

 

[kingslug]

You're trying to ski it like everything else...which it aint! Very smooth turns are key, not the hard slamming you need on hardpack. Think water skiing. You also need to pick up speed to try and get on top of it or you end up submarining, which is fun if you can manage it.

 

[riverc0il]

Bob, keep at it! A half dozen years ago, I couldn't really handle untracked snow either. Now I live for it! As others have suggested, we learn all of our skiing skills on firm surfaces that load and deflect the skis in a certain way. Untracked powder and your skis react completely differently to each other! Instead of thinking "edge" you need to think "platform".

A good way to start is keeping the skis together and hopping up and down in your turns... kinda bounce through it. When you get the hang of powder and with the right boards, keeping your skis together doesn't matter and is limiting. But I think it is good to start out like that because it gets your mind off of side to side edging. Just keep doing it and watching others do it, you'll get it done.

 

[RootDKJ]

Great timing on this thread. I too have some challenges in the fluff. Usually by the next day I'm golden.

 

[Puck it]

Skis should be shoulder width and your weight is centered. You load the turn with an up and down motion of your knees. Never get in the back seat. You need to maintain forward pressure so you tips do not wander.

 

[JD]

It is a much more subtle edge pressure then you will ever use on hardpack. Good advice allready given in staying centered, not leaning back....and about skiing a more agressive line down the fall line. Your skis base is in full contact with snow as you lean it over, and will therefore react to edging ALOT more. Most people over angulate and their downhill ski hooks hard on them...or throw thier skiis sideways as if they were smearing turns on a groomer and get highsided, or trip over their ski and fall to their downhill side. You can't fight it. Let them run, plane up, then be very subtle with your weight distribution, in the pow your skis come alive w/o having to try and dig in....just stay loose and let it happen. Hard to practice at areas because it get's gobbled up so fast. A little turn earning on some short golf course pitch or untracked sledding hill will allow you to get more of a feel for it.....once you do, it will become the zenith of your ski experience....like flight.

 

[marcski]

You also need to keep the tips pointed downhill. You don't need to turn across the hill as much as on harder surfaces.

 

[polski]

I'm a gonna work on it every chance I get.

THAT's the key!

Someone upthread suggested leaning back a little. Others said no to backseating it. I think a lot depends on your skis. With my old planks (66mm under foot) I felt I had no choice but to lean back a little in pow. My new boards (133-105-124) float much better, helping me be a lot comfortable centered over my feet - though the old habits can be a little hard to break sometimes.

 

[riverc0il]

plane up

This is a great descriptor. Not sure if it works for someone just learning or not but better words could not be provided for a powder turn.

 

[riverc0il]

THAT's the key!

Someone upthread suggested leaning back a little. Others said no to backseating it. I think a lot depends on your skis. With my old planks (66mm under foot) I felt I had no choice but to lean back a little in pow. My new boards (133-105-124) float much better, helping me be a lot comfortable centered over my feet - though the old habits can be a little hard to break sometimes.

That is a great point. With my powder boards, I actually attack with forward lean in the right conditions. The more variable the snow is, the more I will get centered and even get the weight slightly back when the pow is extremely wind blown and buffed. But in fluffy powder, I charge hard with the weight forward... the tips come up because of the design of the ski.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbOKVvc8bg

Good example----notice how "quiet" the upper body is and how they "steer" their skis with their feet.

Where was the deep fluff, I got distracted by the quality food shots.......