Your Best "How To Ski Powder" Tips

[Nancy]

I am still struggling to ski in powder. What are your best tips to get me over the hump and start to love this powder stuff? I fell last year skiing powder and still feeling the effects but by George, I'm not going to let that hold me back! Can you help? (And yes, I know I need to take lessons, but tell me your tips anyway!)
Thanks!

 

[Mark D]

buy a snowboard. then once you do that powder is so easy. just keep you nose up by putting most of your wait on the back foot.

 

[Strat]

Except for the nasty back leg burn... pain for pleasure.

 

[SKItheBOAT]

One word...fast...go faster than you would normally feel comfortable doing. This will allow you to float better in the powder as well as push the powder around easier. When you go slow you end up sinking in it more and flounder, getting over worked by the snow.

 

[Nancy]

One word...fast...go faster than you would normally feel comfortable doing. This will allow you to float better in the powder as well as push the powder around easier. When you go slow you end up sinking in it more and flounder, getting over worked by the snow.

I can hardly get started though! When I hit the powder last year, I caught a tip, and bam, just about ruined my ankle. Honestly not sure what I did, all I know is it hurt! It's so hard to turn! Not ready to abandon my skis for one so let's keep trying to figure this out!

 

[BeanoNYC]

What kind of skis were you using, Nancy?

 

[dmc]

Except for the nasty back leg burn... pain for pleasure.

Set you stance back.... I never feel that pain when i set my stance back..
Or ride my Fish...

 

[eatskisleep]

One word...fast...go faster than you would normally feel comfortable doing. This will allow you to float better in the powder as well as push the powder around easier. When you go slow you end up sinking in it more and flounder, getting over worked by the snow.

I can hardly get started though! When I hit the powder last year, I caught a tip, and bam, just about ruined my ankle. Honestly not sure what I did, all I know is it hurt! It's so hard to turn! Not ready to abandon my skis for one so let's keep trying to figure this out!

Yes, the ski that you are using can make worlds a difference. Also a common misconception if to lean wayyyyy to far back to stay floating. While sometimes if the terrain is not so steep you may have to lean back once you are on the step stuff it is not like that.

 

[Nancy]

What kind of skis were you using, Nancy?

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember. I didn't have my usual equipment, so a friend (instructor) picked some out for me (I do remember they were 165 and I usually ski 160's). I think they were some kind of a K2 performance ski, but I don't remember. I usually ski Solamon Pilot Screamers (160). I know fatter skis do better in powder, but I need to know technique too, right? I am not a very experienced skier (maybe 25 days total on the snow) but I keep hearing about how wonderful powder is, so I'm going to keep trying!

 

[Jean-Pierre Skier]

Nancy, you may be a bit of a novice to really enjoy powder. Firstly, to truly enjoy the deep stuff you need speed and you need pitch. Two things you're probably not very comfortable with at your skill level.

Powder skiing is hard work (even if you ride a snowboard) and you need a lot of balance, lots of conditioning and strong legs.

I spent many a frustrating day as a novice-intermediate trying to figure out what all the hype was with powder. However, I think once you become a solid intermediate skier, you'll be able to apply the skills you've mastered to powder skiing and you'll feel the float.

 

[Bosefius]

I'd have to go with a little of what everyone is telling you. First get some more experience on some packed pow, or an inch or two of fluff. You have to kind of build up to the knee/waist deep stuff. Once you gain experience and feel more comfy, build your way into deeper depths with a bit more speed. The weight thing I believe is overrated as it will partially take care of itself.

Being on unfamiliar equipment in unfamiliar conditions probably wasn't a good mix. Keep at it though, because it is well worth all the frustration your going through now. Unfortunetly the best lessons are sometimes those bruises your still feeling.

 

[Strat]

Except for the nasty back leg burn... pain for pleasure.

Set you stance back.... I never feel that pain when i set my stance back..
Or ride my Fish...

Yes, I know, but I'm lazy, and setting the stance back takes time... I'll take your Fish though 8)

 

[freeheelwilly]

One word...fast...go faster than you would normally feel comfortable doing. This will allow you to float better in the powder as well as push the powder around easier. When you go slow you end up sinking in it more and flounder, getting over worked by the snow.

what he said. I'd add that squaring your shoulders perpindicular to the fall line, always good advice, is particularly important in Powder. Point right down the fall line. man it's awesome!

 

[dmc]

Powder skiing is hard work (even if you ride a snowboard)

Respectfully dissagree...
Snowboarding in powder is extremely easy... Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier then on skis...

As soon as I rode a snowboard in powder I knew it was my weapon of choice for deep... And I was no slouch at alpine skiing. Loved skiing powder.. Deeper the better... I'm finding telemarking easier in powder then alpine as well..

 

[skibum1321]

Powder is overrated. You should just stay on groomed trails and stay out of the woods. :wink:

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I still remember the day I finally was able to ski powder and I can give you two words...lean back. If you lean back too much you will start popping out of the snow so it's just a matter in figuring out for yourself how much to lean back.

 

[awf170]

get some spatulas... :wink: sure theyll be awful at everything else but that 125 waist will keep you up in the pow

 

[Jean-Pierre Skier]

I love to snowboard in the right conditions (especially in deep pow). It floats through powder, evens out crud and on a slushy spring day, it feels like powder. However, I definitely prefer my sticks on ice and in bumps. Two conditions we seem to run into quite frequently out East.

Equipment does make a huge difference, though. Last year, I went out to Salt Lake City in February (during a five day snow squall . The first day we landed we found ourselves at Brighton with 8 inches of fresh snow (on a Thursday, no less!).

Anyway, my Volkl Six Stars were absolutely unruly in the deep stuff. They just had a mind of their own and they definitely submarined all they could. They are very stiff, have a radical sidecut and weigh a ton. Perfect skis for icey, steep trails out East but the pits out there.

I bought a pair of Salomon 1080's (twin tip mid-fat skis, fairly light weight and flexible) in a ski shop that day and spent the rest of the trip ripping huge turns in anything from 8 inches to 2.5 feet of fresh powder (yes, it dumped on us every night and most days). The new skis transformed my experience.

So the moral of the story is that the right skills are important, but having the right equipment can be equally important. But, you can't beat a snowboard in the deep stuff. Next time I go out west, I'm brining my board, except that I can't ride at Alta :angry:

 

[ozzy]

nah. speed is key, but dont lean back! that's a misconception. It's liek a boat trying to plane off. it takes lots of energy to get to that point, but once you're there it's rather efficent. keep everything balanced and use both feet as one, unlike the groomed. none of this all your weight on the downhill ski stuff. once you have speed PUSH into the snow. this gives you a up-down effect rather than the lateral movements needed for groomed snow. biggest benifit, get yourself something at least 120-125 mm in the tip.

 

[KevinF]

One thing you have to remember in powder is to make round turns. If you are steering your way through turns -- as oppossed to letting the shape of your ski carry you through the turn -- you're going to struggle in powder. If you steer through the turn, you're going to encounter two big problems:
1) All that snow isn't uniform (especially once it starts getting tracked up) -- your ski might resist turning at first (depending on the consistency of the snow around it), and then suddenly just turn in a big way, which is certainly going to give you a close up view of the snow. If you just make a nice, slow, round turn through the deep stuff then staying balanced over your ski suddenly gets about 1000 times easier. Note by "slow" above I mean "patient" -- a decent amount of speed is your friend.

2) The reason your legs burn like crazy after a few hours of skiing the deep is in large part because you're trying to turn your skis (as oppossed to letting them turn you). Shoveling snow wears most people out pretty quick; well, if you're trying to turn your skis, you're trying to move a heck of a lot of snow which each turn. If you can just cut a nice round path through the snow, then your legs will last a lot longer.

I'm not going to attempt to describe here how to be patient and allow your skis to turn you; that is something that's best left up the ski school at your favorite resort. The good news is that a large part of the proper "be patient" technique for powder is perfectable on groomed slopes. Powder just tells you that "you're not there yet" with a little less grace then groomed snow skiing does.

As for the "lean back" tips that have shown up a couple times already in this thread. That's a myth that simply won't die. Leaning back "works" in the sense that it leverages your ski tips up out of the snow and thus makes your skis easier to turn. It fails to work once you start encountering steeper and harder slopes. I think primarily of staying dead centered in the deep stuff -- too far forward means your ski tips will start diving (bad), too far back is described above. Dead centered just works, although it isn't easy to stay there.

All that said -- big, fat, wide skis make the whole experience sooooooo much easier. Get some for the next deep day.