Powder days are overrated

[AmyPJ]

"Powder skis" in many forms can rather suck at skiing in crud, which is what she describes as disliking. A long, wide ski is not particularly maneuverable especially for us in the smaller/lighter crowd. Now, in untracked, they are a hoot, but once it's starting to get cut up, I'll take my 88s all day long.

(Goes and cries in the corner as she just bought powder skis a few weeks ago, that have not been used and won't be now that the resorts are all closed) Oh, and said powder skis are 99 under foot but 174cm long. My 88s are 165s.

 

[CalG]

To the original post.

No they are not over rated.
They are far too rare.

;-)

 

[SSSdave]

I started skiing powder snow back when the "powder skis" were Miller Softs or the soft version of Head Standards. It's not about the width, it's about the flex. The wider skis make it easier, but a wide ski for a really big skier will be too stiff and not flex well for a light skier. It's about the flex. And, it's about the technique. If one's ski technique is to swing the tails to one side or the other, well, that can't happen in deep snow. The work around is to jump up enough above the snow to clear the tails and allow them to swing around. Whew. Hard work...

You obviously have not noticed someone like this person ski powder making dynamic S turns like a rabbit on a ski like my Rossi S7's as I most enjoy going long distances even in deep powder in a moderately relaxed bouncy mode. I dont "jump" but rather have learned to use the ski's rebounding flex efficiently much like I do skiing groomers with short swing turns or in bumps. Now it is true there are a whole lot of skis where that technique won't work like with my old Chubbs or my Twisters.