How to ride powder?

WillieFat

WillieFat

Member
Today I went to a mountain that had pow for the first time on a family trip to Utah. I don't have a proper ski bag so I decided i'd just rent skis. Every time I go into any powder my skis sink and I usually pop out of my bindings. Is there anything I can do to so I don't sink or am I shit outta luck? We are probably only going one more time so any help would be appreciated before I go back to the East.
 
I don't know what model but they were made by dynstar. They were an all-mountain directional and it probably didnt help that the biggest size they had was a 166 and im 6ft.
 
rent a decent all mountain ski with at least 90 underfoot and rocker. get a pow ski if you want to try it out. u need a steeper run or to be going faster if you are sinking. If you have never riden pow before it is different but nothing you cant get the hang of in a few runs. remember the snow is slower so ur stance will be different than riding groomers. if you come into the pow too hot and too far forward you are goin over the handle bars and you wont have a good time
 
I asked for a bigger size but he said that all the longer skis were already rented out. Idk the waist width but they were smaller than 90.
 
I dont think they have any rockered but we are going early next time so i'll probably be able to get a bigger sized ski.
 
I didnt. I have domains back home but i dont have a ski bag and i didnt want to risk messing them up since i just got them.
 
You have to kinda make hop turns, keep your feet close together, and put your skis on edge. If you try to skid in powder you're gonna have a bad time.
 
definitely get bigger skis, 166 is way too small and if i were you i would have gone to another rental shop. you dont want to be leaning back on the tails of your skis, but you dont want to be pressing forward like you do when you carve, either. keep yourself nice and balanced forward / backwards, and in turns your weight should be about 60 / 40 outside / inside. just let it float and surf, and scream about the quality a lot.
 
skiing pow on skiiny skis requires you to make perfect rythmic turns.

wait for the turn to come to you, dont try and manhandle the ski. the time and order of operations to link turns in pow is different because there is now an up and down aspect to turning.

dont drive the skis like you would on a hard carve on ice, but maintain an aggressive stance. you can ski much straighter down the fall line as well, and should do so to maintain speed.

Finally, if you are mainly foing to be skiing pow, i woujld bump up the DIN a bit on those bindings.
 
Exactly. You're gonna have to do it old school. Don't try to surf through your turns like you would with fat boards. Stay super light on your feet and pop through your turns, so that you're doing a lot of the turning above the snow or close to it. Get into a good rhythm of compress, pop, compress, pop, compress, pop... Tip dive during a turn is even less fun than tip dive going straight.
 
I think that's the one rule that will enable you to easily turn. So obviously you need good control on your legs.
 
skiing pow on on non fat pow boards is al about technique. Just go to basic skiing fundamentals and youll be fine. Skis kinda closer together pop through the turns get into a rythym and youll get the feel for it. If your not a strong skier outside of the park your not going to be able to ski pow very good regardless
 
If they are twintips then probably dynastar sixth sense serial, at 85 underfoot full camber. If non twintips then i would say dynastar ledgend sultan 87 i believe, again, full camber. Those are most shops "performance" ski package even though they are pretty mediocre skis. I'm inthe same boat as you, but i rent the sixth sense serials for the season (hopefully i will buy some decent skis next season). The shop could just be stupid. My shop is run by snowboarders and they game me, 5' 9" 140lbs skier type 3+, a 152cm and my dad, 6' 0" 185lbs type 3+, a 174cm. So basically tailgunn the shit out of those skis down some steeps
 
Lean back? what? knees forward, pressure on the front of the foot. Make sure to have enough speed, it makes it way more easy. Keep your upper body in the direction you want to end up. Turn with hips and knees.
 
this and it seems to be easier using your whole body to turn (ie keep everything aligned). also widening my hands and almost steering seems to work too
 
Get longer skis first and then when you get to the pow assume a neutral stance and just try to make smooth and rythmic turns.
 
Terrible advice, don't lean back and DON"T use your upper body to steer. Skiing way in the back seat and pivoting turns is the universal position of park rats/ east coast groomer skiers flailing around skiing powder for the first time, what ever makes you happy but you'll look like a huge boner and it'll take you a lot longer to get better.Here's some advice from someone who skis more pow in a year than most skiers see in their life.

1) Equipment. Its nearly impossible to learn how to ski powder on short, skinny rentals if you only go a couple of times a year. Don't get normal rentals, get the high performance or demo package. Normal rental skis are usually shitty skis designed for beginner skiers who never leave groomers. Once you get the demo package choose a ski between 110- 120ish underfoot with camber and rocker (good choices to learn on would be S7's, JJ's, bentchetlers, DPS 112s, etc.) And choose a longer length than you normally would. High 170s and low 180s would probably be good to learn on unless you're really tall or heavy.

2. Keep your weight evenly distributed between your skis. Most people coming off of groomers put most of their weight on one ski when turning. Distribute your weight more evenly.

3. Don't lean back, stay centered on the ski, or even better get forward especially on longer rockered skis. Most people ski powder wayyy to far back, even some western skiers who ski a fair amount of pow. It kind of works but you loose a lot of control and the ability to slash and butter smoothly.

4. Don't pivot your entire body to steer, keep your upper body still and faced down hill and use your legs to turn. This is really important but hard to learn by yourself.

5. Take a lesson or two, its hard to learn how to ski powder by yourself if you don't ski powder very much. Being good at powder skiing is what makes it fun, and if you can only skid around in the backseat you'll never really understand why people compare pow to sex. Its worth spending the money to get good.

6. SPEED is your friend, the faster you go the more you float.
 
+++k you pretty much summed up this thread for me.

It's a fair point that the skis were obviously too small for OP, but if you've never skied pow before you don't need a ridiculous number of mm's underfoot and a rocker profile. I'm gonna hazard a guess a say OP wasn't exactly dealing with face-shot-depth of powder here.
 
This man speaks the truth, listen to this guy op. Leaning back as many have suggested is the worst way to ski pow, a lot of people assume that position because naturally they want to keep their tips up. If you do go out on skinny skis again, don't worry about your tips becoming submerged follow the steps above and ignore any 'submarinal' activity their taking part in they should resurface every now and again. It is possible to ski pow on short skinny skis, in fact the deepest snow I've ever skied was on skiiny ass 172s, i'm 6'0".
 
This thread is wow. The best bet is to get your hands on an old pair of water skis and shred that shit like its a liquid.
 
I've always wanted to do this, I came very close to actually buying a cheap as pair off eBay in the hieght of my summer induced nequenixdepression. Anyone tried it, does it actually work?
 
Well today was the day I went again. This time i actually got a decent pair. 178 and a bit wider. Riding powder had to be one of the best things ive ever experienced!
 
Seriously, the first slashes and faceshots you get riding pow skis for the first time ever on a deep day is probably what I would imagine sex being like. They change your whole outlook on skiing and your life.
 
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