Are you a 'powder snob?'

[JD]

I love POW, but am more a natural snow snob. Always looking for untracked POW, but end up skiing dust on crust, breakable crust, glop, wind-packed styro-snow. It's all challenging and fun trying to figure out what the wind did and how to find the best stuff avialable on any given day. I won't go unless i think there's a chance of virgin POW, but 90 percent of BC skiing is about the climb, the hunt, and when you're lucky, scoreing some quality.

 

[Vortex]

I'm a slob not a snob.

 

[snowmonster]

I ski the east so I'm a hardpack and ice snob!

Really, snow can be powdery? Wow! What an amazing concept! =)

 

[kingslug]

Living on Long Island if I was a powder snob...then I wouldn't be a skier.

 

[riverc0il]

If you are, please don't take offense, but there definitely is a mentality that untracked is solely where it's at, and that anything less is unsatisfying and often times not worth it.

Where is this mentality coming from? Because I don't see it around here. Anything less is unsatisfactory and not worth it? I can not recall a single post on this forum that ever gave them impression from any poster.

Powder is totally where it is at for me personally and I am snobbish about my powder. But as long as there is some interesting and fun terrain, I will be having a ball with or without powder. Untracked certainly steps up the fun factor significantly.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

If you are, please don't take offense, but there definitely is a mentality that untracked is solely where it's at, and that anything less is unsatisfying and often times not worth it.

Being somewhat geographically and free time-challenged, I am as far from a powder snob as you can get. I'm just happy to be out there, and enjoy myself regardless of the surface conditions pretty much.

If's there's untracked powder to be had..I definitely want to get as many runs of fresh poe as I can. In Untracked Poe a smooth surfacr is ideal because I don't want to feel underlying frozen moguls underneath...in Fresh Poe..once the trails get tracked out it';s straight to the woods for me and then finding a few nooks and crannies on closed trails or lower angled runs. But if there isn't fresh poe..I'm still uber happy to be skiing but not as frantic. Powder skiing to be is just...Fortunately I get the chance to ski untracked Poe at least a few times a season and I got 4 days of bonus freshies during the early April pre-Easter dumps at Stowe...After those days...driving away from the mountain..I had to shake my head in dis-belief...woo hoo for powder

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

A little bit of powder is a treat for me too .. I especially love being out during a heavy snow fall.

Storm skiing is the best..sure you might get wet and cold if you don't have the right gear but tracks get filled in and just being in the middle of a winter storm is a treat in itself...Plus when skiing during a snowstorm..last tracks can be the best turns of the day...and you can always find shelter from the storm and better visibility in the woods....woo hoo for powder and storm skiing...

Oh Ueah and powder is the great equilizer..whether you're a 100+ day a year skibum or a random tourist...first or close to first in line always ensures getting untracked Poe right under the chair...and if the woo hoos and hidey Hoes from the peanut gallery above don't give you energy...I don't think a Red Bull will help..wow I want to ski..

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

my screen name says plenty. I'm another powder whore, but not a snob...however, if I could have it any way, it would be at least waist deep all the time...I don't need to see my tips, I know where they are.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Am I a Powder Snob? No. But put me at the top of a mountain, with a groomed trail on one side, and powder on the other, I will choose the powder run every time. Living on the east coast, it is rare for me, to be able to time it right, and be in the right place, making it even more special.

It is just so nice to be gracefully floating down a nice powder line have the time of your life.

 

[Greg]

Where is this mentality coming from? Because I don't see it around here. Anything less is unsatisfactory and not worth it? I can not recall a single post on this forum that ever gave them impression from any poster.

Well, I can think of a few, but I'm certainly not going to call anyone out on it publicly.

 

[millerm277]

Obviously, if I have a choice, I'll ski powder....but, as long as the ground is covered in snow...or even ice, I'll ski it.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

If I skied untracked powder 88 runs in a row...I'd want an icy hard groomer as a change of pace...for two runs...then back to fresh POE..

 

[snoseek]

Storm skiing is the best..sure you might get wet and cold if you don't have the right gear but tracks get filled in and just being in the middle of a winter storm is a treat in itself...Plus when skiing during a snowstorm..last tracks can be the best turns of the day...and you can always find shelter from the storm and better visibility in the woods....woo hoo for powder and storm skiing...

Oh Ueah and powder is the great equilizer..whether you're a 100+ day a year skibum or a random tourist...first or close to first in line always ensures getting untracked Poe right under the chair...and if the woo hoos and hidey Hoes from the peanut gallery above don't give you energy...I don't think a Red Bull will help..wow I want to ski..

I agree storm days are the best-even better when you can't see too much and there is nobody there. Skiing solo on days like that is pretty cool.

 

[MadPadraic]

I am, and i'm only the second one to own up to it in this thread.


My preferences are fresh pow>chopped pow>end of day bumped pow>spring>groomed hard pack. Hopefully I can improve my technique enough to really appreciate groomed hard pack.

 

[madskier6]

I always prefer powder to anything else but I don't feel that I'm a powder "snob". I love to ski "anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose" (but I digress). As others have already said, if you give me a choice between powder & non-powder (groomed, bumps, non-fresh, etc.), I'll always take the powder option. But I don't refuse to ski at certain times when the powder isn't "primo" or something similar. I love it all. I just tend to seek out the softer, untracked snow whenever I can.

 

[drewfidelic]

Can you ski mainly in the east and be a powder snob?

I certainly prefer skiing powder and love a day of real fresh light snow, but if the options are sub-optimal skiing or no skiing, I'd rather ski in the rain or enjoy eastern "packed powder."
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Digital easy vape instructions

 

[gladerider]

not a snob. cannot afford to. i do i dream every day? hell yeah...

 

[AdironRider]

Ill take the bait. Ive never consisdered myself a powder snob, but powder is the reason I ride. If Im out riding, I get off piste as soon as possible. I prefer to ride there, and if there isnt any good stuff to ride and Im stuck on groomers, I consider it not my best day. Believe you me, I get out there and enjoy myself, but untracked powder, hell even cruddy tracked out powder is way better than a bland old groomer. In my mentality a groomer is never more than an intermediate trail, regardless of the steepness or anything else, you groom it out and its easy as pie. Powder and off piste skiiing is never the same, even from one run to the next, yet provides a consistent challenge.

 

[jaywbigred]

I love pow, but have an ever-growing love affair with bumps. Luckily, the two are not mutually exclusive, esp. in the East, where opps to ski true pow are limited, esp. for those of us with office jobs (sigh) that keep us away from the mountains during non-weekend storms.

The real question to ask is, in a vaccuum (or Utah?), with ample (100+?) ski days, would you BECOME a powder snob, preferring to ski only in perfect fluffly stuff? or would you continue to love other conditions too (bumps, fresh chord, the race course, etc...), and ski that sometimes?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I love pow, but have an ever-growing love affair with bumps. Luckily, the two are not mutually exclusive, esp. in the East, where opps to ski true pow are limited, esp. for those of us with office jobs (sigh) that keep us away from the mountains during non-weekend storms.

The real question to ask is, in a vaccuum (or Utah?), with ample (100+?) ski days, would you BECOME a powder snob, preferring to ski only in perfect fluffly stuff? or would you continue to love other conditions too (bumps, fresh chord, the race course, etc...), and ski that sometimes?

When I lived in Bozeman..I skied on most of the non-powder days as well as the powder days. But on non-powder days I wasn't frantic about arriving well before the lifts opened..Bumps, fresh cord, and finding sloppy seconds in the woods is all good..Alot of people out there only skied on the 10-15 sunny powder days and didn't bother with storm days or hardpack days...their loss...lol