Your Best "How To Ski Powder" Tips

[riverc0il]

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.

VERY MUCH agree that the leaning back concept is INCORRECT for skiing powder. you need to stay centered. when you lean back, your heel slides forward in the boot and the wrong muscles are working which will lead to fatigue. further, if you are not centered, you will not be able to inniciate and finish turns as well as a nice balanced stance.

that said, you should feel more "backwards" than a normal agressive skiing stance. normally on groomed slopes, you want to drive your hands down the fall line, drive the heel into the pocket and throw your body mass forward. you can rarely be forward "enough" when skiing groomed. but in powder, you need a very centered stance. the only thing that changes about your weight is in relevance to keeping centered over your skis and adjusting your center of gravity. if you are leaning forward, you go over the handle bars. if you lean backward, you'll eventually end up doing a kickstand.

advice about keeping skis together is a good one to start off with but not always needed when skiing with powder. a good way to start though. try keeping your skis together and "hopping" back and forth. it is hard to describe, but i always think of a down & up motion sorta like a horse on a merry go round. you sink down into the powder as you finish the turn, and then lift yourself and your tips up over the powder when you innitiate the next turn.

the biggest thing to keep in mind (the thing i had the hardest time overcoming when i first learned), is to forget about your edges. forget about carving. pretty simple logic, but it is hard to do. especially in the east where we rely so much on our edges and are never tought powder turns when we are learning. think more about turning with your bases than edges. that probably doesn't make much sense (heh!), but it worked for me. you float through powder instead of "turning" through it.

and as mentioned, fat skis REALLY help. think ~80mm waist skis for your typical east coast powder days, especially if you have to put around on the groomers to get to the pow.

hope some or any of that will help you! i considered myself a good skier capable of skiing almost anything for a while but had a hard time with powder for the longest time. the best advice i can offer is keep doing it as much as possible. you get the hang of it eventually, and when you do... you realize it's like thing else!
:beer:

 

[Nancy]

Wow, what's a girl to do? Lean back? Don't lean back? Stay off powder? Keep trying powder? No doubt, I'll stay away from trees...why would I ever assault a perfectly lovely tree! :lol:

The good news is, I should have plenty of opportunity to keep trying groomers and powder--I live in CO now (we've had 15" of new snow here over the past 24 hours and it's coming down again) so I'll just keep at it. I agree that I need to get more experience (MILES!) on good ol' groomers...I just want to know what to do when I do hit a patch of powder so I don't get stuck in it. And lessons lessons lesson, of course.

I'm in good physical shape, very strong legs and since I live at 9,100' I do okay endurance wise. A solid intermediate...now is the time to improve!!

I'll keep you posted as I get more miles under my belt/boots and see how I progress. If you head west, message me and maybe we can take a few turns together!

Thinking snow for all of you too!
Nancy

 

[tirolerpeter]

Skiing powder.

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.

One word here in response to your "...two words..." NO do NOT lean back. You should stay centered on your skis just as on the groomed. The key is to narrow your stance, and stay on your edges. If you have ever watched a "ski movie" (Warren Miller type) you must have noticed that the skiers in the movie are always turning. Except for that instant where your body is rolling over from one side to the other, you must keep both skis on their edges and working on a turn. Yes, you also need some speed, and the more pitch the better. If you haven't built up some speed, you will stall on a flat area. Once you develop the ability to keep making turns (using the edges of both skis) and develop a nice rhythm you will understand how delightful true powder skiing feels. Last December my Buddy and I arrived at Alta/Snowbird just as a major powder dump arrived (49" overnight). The next day, we were floating through stuff that, even compacted was over our waists! Of course, we got smart and rented some nice wide powder boards. It was like "floating on air."

 

[Nancy]

Ah, sounds heavenly! This is why I want to learn how to do it!! Should be a couple of good powder days here coming up: we're under winter storm warnings through Monday night. I'll send it your way!!

 

[ga2ski]

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

You are definitely right on this one.

Actually as many have said, Speed, fatter skis, and staying center are the the keys.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Now Nancy, who are ya going to believe, guys from New Yawk and Mass or someone who skied the cold smoke for 23 years out west, 17 of them at Jackson Hole. :lol: :wink:

BTW I learned to ski the cold smoke at Monarch Pass, CO in the winter of 70/71. Your gonna love it. The best snow is in the morning.

 

[riverc0il]

The best snow is in the morning.

best advice of the whole thread. never forget that one Nancy

 

[Nancy]

Whee! From the looks of things outside now, powder hounds are going to love tomorrow!

Seriously, thanks for all the tips (pun not entirely intended!). Getting my regular boards back from the tuner tomorrow and if I can get away with it, steal a few hours out on Wednesday (have physical therapy on Tuesday-yuk!). I'll make ya proud! :beer:

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Leaning back will cost you an ACL (or worse, two!) Neutral stance and stayin the fall line (on mellower pitches) and work to "return to the fall line" where it's steeper. You need to be maintaining forward momentum to keep the float happening. (A pair of fat waisted boards underfoot doesn't hurt, either.)

The big thing is to get some time with pow under foot (perferably on some moderate pitched, wide open terrain to allow you to get some confidence.

Skiing groomers, NE hardpack, just won't make it happen. Better idea: Head to SLC for a couple of weeks of deep pow therapy!

 

[Mark D]

again i swear by my one board in all conditons. its easer on my knees.

 

[bigbog]

.........

my $.01 Nancy,
Most everything has already been mentioned...

1) Angulate less...inclinate more(more of a banked stance) than on hardpack, and eliminate all foot/leg over-rotation.

2) Take a narrower path down the fall-line as powder has far less resistance than NewEngland junk does...don't rush anything as this lesser resistance takes longer to load up the skis.

3) Arms relaxed, but keep pushing those HANDS down the fall-line!

8)

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

I almost forgot: nearly equal weighting on both skis. On nice firm East Coast snow (or what ever you want to call it) we tend go commit a lot of weight to the downhill ski, with good results. In the deep stuff, that tends to make the downhill ski dive and the uphill ski wander. Weight the skis like they are one, big, fat plank, and you'll float like you're on one, big, fat plank. Then you'll

 

[Nancy]

We've a foot of new snow overnight--and I have to work today-ugh! Can't wait to get out and practice first on groomers, then play a little (with lessons of course!) in the soft stuff. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions, and I'll think about renting some fatter skis for my first few attempts!

 

[tirolerpeter]

Powder Skiing

Leaning back will cost you an ACL (or worse, two!) Neutral stance and stayin the fall line (on mellower pitches) and work to "return to the fall line" where it's steeper. You need to be maintaining forward momentum to keep the float happening. (A pair of fat waisted boards underfoot doesn't hurt, either.)

The big thing is to get some time with pow under foot (perferably on some moderate pitched, wide open terrain to allow you to get some confidence.

Skiing groomers, NE hardpack, just won't make it happen. Better idea: Head to SLC for a couple of weeks of deep pow therapy!

SLC is the place to be for chances to ski powder. I'm going out there the second week of January.

Sledghaulmedic has a definite point here. If you are riding in the "back seat" you not only compromise turning ability, but you are pre-stressing those "CL's" and any additional unanticipated tip down or tail up pressure could really do in your knees. ski_resort_observer is talking about skiing powder on the "pencil thin" boards" of the 1970's. That "back-seat" ankles locked stance was the best you could do on the equipment of the time. Those skis "submarined" very easily. Today's broader skis, especially broader tips do not have that tendency. Someone also pointed out that you should work toward keeping your weight on both skis as much as possible rather than weighting only the down-hill ski. That is a very good point. In fact, using both skis to turn is really better in all conditions and the new skis lend themselves to this technique nicely. "Straight" skis needed the extra pressure on the downhill ski to "bend" the ski for effective carving. This is no longer required with shaped skis. You can still see lots of "old timers" (I can say this because I am 59) who are still pushing those babies around that way. Very few of them actually carve, even on groomed surfaces. They go like hell with great confidence, but they are constantly skidding their tails and throwing up big "rooster tails" as they make a succession of "V" shaped tracks instead of arcs down the trail. Their locked ankles, and "bounce" (they do a lot of weighting and unweighting) does transfer pretty well in powder, but that is not really so desireable with newer skis, and not needed with powder boards. You only have to unweight enough in powder to allow your boards to transition from side to side as they float through the light stuff. Unfortunately, all this advice doesn't really help until you actually get a chance to do it a bit in "real powder." "Go west young man/lady" was good advice once. It still is.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

When I say lean back I don't mean enough where one would characterize it to "the back seat". I am talking about a slight lean back, just enough to keep your skis above the snow.

I had many years of skiing powder out west, that's how I did it, that's how everyone did it. There is also a diference skiing powder out west vs here in New England.

 

[tirolerpeter]

When I say lean back I don't mean enough where one would characterize it to "the back seat". I am talking about a slight lean back, just enough to keep your skis above the snow.

I had many years of skiing powder out west, that's how I did it, that's how everyone did it. There is also a diference skiing powder out west vs here in New England.

You are so right: "There is a difference..."

For one thing, it barely happens here in the east. But more importantly, the moisture content of the snow is very different. Eastern snow is "heavy" with moisture. It packs down fast and after any significant exposure to sun, it wants to "grab" your skis. Western powder is much lower in moisture and stays "fluffy" for a much longer time.

However, having skied out around SLC for the last five years, I have seen techniques evolve in the direction I described for people using newer equipment.

 

[Nancy]

Re: Powder Skiing

Unfortunately, all this advice doesn't really help until you actually get a chance to do it a bit in "real powder." "Go west young man/lady" was good advice once. It still is.

That's what I did!! Still snowing like mad here. Vail got a foot overnight and I'm sure Breckenridge and the other Summit County places are rolling in snow too.

The advice about leaning back is interesting as I've a tendency to want to do that anyway and finally overcame it last season. My instructor drummed in my head, "Go DOWN the mountain, go DOWN!" That, and keeping my hands forward made a huge diff in my position, not to mention comfort and skill.

 

[NHpowderhound]

Where is JimG when we need him?
1. A little extra speed
2. Keep your shoulders pointed downhill
3. Open up your stance a little (feet a little more apart and hands just a bit wider than your shoulders)
4. Center on the ski
5. Move both skis together and fluidly
6. RELAX and make it smooth. Try to keep your upper body quiet and dont let your hands drop or get behind you.
((*
*))NHPH

 

[JimG.]

Where is JimG when we need him?((*
*))NHPH

Here I am!

1) Stay centered on your skis...do not lean way forward or way back! Keep your knees and ankles flexed, maintain good shin/boot tongue contact.

2) Be two footed. Don't keep too wide a stance, but don't lock your feet together either.

3) Hands up and in front, elbows up and away from your torso. Good hands are essential to skiing powder.

4) Make believe you're skiing the base of the snow, fake it if the snow is bottomless.

5) Head up, eyes down the hill; do not get obsessed with looking down at your feet!

6) Practice. Skiing POW POW is like a dance. You need to practice to get the feel for it. Point your skis down the fall line and go! If you make 5-6 nice turns, don't stop, keep going and make it 20 turns if you can. Feel the rhythm.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

6) Practice. Skiing POW POW is like a dance. You need to practice to get the feel for it. Point your skis down the fall line and go! If you make 5-6 nice turns, don't stop, keep going and make it 20 turns if you can. Feel the rhythm.

Yea baby...really like #6.