How many inches...

[cantunamunch]

If you can't see your skis?

Lose weight!

 

[John Webb]

Depends on what it fell on. Four inches of dense but dry snow on a fairly soft base is heaven imo. Eight on bulletproof can be dangerous

Once at Stowe I had about 10 inches of the lightest powder I've seen anywhere. It was the weirdest sensation ever. It had poured rain the day before. Skis sank all the way down thru the new snow and clattered on the bullet proof ice. Deep enough to keep you from sliding but the noise was too much.

 

[fatbob]

4 inchs can be enough - with a little windbuffing that can give you 8-12. On the reverse sometime 6 isn't enough if it's too light. Have to confess I'm not a huge fan of real blower - yes it's great if you get enough to do that whole "blow sh*t up like a powda gangsta" billowy faceshot stuff but often it makes what would otherwise be very respectable days into "hitting bottom". There is nothing more disappointing in my book than a powder day that involves skiing crusty bumps you can't really see.

 

[SkiNurse]

Any day with fresh snow that puts a smile on your face is a pow day.

Best.Answer.Yet.

 

[DanoT]

If you can make snowballs out of it, then it is not powder.

And on a slightly different tangent, I like to tell my tall friends that people with short legs get to ski more knee deep powder.

 

[Bill Miles]

If you can make snowballs out of it, then it is not powder.

And on a slightly different tangent, I like to tell my tall friends that people with short legs get to ski more knee deep powder.

When I was growing up and learning to ski in the PNW, they called it powder if it couldn't be pumped through a pipe.

 

[Lady_Salina]

Depends on the snow consistency, but I think 6 inches is too little most times. If it is blow away powder and you can't set up any kind of platform under it, 5 inches is just going to brush off your skis while you ski the hard pack under. Also if you had several days of 12 to 24 inches and then you get 6 inches... well that's a couple hours of snow fall, hardly a powder day, it won't even cover your tracks. I'll get excited for 6 inches but I really think you need 10 to call it a powder day. If i can consistently feel the bottom... it's not a powder day but it would be a really sweet snow day still.

 

[Tricia]

While riding the lift today @SBrown, @SkiNurse and myself discussed what constitutes a powder day. We counted today's 6" of fresh (which was far short of the predicted 14").

What says the Pugski community?

Do you, @SkiNurse & @SBrown all measure 6" the same way?

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

We've adopted stones as our official unit of measurement, IIRC from a condo convo.

 

[Monique]

We've adopted stones as our official unit of measurement, IIRC from a condo convo.

Isn't that a measurement of weight?

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

Isn't that a measurement of weight?

We use stones for dense, heavy powder.

 

[Tricia]

We use stones for dense, heavy powder.

What about Meatballs?

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

What about Meatballs?

Meatballs measure tomfoolery.

 

[John Webb]

We've adopted stones as our official unit of measurement, IIRC from a condo convo.

Stones was/is? an official unit of weight in Ireland and England.
14lbs = 1 stone

 

[Ron]

This is good! I usually use 6" but as said above that's kinda relative If even 4" falls over a previous days 8" it's really hard to tell if it's 4 or 12" in a lot of places. In general, I can't hear my skis on a powder day and I am not skiing on the prior base surface

. A powder day can really be more of a state mind.

 

[crgildart]

Depends on how fat your skis are. 6" is a powder day on SL skis. Up to 12" hardly seems like a powder day on 100+

 

[rpk4dotcom]

Remember when a powder day required a snorkel?

 

[DanoT]

Depends on how fat your skis are. 6" is a powder day on SL skis. Up to 12" hardly seems like a powder day on 100+

The exception to the above is when you are still edging in a thin layer of fresh snow and then you go to a fatter ski and get more flotation. So now you are not edging or you are edging less.

 

[SBrown]

This is good! I usually use 6" but as said above that's kinda relative If even 4" falls over a previous days 8" it's really hard to tell if it's 4 or 12" in a lot of places. In general, I can't hear my skis on a powder day and I am not skiing on the prior base surface

. A powder day can really be more of a state mind.

Yeah, even back in mid April last season, when it hadn't snowed in forever, this

was a pow day. Yes, we could hear our skis, but didn't care; it was smooth underneath, at least. (The trees were quiet, though.)

 

[Lorenzzo]

Depends on the snow consistency, but I think 6 inches is too little most times. If it is blow away powder and you can't set up any kind of platform under it, 5 inches is just going to brush off your skis while you ski the hard pack under. Also if you had several days of 12 to 24 inches and then you get 6 inches... well that's a couple hours of snow fall, hardly a powder day, it won't even cover your tracks. I'll get excited for 6 inches but I really think you need 10 to call it a powder day. If i can consistently feel the bottom... it's not a powder day but it would be a really sweet snow day still.

The best posts in this thread innocently cruise the line.

I've had 2" on a soft bottom that were powder days for sure. And 6" on crunch that weren't.